Jeremy Clarkson hopes to convert 'vegetablist' vegans to meat

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he hopes to convert vegans to eat the meat he produces on his farm.

The 61-year-old Clarkson's Farm star confirmed his plans to open a steak restaurant on site at his Diddly Squat Farm in Chadlington, Oxfordshire, insisting it will be environmentally friendly as the meat will be locally sourced.

Clarkson told The Sun: "One of the vegetablists on the production team, who is very vegan, said to me yesterday, ‘Is there any chance of taking some of your eggs home?’ I’ll have him eating a really nice steak by the end of the year."

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The former Top Gear presenter – who bought the country estate in 2008 – describes himself as "a trainee farmer".

He said: "If Boris [Johnson, the prime minister] wants carbon neutrality by 2050, my cows don’t move more than five miles before they end up on the plate. But I need a restaurant to do that.

“Eating meat, if it’s grass-fed British meat, is a very eco thing to do. My cows are wandering around eating pasture grass and having a very happy life.

"I know everyone wants cheap food. Farmers can produce it if the government back off and we don’t have to jump through so many hoops.

“They tell us we’ve got to obey these strict rules, but Australian farmers don’t have to abide by British rules. The deck of cards is stacked against British farmers.”

The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host said he is reacting to help his farm survive following the government’s free trade deals with Australia and Canada.

Last week Clarkson held a meeting for local residents – serving wine and cheese – at the Chadlington's Memorial Hall to explain his plans to manage the popularity of the farm with visitors.

The Grand Tour presenter told his neighbours about his plans to open a 60-seat cafe to sell his farm-reared beef in an old lambing shed on site.

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He said: “Villagers gossip. I thought the best way rather than have everyone guessing what I’m doing was to simply go down there. There were, by the end, three very, very angry people in the room and 60 or 70 perfectly happy people.”

Watch: Jeremy Clarkson on life as a farmer