TV Series Review: CLARKSON'S FARM

Jeremy and Kaleb are quite the comic duo.

I heard about this series streaming on Amazon Prime by chance while listening to a radio talk show. It's not one of those "must-sees" that are advertised non-stop, which is why I am writing about it here. Basically, it is a must-see. A documentary released in 2021 and starring Jeremy Clarkson, who is a TV celebrity in England, Clarkson's Farm exposes the many hardships and rewards of owning and running a farm in the Cotswolds, a rural area in the country's northwest.

With his dry wit and expressive features, Clarkson is hysterically funny, even when he's just looking into the camera and sighing, which he does often. The supporting cast includes his girlfriend Lisa, who helps out on many of the projects including running the farm's store, and locals from the surrounding countryside hired to help turn a profit from the thousand acres. One of them is a 21-year-old named Kaleb who schools the 60-year-old Clarkson in how to do just about everything. My favorite is Gerald, an odd duck who handles the construction of stone walls and fences on the property. With his completely unintelligible country accent that neither the audience nor Clarkson can understand, still he is quite the talker and a very endearing character.

Besides being lovely to look at thanks to stunning drone photography, the show is also very educational. In Season One, which is as far as I have gotten so far -- there are three in all -- I learned how sheep procreate and give birth, how to get honey and wax from bees, which tractor attachments do what things, and how much the weather determines the success or failure of a farm operation.

Most nights my husband and I hurry through our dinner to get back to the Farm. It's a welcome respite from politics in the U.S.