Amanda Owen, from Our Yorkshire Farm, has spoken out about her experiences with fame and said that she found it invasive.
The 47-year-old mother-of-nine said that she has had to put up with people asking her for her photo when out and about.
She revealed hundreds of people come each day to her farm and use the cafe she and Clive have opened there – adding that she understands what makes Our Yorkshire Farm, which airs on Channel 5 on Tuesdays, so popular is that the farm is real.
Every day, hundreds of people pass by. Sometimes it can be more tiring smiling than shovelling s***,’ she said.
Amanda Owen (47), a Yorkshire Shepherdess has revealed that she finds fame too intrusive but admits that she capitalizes on it
Amanda and Clive manage Ravenseat Farm. She estimates that hundreds of curious fans visit Ravenseat farm in the hopes of seeing her or her children.
‘There is a time when I’d like to shut the door and say, “This is my life, this is my time.” And that’s got quite difficult,’ she added.
Clive was also admitted to the farm to help run the cafe that they opened.
She said that it was difficult for her to answer people and that people sometimes take pictures or record her while she works on her farm.
‘Of course it’s invasive. People know where we live and they can arrive there — but that’s the unique selling point, that the farm is real,’ she said.
Amanda said that it is a vicious cycle to write about your life because you never run dry of material.
Going strong: Amanda met her husband in 1996 when he was already divorced with two children, after she arrived at his farm as a 21-year-old trainee shepherdess
Amanda, who has written several books about farm life, including one on seasonal living, is now available. She said that it is a vicious circle and that she could not stop writing about it.
She also stated that her nine children, ranging in age from 20 to 5, have not been affected or received any negative comments.
She explained that the books, television and publicity surrounding a farm were all she needed to help her nine children in the future. She said she never hired childcare because it would have been more stressful than convenient.
She also said that she has benefited from a “waterfall effect” where the eldest children take care of the younger ones as their parents age.
Clemmie (pictured Lleft), following in the footsteps of her mother, finds a lost chick to be rehomed and the girls find a brood full of fledgling kestrels in their traditional stone barn in one episode.
Amanda has never been afraid of speaking out on social media.
Recently she slammed a troll who said her children ‘won’t cope in real world’ after an unconventional upbringing on the ‘quaint’ farm.
46-year-old mother of nine lives with her family at the Ravenseat farm on the Yorkshire Dales, covering 2,000 acres. She moved there in 1996 to become a shepherdess.
Amanda has gained a large following due to the popularity of Our Yorkshire Farm, a Channel 5 program. However, she has reacted to a troll that criticized her for the unconventional way she raised her brood.
Talking on Sophie Ellis Bextor commented on Sophie Ellis Bextor’s podcast: ‘They [my children]are learning life lessons that they can apply to any other life, whether it be in the city or the countryside.
“Because people have different opinions [to me]”Oh they aren’t growing up in the real-world, they won’t be able to deal with real life.”
Full house! The 46-year-old writer and her husband Clive (67) share Raven, 20, Miles, 17, Miles 15, Edith, 12, Violet and Sidney, respectively. Clementine is five years old, while Annas is seven years.
“But they are actually learning lessons that will set them up really well for being hands-on people and people with common sense and the ability to do things.
Amanda said that one of her nine children learned to ride a bicycle without any help from their parents. This is a sign of their independence.
The Yorkshire shepherdess previously appeared on poet Simon Armitage’s BBC Radio 4 podcast, where she told how she will leave it up to her children to decide if they wish to become shepherds and stay on the family farm.
She explained that she doesn’t look too far ahead. “I tell the children that they can be anything they want and go wherever they want,” she said.
“Of course they go though stages where they are more passionate about the countryside, but as they grow older and enter their teens, it becomes clear that they want to leave.
Free spirits! The doting parent claimed she instilled independence among her children (Owen is shown with some of her children at the Moors).
‘Raven (her eldest child) when she went to York, she was heading to the bright lights, couldn’t wait to get to a place where her phone worked and she could order a takeaway without it being cold and stuck to the paper – it’s all brilliant.
“But you know that within a few months I’m receiving text messages asking me how to make Yorkshire pudding cans from bean cans, and how to prove bread on a radiator if you don’t have an open fire. It’s instilled in you the lifestyle you want to live in the countryside.
Back in April, the writer blamed parents for today’s ‘snowflake’ generation of children who cannot look after themselves.
The sheepherder suggested today’s youngsters had ‘no sense of independence’ or work ethic.
Amanda stated that the snowflake generation was incapable of doing anything. They don’t know how to take care of themselves or what a work ethic is. It’s our fault.
The sheepherder (pictured in April) blamed parents for today’s’snowflake generation’ of children who can’t look after their own needs.
What can you expect if you place your child on a pedestal with no sense or independence and expect to entertain them all the time?
“I reject swaddling children because I want them to go on and do well. I want them to be themselves, whatever that may be. It is their life, and all I do to prepare them is make it so.
“What we do at the farm, hopefully is preparation for life in the big world.” They will benefit from the lessons they learn here.
Amanda met her husband in 1996 when he was already divorced with two children, after she arrived at his farm as a 21-year-old trainee shepherdess.
Amanda grew-up in a traditional three bedroom house with her parents, and one sibling, in the large market town Huddersfield.
The blonde, who was 6ft 2in tall, was encouraged to follow the same career path her mother, but she didn’t like the clothes or make-up she had to wear.
She left her life in comfort to work on farms all over the country. However, it was when Ravenseat Farm opened its doors that she discovered her calling.
Many of her children help out at the farm when they’re not at school.
“All family members must follow the same rules in order to make a big family successful,” Amanda said. Amanda stated that it’s not about child labor, but about pulling together in an article for the Daily Mail in 2018.
With the nearest shop so far away – and the risk during winter that they could be snowed in for weeks – the TV star buys food in bulk, and manages to feed her large family for just £130 a week.
Their water is provided by the stream that flows from the moor. They heat their house and water with a roaring fireplace, which burns regardless of the weather.