Clarkson’s Farm

[BikeBikeBIke]

otolith said:

I think the idea is to diversify the farm, not to open a restaurant 20 miles away and pay rent somewhere nobody wants to drive into. “This was grown here” is a selling point. “This was grown on a farm 20 miles away” is just another restaurant in Oxford claiming to sell local-ish food.

If they included the restaurant in tbe filming of the show the it would be popular, just as the farm is.

And the idea is not to diversify the farm the idea is to make a show that attracts viewers. Most of the stuff they do has zero chance of ever turning on a profit in farming terms. The sheep were clearly going to make a big loss. But they were good TV which made millions.

[BikeBikeBIke]

paulw123 said:

Just finished all 4 episodes. Enjoyed the pigs.
I do feel like there is a fair bit of padding in it.
Hovercraft, building a dam and erecting the fallen willow etc.
Charlie is great, nice artwork on 'the tate modern' office!
Kaleb is pretty much the same as usual. Lisa is great and really gets stuck in.
Still feel the unnecessary swearing is forced/scripted and adds nothing whatsoever. Clarksons 'for fks sake' just get dropped in pretty much at random.

6.5/10 so far, will see how the next 4 episodes go.

Agree re the swearing. Its classic family viewing why thy need the swearing is beyond me. As you say its not accidental, it's scripted in.

Mind you for my 8yo being allowed to watch a show with profanity is part of the magic. He can't believe his luck.

Clarkson's a bloody genius.

[FiF]

BikeBikeBIke said:

paulw123 said:

Just finished all 4 episodes. Enjoyed the pigs.
I do feel like there is a fair bit of padding in it.
Hovercraft, building a dam and erecting the fallen willow etc.
Charlie is great, nice artwork on 'the tate modern' office!
Kaleb is pretty much the same as usual. Lisa is great and really gets stuck in.
Still feel the unnecessary swearing is forced/scripted and adds nothing whatsoever. Clarksons 'for fks sake' just get dropped in pretty much at random.

6.5/10 so far, will see how the next 4 episodes go.

Agree re the swearing. Its classic family viewing why thy need the swearing is beyond me. As you say its not accidental, it's scripted in.

Mind you for my 8yo being allowed to watch a show with profanity is part of the magic. He can't believe his luck.

Clarkson's a bloody genius.

Will hear worse in school playground.

[Sway]

BikeBikeBIke said:

otolith said:

I think the idea is to diversify the farm, not to open a restaurant 20 miles away and pay rent somewhere nobody wants to drive into. “This was grown here” is a selling point. “This was grown on a farm 20 miles away” is just another restaurant in Oxford claiming to sell local-ish food.

If they included the restaurant in tbe filming of the show the it would be popular, just as the farm is.

And the idea is not to diversify the farm the idea is to make a show that attracts viewers. Most of the stuff they do has zero chance of ever turning on a profit in farming terms. The sheep were clearly going to make a big loss. But they were good TV which made millions.

Running a restaurant in town is a completely different business - you've got rent and rates, plus even things like staffing end up being quite different.

Plenty of local farms/farm shops around me (in fact, all the ones I can think of) have expanded out into food/dining. All seem to be popular and at face value successful. Another common diversification seems to be pet food shops.

[BikeBikeBIke]

juggsy said:

That’s exactly what Silverstone is though. I grew up near Silverstone and for a long time the roads were gridlocked on race days. But they didn’t try and close the racetrack, they improved the infrastructure to adapt.

Fine and that was a planning decision made in days when we had more farmland.

Now we're making a difference planning decision and I think it's the correct one. Say they build a dual carriageway from the A44 to the Farmshop. Then the show ends and the farm shop closes becaise the show ends... You can't put massive permanent infrastructure in to support a TV show attraction in its 3rd series. Clarkson himself hasn't got 20 broadcasting years left in him you can't make massive permanent decisions around that. In fact by the time the road was built the series will be long since over.

And it still doesn't help becaise planning frustrations are a plot device of the show. If it had a ten acre tarmac carpark and a gleaming dual carriageway from the A44 and a massive modern restaurant to seat 500 people, what would we be watching on the show?

[CLK-GTR]

BikeBikeBIke said:

If they included the restaurant in tbe filming of the show the it would be popular, just as the farm is.

And the idea is not to diversify the farm the idea is to make a show that attracts viewers. Most of the stuff they do has zero chance of ever turning on a profit in farming terms. The sheep were clearly going to make a big loss. But they were good TV which made millions.

