“LOVE him or hate him, no one can deny the spotlight Jeremy’s shining on the challenges facing British agriculture.”

Those are the words of a woman who lives near Sherborne who brushed shoulders with farming royalty at a filming of Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone advert.

The premium British alcohol brand brews lager made using barley from the Grand Tour star’s Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire – made famous in the popular Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm.

To promote the brand, and as part of his mission to back British farmers, Clarkson recruited a group of 34 strong farmers to sing covers of the French song Flower Duet from the opera Lakme and a cover of Hallelujah.

Except these covers had a dash of Clarkson’s famous sweary personality mixed in with them, as the singing farmers, known as the Farmers’ Choir, are seen holding pints of Hawkstone lager while singing “F*** me, it’s good”.

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Jeremy Clarkson with Ellie and her son Picture: Ellie Maguire

Clarkson criticised the “fun police” after the advert was banned from TV and radio for being “not compliant” – presumably due to the swearing.

Ellie Maguire was one of the lucky few who were chosen out of 500 applicants to sing as part of the Farmers’ Choir – and spent time with both Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper – Clarkson’s begrudging farm advisor.

“On the main filming day, Clarkson and Kaleb were there from start to finish, and they were brilliant—chatting to everyone about their farms and where they were from,” Ellie said.

“It felt really personal and down-to-earth. After Ester and I finished our duet, they both came over to congratulate us, which was such a lovely moment.

“Kaleb even asked about my little boy, who was just five months old at the time! We’d brought his grandad along to look after him, and I was nipping out between takes to feed him.

Clarkson took time to chat with all the members of the Farmers’ Choir Picture: Hawstone

“The whole atmosphere was so relaxed, and everyone went out of their way to make us feel welcome.”

Ellie said she has sung since she was a child, having performed at The Octagon in Yeovil and carried her love of singing through to adulthood.

She said she thought it was a match made in heaven when she was selected by Clarkson’s team.

Ellie’s cameo in the advert came about after she responded to a casting call on social media calling for singers with a background in farming to submit a video of them singing.

She said: “I ended up filming it from my car, thinking it was a complete long shot! To my surprise, I got a reply inviting me to a recording day.

“10 of us laid down the vocals in a proper studio before the main filming, and it was incredible, we laughed the whole way through.”

Ellie taking centre stage in the advert Picture: Hawkstone

She said she was thrilled to be selected as one of the 10 main singers.

She added: “Then, almost by chance, I ended up taking the top line of the Flower Duet – the other two sopranos weren’t keen on the high notes! They would have sung it beautifully, but I’m so glad I stepped up.”

Ellie’s partner is a dairy farmer, and both have side hustles to boost their finances as she said it’s tough to make a living through farming by itself – something Clarkson makes clear in his Amazon Prime series.

“Love him or hate him, no one can deny the spotlight Jeremy’s shining on the challenges facing British agriculture — and I really hope that continues,” she said.

“Although the adverts are part of a campaign for Hawkstone, Jeremy is also using the platform to raise awareness for Shout, a brilliant mental health charity.

Picture: Hawkstone

“Farming can be such an isolated way of life, and watching everyone come together — opening up about their struggles and then setting them aside to do something joyful — was honestly quite therapeutic.”

She added: “The best part of filming was definitely all the new friends I made!

“It was genuinely such a fantastic group of people, and we laughed from start to finish with Lizzie, our brilliant conductor, and the amazing filming crew.

“There were no divas or big egos – just a team of lovely people who wanted to have fun and get the job done! We have all stayed in touch since and are looking forward to the possibility of a reunion in the future!”

To view both adverts, visit www.hawkstone.com/blogs/hawkstone-stories/hawkstone-the-farmers-choir