The Lure of Celebrity

My husband and I are great fans of the Amazon Prime series Clarkson's Farm. We watched it about a year ago and especially loved the show's setting: The Cotswolds in Great Britain. So when we made plans for a trip there, we included a few days in that rural area about two hours west of London, thinking it would be fun to stop at the Diddly Squat Farm Store. 

Assuming we would just walk right in, browse around for a few minutes and then go on with our day, we were unprepared for the wild scene we encountered. It was like Black Friday at Walmart. A never-ending stream of cars snaked onto the huge dirt parking lot staffed with men in orange vests directing traffic. A long line of people stood waiting to enter the tiny shop that was about the size of a gas station convenience store in the boonies. 

Having seen the show I knew what was for sale in there: soaps, trinkets imprinted with the show's logo, candles, and some fresh produce and meats from the farm, none of which we wanted or needed. Thus we chose to move on without waiting half an hour or so to finally get inside and buy a souvenir, especially knowing that Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, would get a piece of every purchase. 

Why all the commotion? Because Jeremy Clarkson (see photo above) is, or at least was, a TV star in Britain before he bought a farm and created the comic documentary series about his new life. I guess it's no surprise that people are drawn to celebrities like moths to a flame -- forgive the hackneyed expression but that's what it looked like -- even if they are fat old white men. But Jeremy wasn't even there! Still, throngs of people waited for no reason we could understand, and as we left the cars kept on coming. A few photos follow.

Most people stood in front of this sign and took selfies. 

The line of people waiting to enter the tiny farm store.