The idea is to give an entertaining overview of farming in the UK. Clarkson doesn't need to make another penny as long as he lives but he's showing a broad range of the issues 'real' farmers face. And yes, petty council planners and defra bodies are a big part of that. He's adding entertainment value to it but the bloody mindedness over the farm shop is just the sort of thing farmers face. A local farm here just closed theirs because they couldn't be arsed with all the regulations around installing disabled facilities.

[Evanivitch]

otolith said:

I think the idea is to diversify the farm, not to open a restaurant 20 miles away and pay rent somewhere nobody wants to drive into. “This was grown here” is a selling point. “This was grown on a farm 20 miles away” is just another restaurant in Oxford claiming to sell local-ish food.

Is Chipping Norton 20 miles away!?

[BikeBikeBIke]

CLK-GTR said:

BikeBikeBIke said:

If they included the restaurant in tbe filming of the show the it would be popular, just as the farm is.

And the idea is not to diversify the farm the idea is to make a show that attracts viewers. Most of the stuff they do has zero chance of ever turning on a profit in farming terms. The sheep were clearly going to make a big loss. But they were good TV which made millions.

The idea is to give an entertaining overview of farming in the UK. Clarkson doesn't need to make another penny as long as he lives but he's showing a broad range of the issues 'real' farmers face. And yes, petty council planners and defra bodies are a big part of that. He's adding entertainment value to it but the bloody mindedness over the farm shop is just the sort of thing farmers face. A local farm here just closed theirs because they couldn't be arsed with all the regulations around installing disabled facilities.

Yup, no quarrel with any of that.

Around here the NPPF is pretty kind to the Farmers. All the farms have massively diversified. (among other things into caravan,car and boat storage.) It's not ideal for locals but at least it doesn't permanently damage the land. None of them have had massive new infrastructure provided for a short term project, and none of them are opening shops selling TShirts from China with Alton Tower levels of footfall.

As Charlie says in a previous series, every other farmer in the area is allowed a new track. Clarkson isn't. So that's not an issue facing farmers, that's a issue of Clarkson's unique situation.

The biggest planning issue farmers face is that they can't put houses all over their land and retire as gazzilionaires.

Terrific entertainment but I think the planners are spot on as do the locals.

Of course it's all fiction. Clarkson put his 'non farming income' as Jam but doesn't list the income from the show which will dwarf the farming income!

[98elise]

BikeBikeBIke said:

paulw123 said:

Just finished all 4 episodes. Enjoyed the pigs.
I do feel like there is a fair bit of padding in it.
Hovercraft, building a dam and erecting the fallen willow etc.
Charlie is great, nice artwork on 'the tate modern' office!
Kaleb is pretty much the same as usual. Lisa is great and really gets stuck in.
Still feel the unnecessary swearing is forced/scripted and adds nothing whatsoever. Clarksons 'for fks sake' just get dropped in pretty much at random.

6.5/10 so far, will see how the next 4 episodes go.

Agree re the swearing. Its classic family viewing why thy need the swearing is beyond me. As you say its not accidental, it's scripted in.

Mind you for my 8yo being allowed to watch a show with profanity is part of the magic. He can't believe his luck.

Clarkson's a bloody genius.

I doubt it's scripted in. It's my default for exasperation. If I was knee deep in mud trying to herd pigs it would be like punctuation.

[BikeBikeBIke]

Evanivitch said:

otolith said:

I think the idea is to diversify the farm, not to open a restaurant 20 miles away and pay rent somewhere nobody wants to drive into. “This was grown here” is a selling point. “This was grown on a farm 20 miles away” is just another restaurant in Oxford claiming to sell local-ish food.

Is Chipping Norton 20 miles away!?

You can walk it from the farm ,but I'm not sure even CN has the required parking.

It doesn't matter though. Maybe one third of the show is filmed around the farm shop plot. If the farmshop plot took place in Oxford people would choose to go to Oxford to buy their TShirts and maybe a small number of people would do a drive by of the farm. But a functioning shop selling Merch in Oxford would be crap TV whereas a battle against the nasty planners is great TV. (And it is!)

If this was really about a genuine farmer there would be no problem at all. The farmshop would sell produce to a few dozen people and nobody would mind the farmshop where it is.

