She joined the beloved Amazon Prime reality show and instantly became a hit with Clarkson’s Farm fans. Since then, Harriet Cowan has gone from strength to strength, transitioning from being Jeremy Clarkson’s right-hand woman to becoming a freelance farmer. Despite leaving the show at the end of last year, the TV personality has hinted she may return to the Oxfordshire farm in the near future.
But what is the motoring journalist really like to work for? Well, the blonde bombshell is set to reunite with her former co-stars at The Great British Farm Fest later this month, which blends serious agricultural insight with large-scale entertainment. Ahead of her upcoming appearance, the reality star has revealed what the former Top Gear host is like when the cameras aren’t rolling.
She told us: “I know what a lot of people think about him: that he’s very opinionated and says what he wants and isn’t nice to people. But when you actually get to know him, he’s completely different; he’s such a nice bloke.
“The first day I got there, he said, ‘If you need anything, just come and knock on the door, I’m always here’ because he knew I was two-and-a-half hours away from home. Even now, he will keep in touch, and if I ever need any advice about fame, because that’s the world we live in now, he’s always there to give it to me, which is really nice.”
On the brutally candid farming show, viewers get an insight into farming life at Diddly Squat Farm and his relationship with his long-term partner, Lisa Hogan. When reflecting on her time working in Chipping Norton, Cowan highlighted the Irish model’s vital role in keeping the farm going during difficult times.
“I always say that Lisa is pretty much the life and soul of the party,” she gushed. “If the farm’s having a bad day, like it rained all day and you’re down in the dumps, Lisa will definitely cheer you up. Whereas Jeremy is known for his wacky ideas and schemes that he thinks are going to help the farm.
It’s a hard place to work farming, but Lisa is the light and the energy of that farm; she brings the fun. Obviously, Jeremy, in his own way, has a laugh with you, and he loves all his inventions. But I think he likes the contrast between his way and Lisa’s way; they really make it work.”
Ahead of the festivities later this month, the TV star revealed she will reunite with Jeremy and the gang next week to catch up properly. When asked if fans could see her on the show in the near future, she teased: “Yeah, probably, I think it’ll be as and when they need me. Never say never!”
But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for the 25-year-old farmer, as she reflected on the growing hardships of farm life. Last year, the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host revealed his farm took a huge financial hit due to the scorching hot summer, which quite literally killed a large portion of his stock.
This left him with no other option but to outsource hay for his animals and spend exorbitant amounts of money to save what was left of his crops. In his recent column in the Sunday Times, he admitted: “We know for a fact we won’t make money on wheat and barley.
“Last month, when I would normally be out in the fields planting the spring barley and the durum wheat, Cheerful Charlie, my land agent and all-round font of wisdom, told me that this year there’s absolutely no point, because even if the weather is perfect and I make no mistakes, we are guaranteed to lose money. It is a mathematical certainty.”
Aspiring farmer Cowan revealed how the industry’s struggles are heavily influenced by politics and Mother Nature. She explained: “Being part of farming, you are constantly relying on the weather all the time. This time last year, it was just too hot, there was a drought, and the grass just turned brown and died.
“Every year, you’re constantly wondering what’s going to happen. Last year, as Jeremy said, the farm really struggled because the grass that we would have grown and made would have fed the cattle all winter, but because there wasn’t enough rain, we obviously ran out.
“That meant we had to buy in hay bales, and because businesses knew we needed them, they put the price up. So bales that were probably going for around £40 were now costing nearly £90, and when you think of that on a large scale, that’s insane.”
These huge financial hits to working farms have forced many businesses to close due to rising living costs and a lack of government support. In the last 12 months, the Office for National Statistics recorded 6,365 agricultural businesses closing, the highest number since quarterly records began in 2017.
Another major hit for farmers up and down the UK is the ongoing war in Iran, which has depleted the country’s fuel supply. Cowan highlighted that although the conflict in the Middle East appears to be far away and not affect Brits, it is having a “detrimental” impact on farming
