I went to Jeremy Clarkson's first Farm Fest - here is an honest review of what went right and what went wrong

This was Farm Fest. The first-ever event of its kind, billed as "Glastonbury meets The Royal Show".

Sprawled across 300 acres at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire, Clarkson and his Diddly Squat team had been drafted in as hosts to put their faces to a one-of-a-kind event that attempted to blend your standard country fair with the high-energy of music festivals.

However, with prices set at £35 for half a day, £65 for a full day, and £150 for the whole weekend - without camping - it's fair to say this was the first sign that your usual country fair clientele may not have been top of the organisers' thinking (more of that later).

Over 400 stalls pitched up on the fields of Stoneleigh Park, while the likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Chris Moyles, Sara Cox, Alex James, Groove Armada, and many more kept fans entertained once night fell across the three days.

Within the festival grounds itself, boredom wasn't an option. For foodies, the Field to Fork Cookery Theatre welcomed the likes of Matt Tebbutt and Bake Off stars to show festivalgoers how to rustle up dishes at home.

I poked my nose in on both Saturday and Sunday, the marquee providing much-needed respite to the scorching sun bouncing off the top of my head between programming on The People's Channel.

A brief walk away was the Big Barn Theatre, where, on the Saturday, Clarkson's Farm star Harriet Cowan was kind enough to give up some time to tell GB News viewers what she made of the event.

"Clarkson’s Farm has this massive following on social media, and now to meet all of those people in one place is amazing. To see so many fans and get to see so many faces and promote farming in one place is great," she told me.

On the importance of getting behind British farmers now more than ever, she explained: "I think more people are just becoming so distant from farming and the core values of farming and why we do it every day and what we do every day and how hard the farmers work.

"So I think shows like today and shows like Clarkson’s Farm promote that and show the public exactly what we do, so they can back us all the way because you can’t back something if you don’t understand it."

And her message to GB News viewers who go above and beyond to back British farming? "Carry on. If you do back British farming, please carry on. Visit your local farmers, buy local, and just support your farmers," she said.

Cowan then joined Lisa Hogan, Clarkson's Irish former model girlfriend, in the aptly named Big Barn Theatre for a quiz against John Craven and some of the Countryfile team. A scene which I momentarily put down to some sort of heat-induced hallucination, but quickly transpired to be great fun.

Andy Wilman, Clarkson's long-time collaborator on The Grand Tour, Charlie Ireland, Kaleb Cooper, and many others took to the stage at Farm Fest's answer to the Hammersmith Apollo to speak to packed-out crowds each day.

But if all-out action was more your thing, what better way to scratch that itch than taking in Farm-Fest Footie at Tractorama? As you can imagine, watching squads of Massey Fergusons attempt to nudge a giant inflatable football past one another kept me on the edge of my haybale.

Towards the back of the festival ground was Dog Fest, an area dedicated to all things canine. Think Crufts without the pageantry and a bit more rough-and-tumble.

The heat hindered Dog Fest somewhat, I must say. And a lack of signage guiding canine lovers to the area irked a number of vendors in attendance.

But when I walked my own pooch around the exhibition on the final day, the abundance of paddling pools put out by business owners, and the construction of a giant ball pit certainly made it the 'Best in Show' for him.

Adam Henson had lent his name to Adam's Farm for the youngsters, with children's shows and attractions available for the crowd who perhaps were better shielded from the Clarkson's Farm team's colourful dialogue during their own performances.

The main attraction during the day's programming was undoubtedly the Grand Ring. An area where Clarkson and co took part in Ford Ranger racing, the Tractor Parade, and where the RAF Falcons parachuted in after providing a patriotic white, red and blue display in the cloudless skies above.

As the temperatures cooled and the Hawkstone flowed, the main music arena offered revellers a chance to let loose further as evening set in.

And to be fair, while the musical line-up has a long way to go to rival that of Glasto or beyond, the acts seemed apt for the kind of event Farm Fest was. Not too raucous, not too flashy, just a chance to throw from some shapes in the company of one of the blokes from Top Gear.

But it wasn't just the headline events that made the experience for me. I had the chance to speak to some incredible and inspiring people. People who love what they do and understand the importance of British agriculture and the roles they play within it.

People like Caron Whaley, Director of Services for RABI (The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution). The RABI offers expert mental health and wellbeing support to a workforce that has spent generations without such help.

Then there was Stuart Maitland-Knibb, an ex-military officer who worked with the RABI to develop Farmer's Aid, a new app to give real-time guidance for serious on-farm accidents.

"People are dying because of response time," he told me as he explained how this app could put a stop to needless injuries and deaths that have plagued agriculture for years on end.

All in all, as a punter and Clarkson's Farm fan, I have to admit I enjoyed the experience. Most of the shows kept audiences hooked and cheering - albeit the more bombastic the better (Balletic JCBs, anyone?) - and as I mentioned earlier, boredom was rarely on the cards.

