Copyright walesonline
Jeremy Clarkson has admitted that he's "old and broken" as he continues to share his struggles with Diddly Squat farm. The ex-Top Gear presenter often posts updates from his escapade into farming – something he started six years ago and that led to a hugely popular Amazon Prime series. "Since I started in the fields six years ago, I've realised that farming is ideal for those who don't like to work up a sweat," Jeremy explains. "Only mattress testers have an easier, more sedentary life." Joking that he burns "about two calories an hour," he explains that much of his farming work is done sitting down. He's either driving a tractor, or he's doing endless paperwork to comply with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) regulations. The most exotic of Jeremy's various pieces of farm machinery is his Supacat – a six-wheel drive, semi-amphibious military vehicle that he uses to pick up wood from the forest. Supacats were originally designed to "recover broken Land Rovers from the battlefield," Jeremy says, so there's no question about the Devon-made vehicle's ability to operate in challenging environments. But there's an issue. Writing in the Sunday Times , he adds:: "But it is quite difficult to get in and out of if you are old and broken." It's for that reason, Jeremy explains, that he's planning to replace the army surplus vehicle that he picked up for £9,000 a few years back. He's very fond of the Supacat, so it will be hard to replace. "It's useful because it has big, fat, soft tyres. It doesn't get stuck or damage the earth," he said shortly after buying it. "No matter what the weather's doing I can fire up the Supacat, attach the trailer using an extremely manly Nato hitch and head off for firewood." One of the alternatives he considered was the £44,000 all-electric Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic Ultimate. However, Jeremy's greatest concern there is that, being electric, it doesn't offer the audible feedback of a petrol engine that's working hard. "You know instinctively when you have applied the correct amount of power because you can hear it. But in an electric vehicle, there is no sound. You press the accelerator and nothing happens," he explains. Instead, Jeremy plumped for the petrol-powered CFMoto UForce U10 Pro – which apart from anything else costs a good deal less than its eco-friendly rival. Compared to the Supacat, the Chinese-made CFMoto is a good deal comfier, and more forgiving of a 65-year-old body. Two deluxe bench seats provide room for up to six riders, while power windows and an innovative push-button electric shift cut down on the amount of muscle power required. Jeremy says: "It has been on the farm for a couple of months now and I must say it's very practical, very robust and extremely useful." The only negative he's found so far, is how popular it has been with some members of the Diddly Squat team: "On day one, my dogs leapt into the pick-up bed and since then have pretty much refused to get out."
