Who is Lucca Allen? Clarkson's Farm star, Rachel Allen's son and racing driver (2024)

15 May 2024, 15:00

Lucca Allen made his debut on Jeremy Clarkson's Prime Video series Clarkson's Farm during series three as he cooked up nettle soup for the Diddly Squat Farm Shop.

Lucca Allen, 21, joined Jeremy Clarkson, Kaleb Cooper, Lisa Hogan and Charlie Ireland for series three of Clarkson's Farm as he showed off his culinary skills.

Jeremy, who has been documenting his farming journey of 1000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in the hit Prime Video show, first introduced Lucca after coming up with the idea to farm wild nettles and make them into a soup.

“Lucca is Didley Squat’s Swiss army knife. He’s a racing driver, he works at the farm shop, and he comes from a famous Irish culinary dynasty," he said, referencing Lucca's very famous mother, Irish celebrity chef Rachel Allen.

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From his job in the Diddly Squat Farm Shop to his motorsports racing career and famous family, here's everything you need to know about Lucca Allen.

Who is Lucca Allen?

Lucca Allen, 21, is an Irish motorsports racing driver and the newest star of Clarkson's Farm, making his debut on the show by impressing Jeremy with his nettle soup recipe.

He is the son of Irish celebrity chef Rachel Allen, who has become a household name through her cooking shows, TV appearances and books.

Rachel, 52, and her husband Isaac have two other children together; Joshua, 22, and Scarlett, 13.

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It was through his mum that he got his job working at Diddly Squat Farm Shop, as she is close friends with Jeremy Clarkson's girlfriend Lisa Hogan.

In an interview with RSVP Live from 2023, Lucca explained: "I am waiting until I can make a living off racing full-time but for now I live and work in the Cotswolds, in Jeremy’s farm shop."

He went on: "Luckily, we have a farm shop at home so I have experience. Lisa Hogan, Jeremy’s girlfriend, is a family friend, so I rang her to see if there would be a job and explained I would be racing also. So far so good! They have been really understanding as there will be a week-and-a-half from March to November that I race but I work as hard as I can for them when I am there. It has been really good."

Lucca first started his racing career in 2011 and went on to become champion of the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship in 2019.

In 2023, he competed in the F4 Saudi Arabian Championship, finishing in 17th place. His long-term dream is to become a Formula 1 driver.

Where does Lucca Allen live and does he have a girlfriend?

Lucca is originally from Cork, Ireland, but moved to the Cotswolds after meeting his girlfriend Jemima.

"My girlfriend Jemima lives in the UK," he previously explained: "I met her when she was doing a Ballymaloe cookery course. I thought I would move here instead of spending the year at home, so we both work in Jeremy’s farm shop together and it is great."

What is Lucca Allen's nettle soup?

Lucca blew Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper away with his recipe for nettle soup on Clarkson's Farm, however, the business venture sadly didn't work out as planned.

In scenes from series three of Clarkson's Farm, Jeremy explained that he wanted to farm nettles from the wild part of Diddly Squat to make into a soup to sell in the shop.

The recipe includes nettles, onions, potatoes, salt and pepper, chicken stock, cream and butter.

While Jeremy and Kaleb raved about the taste of the soup, they struggled to get it to sell in the shop after the short shelf life meant the former Top Gear star had to put the price up to £10 a pot.

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