Wokingham and Bracknell Lifestyle Dec 2021 - Jan 2022

Amanda Owen
The yorkshire Shepherdess
Tells us about her life in the Dales
Known to millions as The Yorkshire
Shepherdess, Amanda Owen is the
author of five best-selling books about
her life on Ravensea, one of the most
remote farms in the country, where she
lives with her husband Clive and nine
children. She currently stars in Channel
5’s popular TV show Our Yorkshire
Farm and her latest book is Celebrating
the Seasons includes stories, recipes
and photos from the farm and is out now.
I understand that you had had no
previous links to farming, may I ask
how you became so involved in this line
of work?
I grew up in Huddersfield and no one in
my family is from a farming background.
I loved the James Herriot books when I
was a child, and watched the TV series.
Because of James Herriot I loved the idea
of being a vet, probably like most other
children of that era, but was told at school
that I was not academic enough to make
the grades. One day in the school library
I picked up a book called Hill Shepherd.
It was a photographic documentary of
hill farming in Yorkshire and Cumbria.
Reading that book was an epiphany for
me, the pictures of the hill shepherds on
the moors with the sheep made me realise
it was where I wanted to be. It ticked the
box of wanting to work with animals in
the countryside and importantly it also
ticked the rebellion box as it was so the
opposite of my townie life up until then.
Years later after I had married my husband
Clive, we realised that there was actually a
photograph of him in Hill Shepherd!
So it’s a very important book to me.
12 | www.minervamagazines.co.uk
How did you learn your crafts? One of
the many things I learnt from your book
was how important it is to get the grass
in - in good time.
I started out as a farm hand, and then
moved on to being a contract shepherd,
working on different farms all over the
country. But really, I learnt everything as I
went along.
Most of my crafts came through natural
progression, learning to ride a horse
by riding it, learning to clip a sheep by
clipping my first one, learning to work a
dog, by taking the dog out with me for the
first time.
You can only learn what to do by doing it,
you have to get practical on the ground
experience. Nothing comes close to
learning how to be a shepherd, other than
actually doing the work of a shepherd and
it’s not just about learning about sheep,
it’s about learning about the land.
With the grass it starts with the sheep.
You’ve got to have your sheep in good
order - we grow hardy stock through the
winter, so it’s absolutely vital that you grow
your crop well, so they have food to eat
throughout the winter.
What would you like to tell our readers
about your life?
I want people to know that Celebrating the
Seasons is a book about going your own
way. It’s not a blueprint for how you should
live your life, it simply says this is what we
do as a family this is how we do it, feel free
to follow the recipes, or do them your own
way. I want people to not let themselves to
be stereotyped, to know that all things are
achievable if you really want to do it. So
many people said you won’t have time to
write
a book,
you won’t
achieve
that. But
I believe
you can do
anything
you just
have to
start doing
it. If you
want to
write a
book,
start
writing. I
got an E
in GCSE English, and this is my
fifth book. Anything is possible.
Celebrating the Seasons with The
Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen
is available from Pan Macmillan, £20.