Jeremy Clarkson plays key role in Kaleb Cooper's ‘feral farm wedding’
It was a busy weekend for Jeremy Clarkson, who had a major part to play in the success of Kaleb Cooper’s ‘feral farm wedding’ whilst working to expand his food empire with girlfriend Lisa Hogan.
While Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were hosting famous faces at their Madison Square Garden wedding, Clarkson’s Farm star Cooper was tying the knot with his childhood sweetheart, Tanya Wilkinson.
The pair, who got engaged at Christmas in 2022, took over Merriscourt, a jaw-dropping wedding venue on the border of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, with boss Clarkson and Gymshark owner Ben Francis in attendance.
Details of the 3 July event, which reportedly saw Cooper and his groomsmen rocking up to the venue in a striking orange supercar, were previously discussed in an interview with the Daily Mail.
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At the time, Cooper, who is a father of three, told the publication that it was his and his now-wife’s ‘dream to get married’.
“But Taya is very much like ‘I want it in a certain way, I want my dress to be a certain way’, which is good.”
He added: “I think everyone should have that in their life and go, right, if you’re going to get married, it’s a very special day for everybody, family included, so therefore you’ve got to have your own say of how you want it to go.”
The Clarkson’s Farm favourite also revealed that Clarkson had been enlisted to provide alcohol from Hawkstone, the brewery he co-founded with entrepreneur Johnny Hornby.
“It’s just literally Hawkstone on tap,” Cooper gushed.
“You can imagine the kegs and instead of filling up your glass, you can just sit underneath the keg if you want.
“That’s the feral farm wedding we’re gonna have.”
Hawkstone expands drinks portfolio
Hawkstone was founded in 2021 in partnership with Cotswold Brewing and is stocked in Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog.
It recently expanded into winemaking, with Clarkson writing in a statement: “A few years ago I started Hawkstone, partly to support British farming and partly because I wanted to make a British lager that actually tasted of something.
“And having sorted out beer, I realised that Britain had become rather good at growing grapes and making wine with them.
“As in, genuinely, world-beatingly good. It was time for Hawkstone to have a sister. Or a cousin. I haven’t quite worked out the grain and grapes relationship.
The former Top Gear star continued: “The point is, we make wine now. It’s called Knollbury Fort and it is superb. I know, I would say that. But it’s our house wine at The Farmer’s Dog so you can order it for yourself in order to find out how right I am.”
Hawkstone wines, packed as Knollbury Fort, come in three varieties: wine, rosé, and red. As well as being served in The Farmer’s Dog, punters can buy bottles from the Diddly Squat Farm Shop.
Jeremy Clarkson teams with Formula 1 team
The latter, founded in 2020, recently embarked on a partnership with the BWT Alpine Formula One Team.
The Cotswolds emporium was handpicked to fuel the sports side during the British Grand Prix on Sunday (5 July), with Clarkson and Hogan attending the event as guests.
Ahead of Silverstone, the Formula One team announced that it had recruited Diddly Squat Farm Shop to provide a ‘range of locally sourced food, produce, condiments and beverages’ to keep the Alpine squad ‘well fed and hydrated’.
“Diddly Squat Farm is just a stone’s throw from Enstone, and the team has twice already enjoyed sampling locally brewed Hawkstone drinks as part of its celebrations for Formula One podiums in Monaco in 2023 and São Paulo in 2024, a promise and tradition kept by local farmer Jeremy,” a press release stated.
“Jeremy has often spoken of his passion for Formula One and his admiration for his local team, ‘the Chipping Norton Formula One Team,’ to whom he continues to offer support.”
Hogan claimed it was a ‘great pleasure’ to team up with Alpine ahead of Silverstone, adding that to ‘play a small role’ in Silverstone was ‘certainly quite special’.
Diddly Squat Farm Shop Ocado partnership
Clarkson and Hogan’s Alpine partnership came months after the Diddly Squat Farm Shop began exclusively selling its produce via Ocado.
Anyone who does not live near the Chipping Norton institution can now log onto Ocado and pick up packets of Shortbread Diddly Dunkers and tubs of red onion marmalade.
Other items on sale include oak-smoked rapeseed oil, chilli pasta sauce, rich blackberry jam, ‘proper’ piccalilli chutney, and Little Turds, AKA chocolate-covered honeycomb balls.
At the time that the partnership was announced, Hogan said the Ocado partnership was ‘a ‘natural step in making our farm more accessible to customers across the country’.
“Diddly Squat has always been about celebrating British farming in a hands-on, practical way, from what we grow to how we share it with people,” she said, adding that the collaboration allows the business to ‘stay true to its roots’.
Lucy Silver, partnerships lead at Ocado Retail, said: “Diddly Squat is an exciting brand to have on site and allows us to deliver a farm shop experience to our customers’ doors.
“We’re always looking for ways to support British products and expand the choice of local produce for our customers.”
Ella Scott