INTERVIEW
A M A N DA OW E N 2,000 acres, over 1,000 breeding ewes, 50 cattle, nine children (yes, nine), numerous dogs, hens...oh, and one husband. Carolyn Nicoll caught up with the super stylish shepherdess Amanda Owen (even in wellies, how does she do it?), to find out more about her flock and family, filming the latest series of Our Yorkshire Farm and life in lockdown. Growing up in Huddersfield, I had a typical suburban childhood, but I was always interested in the countryside. When friends were heading into town I’d go the other way and get on my bike for a cycle out to the open landscape above Holmfirth, then on to Saddleworth Moor and Castle Hill with its ancient monument. That’s the beauty of so many towns and cities in Yorkshire, they’re surrounded by stunning fields, moorland and woods, with amazing views to enjoy. When I left school I knew I wanted to become a shepherdess but it wasn’t the sort of thing offered for study at college. So off I went to work on local farms to get some hands-on experience, milking cows, driving tractors picking up as much practical knowledge as I could. I knew I didn’t want to be a general farm worker but it was all stuff to put on my CV, as well as picking up shifts in a newsagents, a fancy pottery shop in a Huddersfield arcade and working in a factory at night, to earn some money. All done to get me heading in the right career direction to be a hill shepherd. I was a free spirit trying to get to where I wanted to be. There’s certainly no hard and fast way to becoming a shepherdess. I had to learn on the job. Luckily I got my big break when I replied to an ad for a shepherd vacancy. It was down in Wiltshire, so off I headed with a Border collie and a lot of enthusiasm for the opportunity ahead. A stint at a farm in Cumbria followed and is how I met Clive (Amanda’s husband and father to their nine children).
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It wasn’t the most romantic of starts, I went to borrow a tup (male sheep). I’d travelled from the place I was working at over in the Lake District, to Ravenseat, Clive’s Yorkshire farm (now my home), all very businesslike. That was back in 1995 when I was 21, we were just friends to start with, but things developed, as they do, and we got married in 2000. Ravenseat in Swaledale became my home and it’s a very different part of Yorkshire to where I started off in life. But in a way I think that’s put me in good stead, because I wasn’t born and bred in the countryside, I think I appreciate it even more. It’s such a different way of life. And what’s not to love about it! It sounds cheesy, I know, and I’ve said this a million times but imagine the one thing I grew up absolutely loving and being obsessed with... James Herriot books. I adored them, I read every single one and watched All Creatures Great and Small, the TV series based on the books about the life of a Yorkshire vet. And what great news that they’re making a new series this year. For me it was all so magical, the fantastic tales that were all true stories about real experiences in the Yorkshire Dales with the stunning dales as a backdrop. My now home of Swaledale was used as the setting for so many of those farms, in a time that has almost stood still and continues to, to some degree. I say that in a positive way, as the farming techniques have almost come back into fashion, with its hay meadows, heritage roots and a more traditional way of farming. Forget
intensive farming, fertiliser and flattening everything, this is nature and farming at its best. So even though the original All Creatures Great and Small was filmed back in the ‘80s, you can watch it now and see it hasn’t changed. It’s got magnificent moorland, big skies, it’s extreme and it’s exhilarating and that’s where I live. Amazing! I desperately wanted to go on a school trip with the fantastic Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson when I was at school to paint the moors with him. I’ve always been drawn to the hills and the open land and I distinctly remember the kids in my class who excelled at art would regularly get chosen to accompany this amazing artist with his swishy hair, as a treat, to create fantastic countryside scenes. I was never top of the class, so didn’t get picked once, but boy did I want to go. The good thing is I now get to live in a place that could be an Ashley Jackson painting, amid rolling dales farms, drystone walls, beautiful recognisable Yorkshire countryside. I’ve never told him that story. I’d hate for him to think I was some sort of mad stalker. (laughs) The brand new series of Our Yorkshire Farm is just more of the same (laughs)...what’s going to change?! We’re still battling with the elements and all sorts of weather. It’s very simple really in its format and I think the normality of it all is what viewers like. It isn’t rushed or polished, the fact that we don’t always win and things don’t always go right seems to really appeal to people, because that’s real life isn’t it. You watch some popular programmes about life in the country and it’s all very
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