There were some brilliant local stores there which, as a punter, I was happy to peruse, and plenty of food stalls there that, as a punter, I was only irked that I couldn't try more of.

Clarkson and Cooper and the Diddly Squat team mingled throughout the day, attracting crowds like flies to a cow pat, which, as a punter, would've provided the photo op so many paid their entry fee for.

And the scale of the event, given it was the very first time doing it, was, as a punter, impressive.

Now, I say as a punter because I can't give an honest review of Farm Fest without addressing the reception the event has garnered from several who attended not as customers, but as business owners who'd forked out hundreds to set up their stalls in the hopes of garnering some new business.

"Traders share brutal reality of farm festival headlined by Jeremy Clarkson as some leave early losing money," was the headline of one Lad Bible article of the event on Monday morning.

"Jeremy Clarkson Farm-Fest branded a ‘shambles’ as traders leave early," an Evening Standard headline read, while Metro opted for: "Jeremy Clarkson's Farm-Fest branded 'catastrophic' as traders leave early."

The Daily Mail pulled no punches. "Diddly squat!: Traders pack up and leave Jeremy Clarkson's Farm-Fest early with claims some stalls were 'blocked in by a lorry'... and even Spud Man struggled to make a profit," its headline read.

"'Tearful' traders leave early from Jeremy Clarkson festival," the Oxford Mail penned, and the Daily Record went for: "Jeremy Clarkson's Farm-Fest traders pack up and leave early branding event a 'shambles'."

The headlines began when on Saturday evening, Korrine Pallas, the owner of dog treat store Phoenix Pet Food Ltd, took to TikTok to explain why she'd made the decision to leave early.

"I'm gonna try not to cry... It's been catastrophic for us," she emotionally explained regarding her business's performance at the event.

She went on: "It has been darn right awful at Farm-Fest... When I say it's not worth getting out of bed for, it's an understatement. It has been horrific, and I know everyone else is feeling the same and is in the same boat as us."

I reached out to Pallas soon after her TikTok had gone viral, racking up over a million views in the 24 hours she set it live. She told me the money made at Farm Fest didn't even cover her fuel costs.

And it turned out Pallas was right. In the coming hours, more and more vendors took to social media to share their own grievances about the event.

The team at BayCo Designs said on Instagram: "I couldn't be more devastated.

"These events are a big risk for small businesses like myself, you rely on organisers for advertising the event, communication, clear signage, health and safety... All of which were neglected."

Pops & Coco echoed: "90 percent of the traders would have made a loss or got their cost back. To come to a three-day event like this and to walk away at a loss is incredible really... What a shambles. Giving a new meaning to 'Diddly Squat'."

On the final day, I decided to see for myself. And sadly, as I began to take in my surroundings, it had become clear that empty pitches adorned the festival to create a landscape reminiscent of Swiss Cheese.

An owner of a bespoke dog collar business branded the experience to me as "utter garbage", while one vendor who sold map-themed artwork claimed organisers had to calm angry vendors down on day one with the threat of a trader mutiny on the horizon.

A spokesperson for Farm Fest has addressed the furore, telling MailOnline: "We have been working closely with traders at The Great British Farm-Fest to provide support during our inaugural weekend.

"We are surprised that a handful of exhibitors, out of the 400 who attended, left the show within a few hours of the first day without experiencing an event that has attracted over 50,000 visitors."

The truth of the matter is this: there is a reason no one has attempted to combine the old country fair with a music festival before. The combination, sadly, does not work.

And all of the aforementioned attractions, performances, stages, events, stalls, fairground rides, you name it, can't compete with the real main event: Clarkson himself.

Festivalgoers did not attend Farm Fest in the hopes of bagging a new furniture set for their garden, or to discover what new blades are needed for the latest combine model on the market.

They didn't buy tickets to stock up on bespoke solar-powered tech for their homes, or learn about a new form of technology that shoots sounds into the soil to promote growth.

One vendor told me he was shocked at the lack of people from agricultural backgrounds in attendance. And once it was pointed out to me, I was too.

What was billed as a half-and-half country fair and music festival had skewed overwhelmingly toward the latter. Schoffel had been replaced by Adidas, Holland Cooper substituted for Lyle and Scott.

The tweed and checkered shirts of those within the agricultural world were out, and the new era of farming fans in their sports jerseys and cargo shorts were in.

I'll leave the claims of misselling and the like that some vendors have alleged between Farm Fest and them.

But I can't help but think that it didn't take the highest level of foresight to predict that those in attendance were largely there because they enjoyed watching Clarkson's Farm from their three-bed new-build rather than to bag a new six-figure piece of kit for their own farm.

As Amy the sheep shearer said to me during our interview on Saturday's GB News Breakfast, Clarkson has opened the world of farming up to "townies".

It was those "townies" who lined the pockets of Farm Fest organisers at the expense of the small business vendors, and come next summer, I think Clarkson will be putting his face to festivals that needn't lie about being a country fair or a celebration of agriculture.

He'll be putting his face to a festival that he will have to concede is all about him.