JD Vance is still causing chaos abroad, this time during a visit to a Cotswolds farm shop — known as one of the poshest of its kind in the United Kingdom.
The vice president rolled into Daylesford Organic, a shop situated on 3,500 acres of farmland, in an 18-vehicle motorcade on Monday, The Daily Mail reported.
He was entertained in the store for around three hours by billionaire conservative donor Lord Antony Bamford, husband of Lady Carole, the founder and operator of the establishment.
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The Bamfords are no strangers to controversial company—Daylesford House also hosted Boris and Carrie Johnson’s wedding bash in 2022.
The shop has previously made noise for its outlandishly expensive items — including a wicker-style blanket basket on sale for over $1,000. Vance, however, was more interested in the bread counter, where he was reportedly seen tasting samples.
Locals, meanwhile, were left to face two road and three public footpath closures, security checkpoints and sniffer dogs during his visit, according to the Mail.
Vance thundered into the Cotswolds this weekend with his wife and three children, transforming the area into a fortress swarming with armed British police and plainclothes U.S. Secret Service officials. The vice president and his family are in the area for a not-so-quiet getaway.
Frustrations began on Saturday when roads were closed, and locals trying to access the hamlet were subject to ID checks. Large vehicles belonging to either the British police or their American counterparts shattered the countryside’s calm when they started rattling around the usually quiet roads near the 18th-century Manor House, where the Vances are staying.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Vance and The Secret Service for comment.
The Cotswolds is frequented by the wealthy elite, including Hugh Grant, David Beckham, and King Charles. And, generally, “everybody is welcome,” according to one local who spoke to British publication LBC on Monday.
One woman told The Times on Monday that the village had seen “one blinking pantomime after the other” and said: “We are used to the great and good here. Before David Cameron moved in we had Douglas Hurd and he was lovely. We have Ben Kingsley in Spelsbury and we see him in the woods walking his dog, but to close off the roads is ridiculous.”
“JD Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the U.K. as Donald Trump,” the Stop Trump Coalition protest organization, which protested President Donald Trump’s visit to Scotland last month, told The Telegraph of the VP’s trip.
Another resident told The Observer police had been going door-to-door asking for personal details of residents and social media accounts.
After publication, a spokesperson for Vance wrote in an email to the Daily Beast: “The Vice President’s Office and Secret Service were unaware of any efforts by local police to collect residents’ social media information. We greatly appreciate the effort our law enforcement partners put in to keeping the Vice President safe, but any questions about security measures are best directed to the law enforcement agency responsible.”
On Wednesday the vice-president will visit U.S. troops stationed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
