Amanda Owen's life on the farm is 'very different to glamorous photos she shares'
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Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen juggles herding nine kids, a flock of expectant ewes, and a trio of mischievous goats amidst an intricate renovation project, all while dealing with unsolicited advice from her former spouse Clive.
Amidst the chaos, one goat has munched on her quad bike keys, strands of hay adorn her dishevelled hair, and a spill has reduced her to a crop top – yet, with striking cheekbones and toned abs, she remains effortlessly stylish.
"It takes me about five minutes to wash my face and slather some moisturiser," insists Amanda, 50, crediting durable cosmetics as her beauty hack.
"Then l put some mascara on, and I will use some irremovable lipstick too. I've discovered that certain brands actually don't come off for about three days even if you have a bath or a shower. Even if I'm only going to see sheep, it makes me feel better."
Amanda, clad in just leggings and a crop top in her quaint kitchen, might look gym-ready, but she credits her fit physique to farm life rather than fitness routines. "Definitely no core exercises," Amanda chuckles.
(Image: Channel 4)
(Image: Channel 4)
(Image: Channel 4)
"It's called run ragged and shovelling muck. I filled the barrow this morning with horse muck because the kids were wanting to plant things. Wherever you are on the farm, at some point you are going to end up sweating it out, mucking somewhere out, or trying to encourage an animal to go in a direction that it really doesn't want to go in."
The TV personality is also excited about her latest project, Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids, which documents their family life on the farm and their collaborative efforts to restore an ancient stone barn known as Anty Johns. "We're just getting the essentials like a roof, windows and a door," Amanda details, reports the Mirror.
"All the things that I suppose you don't really ever think about. They're not optional. So in a way, it is simple. And I'm limited because it's a listed building, so there's no option for any sort of glass ceilings or anything like that."
With the barn now structurally secure, Amanda confesses that envisioning its future beyond basic living conditions is challenging. "All of a sudden the emphasis changes to actually people asking me things, which is a problem because I don't know," she reveals.
Amanda and Clive Owen, who first captured the nation's heart on ITV's 'The Dales' in 2011, have continued to charm viewers with their Channel 5 hit series 'Our Yorkshire Farm', which premiered in 2018. Despite the bombshell news of their split after 22 years of marriage in 2022, the pair, along with their brood—Raven, 24, Reuben, 20, Miles, 18, Edith, 16, Violet, 14, Sidney, 13, Annas, 11, and nine year old twins Clemmie and Nancy—remain a television staple, co-parenting and collaborating on screen.
Amanda is buzzing about their latest television venture, touting it as their best yet, filled with family escapades. She quips, "You get to see the rough with the smooth on the farm," adding, "We aren't The Waltons! You've got the scenery, you've got the children, you've got the animals... it's got so many different elements all rolled into one. It's like one of these home renovation projects, but Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen I ain't! It's got a Time Team archaeological element, and a historical Who Do You Think You Are? history element too. It's a bit Countryfile and a bit The Osbournes!".
Creating a TV show might be a serious endeavour, but Amanda acknowledges that with her kids, her animals, and her ex-husband involved, things are bound to veer off script. She admits, "What makes it all relatable is that things don't always go right," explaining that any plans often fall by the wayside.
"Any sort of itinerary just goes to the wall. No matter how many things you knock off the list, it always gets longer. Everything escalates."
Amanda Owen shares a hilarious mishap involving her goats eating her keys, explaining, "We've got these three goats that go everywhere and literally no rules apply," Amanda laments. "They go through the house, on the roof, in the trailer, in the car... it's access all areas with the goats.
"They've got a real liking for chewing things and they have an addiction to key fobs, one of them actually ate the quad bike keys!" But it wasn't just chaos, as her son Sidney heroically stepped up: "It became a great learning curve," Amanda reveals.
"Sidney replaced the whole ignition barrel on the quad bike. I'm so proud of him."
Despite the perfect image portrayed on screen, Amanda confesses her children are regular kids who love tech: "They love nothing more than getting online," She discusses the pressures of parenting in the public eye: "We live in quite judgmental times where you can't do right for doing wrong. As a parent, it's hard."
Amanda also touches on working with her ex-husband Clive after their split, admitting a near fallout during the new series shoot over tech advice: "Clive starts trying to tell me how to use the internet," she says. "That was definitely tear-jerking in a painful manner, in that mansplaining way. I definitely felt the tears coming – then the red mist!".
Amanda Abbington, when overwhelmed, often finds solace in horse riding across the windswept moors. However, she confesses it doesn't always go as planned.
"I absolutely love going out on my horse," Amanda shares. "I've got all the gear collected over the years, nice things. But do I ever go for a ride wearing nice things with a nice-looking horse? No!".
"I go in my wellies with bits of string holding the girth together and everything mismatched and somewhere en route I'll either spot a sheep where it's not supposed to be or a blocked drain and all of a sudden what was possibly a nice, relaxing time becomes stress!".
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