[98elise]

BikeBikeBIke said:

CLK-GTR said:

BikeBikeBIke said:

If they included the restaurant in tbe filming of the show the it would be popular, just as the farm is.

And the idea is not to diversify the farm the idea is to make a show that attracts viewers. Most of the stuff they do has zero chance of ever turning on a profit in farming terms. The sheep were clearly going to make a big loss. But they were good TV which made millions.

The idea is to give an entertaining overview of farming in the UK. Clarkson doesn't need to make another penny as long as he lives but he's showing a broad range of the issues 'real' farmers face. And yes, petty council planners and defra bodies are a big part of that. He's adding entertainment value to it but the bloody mindedness over the farm shop is just the sort of thing farmers face. A local farm here just closed theirs because they couldn't be arsed with all the regulations around installing disabled facilities.

Yup, no quarrel with any of that.

Around here the NPPF is pretty kind to the Farmers. All the farms have massively diversified. (among other things into caravan,car and boat storage.) It's not ideal for locals but at least it doesn't permanently damage the land. None of them have had massive new infrastructure provided for a short term project, and none of them are opening shops selling TShirts from China with Alton Tower levels of footfall.

As Charlie says in a previous series, every other farmer in the area is allowed a new track. Clarkson isn't. So that's not an issue facing farmers, that's a issue of Clarkson's unique situation.

The biggest planning issue farmers face is that they can't put houses all over their land and retire as gazzilionaires.

Terrific entertainment but I think the planners are spot on as do the locals.

Of course it's all fiction. Clarkson put his 'non farming income' as Jam but doesn't list the income from the show which will dwarf the farming income!

It's not non farming income. Its income from the non farmed areas.

If you want to include the income from the show then it's predominantly the farmed bits.

It's a show about farming, not a show about profiting from a show about farming.

[BikeBikeBIke]

98elise said:

BikeBikeBIke said:

paulw123 said:

Just finished all 4 episodes. Enjoyed the pigs.
I do feel like there is a fair bit of padding in it.
Hovercraft, building a dam and erecting the fallen willow etc.
Charlie is great, nice artwork on 'the tate modern' office!
Kaleb is pretty much the same as usual. Lisa is great and really gets stuck in.
Still feel the unnecessary swearing is forced/scripted and adds nothing whatsoever. Clarksons 'for fks sake' just get dropped in pretty much at random.

6.5/10 so far, will see how the next 4 episodes go.

Agree re the swearing. Its classic family viewing why thy need the swearing is beyond me. As you say its not accidental, it's scripted in.

Mind you for my 8yo being allowed to watch a show with profanity is part of the magic. He can't believe his luck.

Clarkson's a bloody genius.

I doubt it's scripted in. It's my default for exasperation. If I was knee deep in mud trying to herd pigs it would be like punctuation.

Sometimes it is, but there are plenty of times where the camera cuts to someone and they say a single sentence with some swearing. That's scripted, no doubt,and it's not exasperation. They've all been standing around while the shot is set up.

Not that it matters much, just seems needless on a show that is classic family viewing.

Having said that I trust them to make good TV so they probably tried it without and it didn't work. Certainly doesn't stop us watching.

[BikeBikeBIke]

98elise said:

If you want to include the income from the show then it's predominantly the farmed bits.

It's a show about farming, not a show about profiting from a show about farming.

Yup, it's a show about farming, and farming includes diversification these days and the show is probably the most successful diversification ever.

And yes, of course they shouldn't break the fourth wall and mention it, it would ruin it. That wasn't my point.

[lancslad58]

I think it's great entertainment that shows just how hard it is to make a living out of farming. I've started using my local farm shop more to give them my support even if it's more expensive than the local supermarket.

[BikeBikeBIke]

lancslad58 said:

I think it's great entertainment that shows just how hard it is to make a living out of farming. I've started using my local farm shop more to give them my support even if it's more expensive than the local supermarket.

Yeah, I love it. There's so much detail about how farming works and how tight things are.

I never spotted that the extreme weather we've had the last few years is likely to reduce income down to zero, whilst the expenditure is unchanged. ....and that's on a very well drained farm.

[CLK-GTR]

BikeBikeBIke said:

Yup, no quarrel with any of that.

Around here the NPPF is pretty kind to the Farmers. All the farms have massively diversified. (among other things into caravan,car and boat storage.) It's not ideal for locals but at least it doesn't permanently damage the land. None of them have had massive new infrastructure provided for a short term project, and none of them are opening shops selling TShirts from China with Alton Tower levels of footfall.

