6 days ago
I went to UK's poshest farm shop 90 minutes from Wales — first thing I noticed wasn't the food
I went to UK's poshest farm shop 90 minutes from Wales — first thing I noticed wasn't the food
The farm shop a short drive from Wales has been in the news again this week because US vice president JD Vance arrived with a huge entourage of security and police
I went to UK's poshest farm shop 90 minutes from Wales — first thing I noticed wasn't the food
I've been to lots of farm shops and markets in Wales but never been anywhere quite like this — it's got to be the poshest farm shop anywhere in the UK. Nestled in the middle of the beautiful Cotswolds countryside, Daylesford Organic sells hampers for £690.
The perfectly organised shelves feature £36 honey, £10 chocolate and cashew butter sourdough cookies, £175 tablecloths, £40 mushroom coffee and a £23 "immunity formula".
Outside, a beautiful garden centre displays £1,600 garden dining furniture and £1,000 trees. Walking around it in the sunshine was one of the highlights of my summer. The whole place is gorgeous — and the customers (and their dogs) are as meticulous and beautifully presented as the shop. I came away with a bag full of Isle of Wight tomatoes (which tasted amazing) and a £20 lavender bush which now brightens up the front of my home.
It's less than a 90-minute drive from parts of Wales, and I can say it's definitely worth the drive. Daylesford Organic has made headlines for these prices in the past. But it's back in the news this week because the US vice president, JD Vance, called in.
Donald Trump's second-in-command is in the Cotswolds for a holiday with his family and footage shows his huge entourage of security and police at the farm shop and in the surrounding lanes on Monday. He reportedly spent hours there (I didn't spend quite that long but would have if I could).
A white Ferrari in the car park with a number plate reading "cash"
(Image: Steffan Rhys)
I loved walking around the garden centre at Daylesford Organic Farm Shop
(Image: Steffan Rhys )
But on my visit, the first thing that struck me wasn't the food or the prices. It was the cars in the car park. I immediately spotted two Ferraris, several Porsches and too many Range Rovers to count. Right outside the front door was a white Ferrari with a number plate reading "cash". I parked my car in a distant corner of the car park and then did my best not to look too gobsmacked as I walked around.
But this level of ostentatious wealth isn't surprising when you consider the area. The farm shop is around halfway between Chipping Norton and Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds, every inch of which belongs on a postcard. People who call this area home include the Beckhams, David and Samantha Cameron, Mike and Zara Tindall, Princess Anne, Kate Moss, Ellen DeGeneres, Simon Cowell, Richard E Grant and many, many more.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are among the many A-listers who call the Cotswolds home
(Image:for RH)
Zara and Mike Tindall also live there, as does Princess Anne
(Image: Getty Images)
David and Victoria Beckham also live in the Cotswolds
(Image: Getty Images)
Jeremy Clarkson has made it even more famous with his huge Amazon Prime Video hit Clarkson's Farm, on which you'll see sweeping drone-shot views of the sunlit countryside and farmland. I've been to his (very different) farm shop too, which you can read about here, as well as his sensational pub, which you can read about here.
Its towns and villages, like Bourton-on-the-Water, Bibury (known as Britain's most beautiful village), Burford, Broadway and Stow-on-the-Wold are among the most beautiful you'll find anywhere.
And the farm shop itself was founded in 2002 by Lady Carole Bamford, whose husband is JCB founder Lord Anthony Bamford. The couple are said to have a joint fortune of £9.45bn, making them comfortably one of the very wealthiest people in the UK. Earlier this summer, Lady Bamford was pictured alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla at Ascot Racecourse. The Bamfords own several prize-winning horses, including one bought for £1.4 million.
Lady Carole Bamford (far left) with Ascot race-goers including King Charles and Camilla this summer
(Image:)
Carole Bamford started Daylesford with 'a handful of fields' and 'a desire to make a difference'
(Image: PA)
Walking around the shop and its outdoor garden centre, I enjoyed trying to figure out if I recognised some of the more glamorous customers (I didn't). But visitors this week would have had no trouble figuring out who the most famous customer was, given the convoy of black SUVs he arrived with.
There were rows of black SUVs at the farm shop for Vance's visit
(Image: SWNS)
Nearby roads were closed off by police and locals were spoken to - they compared it to Men in Black
(Image: Joseph Walshe / SWNS)
Locals in the Cotswolds have likened the security lockdown around Vance's holiday to the Men in Black as roads, footpaths and village lanes were blocked.
One said: "Stopped off at a farm did JD Vance. Security everywhere." Another said: "There were a few American SUVs and then loads of Mercedes. And a full police riot van and about three police motorbikes. "Because of this, there are loads of police everywhere at the moment - normally, you'd never see a police car around here."
One local said: "You do seem to get a few political celebrities round here - Kamala Harris has been, David Cameron lives around here, and Boris Johnson often comes. I go to Daylesford Organic most days with my kids. It's not often you see a presidential motorcade here though!"
There was a protest against Vance in the area this week
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Article continues below
I'd go most days myself if I could and am certainly looking forward to my next visit. It would have been wonderful if Cotswolds farm shop rival Clarkson had decided to pop in at the same time to check out the competition. He has described Vance as "a bearded God-botherer who pretty much thinks that women who've been raped should be forced to have the resultant child".
Clarkson, whose Diddly Squat Farm Shop is no more than a mile from the vice-president's fortress-like holiday mansion, also said: "I've searched for the right word to describe him and I think it's 't**t'."
Oh well, I still hope Vance, who has also said the UK is a "truly Islamist" country, enjoyed his visit as much as I did. At least he could probably afford to buy a bit more than I could.
