Jeremy Clarkson explains how he beat hosepipe ban to keep his pub garden green

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed the cunning way he has managed to beat the hosepipe ban for the garden of his pub, The Farmer’s Dog.

The lawn outside the 66-year-old’s popular Oxfordshire venue looked suspiciously green compared to the surrounding fields in aerial pictures obtained by The Mirror.

The summer has been brutal for the UK’s green spaces, with five heatwaves raging across the country and months without rain plunging around 70 per cent of the country into a drought.

Thames Water, the company that covers the area where Clarkson’s pub is located, is among the water companies that have instigated hosepipe bans.

But Clarkson revealed he has found a completely legal way of getting around the ban - and suggested Sir Rod Stewart may have even done something similar at his Essex mansion.

"An aerial photograph of the lush green lawns outside Sir Rod Stewart's sprawling mansion in Essex prompted the nation's bitter people to ask: 'How did you manage that, mate, when there's a hosepipe ban in force?'” he wrote in his newspaper column.

The Clarkson’s Farm star went on: "Well, let's think. Could it be, perhaps, that Rod, here with wife Penny, probably has a borehole. It's not a difficult concept to get your head round.

"That's what we did at my pub, which is why the lawns are also weirdly verdant."

Clarkson drilled a private borehole, which is legal because the water is not sourced from the public treated mains network.

A borehole is drilled deep into the ground, providing access natural groundwater. Once drilled, cased and fitted with an electric pump, people can connect their garden hose to the system and will not be breaking any drought conditions.

However, the former Top Gear star hasn’t been so successful with the harvest at his nearby 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm, admitting his crops are “f**ked” from the months of drought.

Sharing a screenshot of the BBC weather forecast for Chipping Norton earlier this month, he wrote: “Harvest already f***ed. May as well just enjoy it now.”

It was recently reported that the “completely brutal” extreme conditions this summer could lead to 2026’s harvest being the worst on record.

According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the exceptionally hot, dry spring and summer could have cut the country’s cereals and oilseed harvest by 2.5 million tonnes compared to earlier forecasts, costing UK farmers as much as £390 million.

It’s not the first time Clarkson’s Cotswolds farm has been negatively impacted by rising temperatures made more severe by climate change.

Speaking at his summer party last year, Clarkson admitted that it looked likely to be his ”worst year ever” for the farm.

The motoring enthusiast said that his team had been struggling with a “shocking” harvest due to the 2025 heatwave, saying: “I mean, if there are any farmers here, they’d tell you the same thing. Last year, it was the second worst recorded ever, and we think this year is going to be even worse because it just hasn’t rained.”