As Charlie says in a previous series, every other farmer in the area is allowed a new track. Clarkson isn't. So that's not an issue facing farmers, that's a issue of Clarkson's unique situation.

The biggest planning issue farmers face is that they can't put houses all over their land and retire as gazzilionaires.

Terrific entertainment but I think the planners are spot on as do the locals.

Of course it's all fiction. Clarkson put his 'non farming income' as Jam but doesn't list the income from the show which will dwarf the farming income!

I'm sure the locals do, which touches on another major issue the country faces. Nimbys wielding far too much power. The local area could and should be milking the popularity for all its worth.

[BikeBikeBIke]

CLK-GTR said:

I'm sure the locals do, which touches on another major issue the country faces. Nimbys wielding far too much power. The local area could and should be milking the popularity for all its worth.

In that case why have planning laws? Just let everyone exploit their land in whatever way they want?

And if you think that's a bad idea then stopping massive media empires creating mass attractions in the rural Cotswolds is *exactly* the sort of thing they should be stopping.

But again, wouldn't it ruin the show? Let's say the rules allowed for the building of a suitable sized show and carpark packed full of.merch for the show and a restaurant with 500 covers and a decent tarmac access road and carpark for them. Would we watch that? The small restaurant and the farmshop that looks like a farm shop rather than a masssive merch shop is the whole point. And we'd lose the intereatig sub plots like doing stuff in a hurry and laying pipes at night.

And that's just one set of the reasons the show doesn't want permission do do all this stuff. The other is that Clarkson genuinely likes the farm and he's moved there because its rural. He wants to tarmac it over for industrial tourist retail even less than we do!

I just enjoy it. It's entertainment with a side of good farming knowledge. It's not all real.

Edited by BikeBikeBIke on Monday 6th May 13:22

[Sway]

BikeBikeBIke said:

CLK-GTR said:

I'm sure the locals do, which touches on another major issue the country faces. Nimbys wielding far too much power. The local area could and should be milking the popularity for all its worth.

In that case why have planning laws? Just let everyone exploit their land in whatever way they want?

And if you think that's a bad idea then stopping massive media empires creating mass attractions in the rural Cotswolds is *exactly* the sort of thing they should be stopping.

But again, wouldn't it ruin the show? Let's say the rules allowed for the building of a suitable sized show and carpark packed full of.merch for the show and a restaurant with 500 covers and a decent tarmac access road and carpark for them. Would we watch that? The small restaurant and the farmshop that looks like a farm shop rather than a masssive merch shop is the whole point. And we'd lose the intereatig sub plots like doing stuff in a hurry and laying pipes at night.

And that's just one set of the reasons the show doesn't want permission do do all this stuff. The other is that Clarkson genuinely likes the farm and he's moved there because its rural. He wants to tarmac it over for industrial tourist retail even less than we do!

I just enjoy it. It's entertainment with a side of good farming knowledge. It's not all real.

Edited by BikeBikeBIke on Monday 6th May 13:22

Have a look at Daylesford Organic. Look at the road it's on, and the businesses surrounding it...

It's just down the road - but different planning authority.

[BikeBikeBIke]

Sway said:

Have a look at Daylesford Organic. Look at the road it's on, and the businesses surrounding it...

It's just down the road - but different planning authority.

The NPPF is exactly what it says. It's national.

...and the planning inspector is the final arbiter, not the local planning authority.

So there's no way different rules are being applied somewhere else. There's also no way the local planners can be making unreasonable decisions- they'd just get reversed on appeal.

(Sadly IMHO) the planners don't have much freedom to manoever. Which is a shame because if they did a lot less precious land would be under tarmac.

[Sway]

BikeBikeBIke said:

Sway said:

Have a look at Daylesford Organic. Look at the road it's on, and the businesses surrounding it...

It's just down the road - but different planning authority.

The NPPF is exactly what it says. It's national.

...and the planning inspector is the final arbiter, not the local planning authority.

So there's no way different rules are being applied somewhere else. There's also no way the local planners can be making unreasonable decisions- they'd just get reversed on appeal.

(Sadly IMHO) the planners don't have much freedom to manoever. Which is a shame because if they did a lot less precious land would be under tarmac.

The bit you're missing is that every argument you have for why you support the planning decision for Clarkson is shown to be not as binary as you're stating through the existence of Daylesford.