In an exclusive interview with the Daily Express, Harriet Cowen has opened up about working alongside Jeremy Clarkson on his Diddly Squat Farm. The 25-year-old became an instant fan sensation after appearing on season four of Clarkson’s Farm as Kaleb Cooper’s temporary replacement. As the beloved farm manager embarked on a nationwide theatre book tour, the former nurse was introduced to viewers and became a fan favourite for her quick wit, banter with Jeremy and expert knowledge of agriculture. Following her mid-season departure, viewers have called for her return despite Kaleb’s eventual comeback. Although the Top Gear icon assured that the door was open to Harriet, he also jokingly thanked her for “saving his life” with the intense farm workload.

Reflecting on her time on Diddly Squat, the farmer admitted: “It was interesting at times,” before labelling Jeremy “a father figure that didn’t know anything about farming.”

“He’s a very similar age to my dad, but he was the opposite of my dad because my dad’s the one that has the knowledge and we sort of learn from him. So it was sort of like, I had to take the reins on that a bit and, to be fair, as far as it goes, he listened to everything, and he learned so much.”

Praising the TV presenter’s progress, Harriet added: “I’ve genuinely thought, now he is such a great farmer and he can actually, somewhat do some farming. So I feel like we’re winning in that respect.”

The 25-year-old also admitted that the TV presenter’s eagerness to learn surprised her: “Obviously being a completely different generation, we are very different people.

“He’s pretty much an old man, and you feel like, as a young female, to go out there and have to teach him what to do in an industry that’s traditionally male-dominated, it was very empowering, it was.”

Harriet continued: “The fact that he just took it all on his chin and listened and learned. I mean, if it was the other way around, he’d be teaching me about cars, and I wouldn’t have a clue.

“So, I feel like when you’re in the industry, you sort of learn as you go, and he definitely did. He took in everything that was said and learned from it.”

This comes alongside the Choose British Peas campaign, in which Harriet opened up about the nation’s pea consumption, which has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years.

She told the Daily Express: “It’s so important for me to keep pushing these kinds of campaigns because this is the thing that’s going to keep us as a country self-sufficient.

“Being so self-sufficient and eating British food, and the peas campaign was no change, to be fair. That was the same sort of thing.

“It’s just, it was so interesting for me to see how the country has changed itself and stopped eating so many peas. And it was sort of interesting to be like, well, ‘why has that happened and what can we do about it?’