Latest news with #LifeInTheDales
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Our Yorkshire Farm's Amanda Owen admits 'things aren't going to plan' as property is 'wrecked' and exasperated co-star 'reaches for his P45 to QUIT' in car crash scenes
Our Yorkshire Farm 's Amanda Owen admitted 'things aren't going to plan' after a farm was 'wrecked' and an exasperated star of her son Reuben's show 'reached for his P45 to quit'. The second series of Reuben's show Reuben Owen: Life In The Dales, about his attempt to grow a machinery business with friends, is currently airing on Channel 5. It is a spin-off from Our Yorkshire Farm, the beloved reality show that introduced us to the Owen family and followed their life on their farm in the Yorkshire Dales from 2018 to 2022. And it comes hot on the heels of Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids, after parents Amanda and Clive split in 2022, and subsequently attempt to renovate a nearby farmhouse while co-parenting their nine children. However their second eldest child, 21-year-old Reuben, hit a major roadblock on last night's episode of his own programme. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The instalment followed Reuben and his gang as they filled in some potholes on a private road to Amanda and Clive's Ravenseat Farm in the Swaledale valley of Yorkshire. Reuben said: 'It's quite nice to be doing jobs for your family. You tend to put your own jobs off and I have been putting this job off for ages. 'But mum has finally given me enough stick that today, we are going to tackle it.' The crew started the work, using Reuben's brand-new, 26-tonne loading shovel, which his farmhand pal Capper took for a spin on some grassy ground. But trouble soon started when Capper got the equipment stuck in the mud. 'It's just bad, isn't it?', Reuben said, as his friend explained how the error happened: 'I do apologise Reuben. So, yeah, I parked it there [on the grass], thinking [the ground] was hard. 'It looked hard. But then it sunk and got more stuck and more stuck and more stuck. I'm just going to fill in my P45 now, while I'm on it. Today is not my day.' As Capper anxiously rubbed his face, the gang tried to come up with ideas as to how to resolve it. Reuben said sharply: 'What did I say before you parked it there?' His friend replied: 'Not on the grass. I'm a k***head. Employee of the month it is. I don't know whether to laugh or cry or both.' As his crew looked on in apprehension, Reuben tried to get the machinery unstuck - but to no avail. To make matters worse, Amanda soon arrived, with her other two sons Miles and Sid - so there was no concealing the stuck machine and churned-up ground. 'Does this alter the timeframe for me getting my road mended?', she joked. She continued: 'Well, I've just come down to see how Reuben is coming on with mending my road but he seems to have not mended the road and he also seems to be wrecking the field. 'And even better, it's not my field, it's my next door neighbour's, so it looks like things aren't going to plan and actually looks like a bit of a disaster at the moment. 'Look at Reuben's little face - even he is completely stumped as to what to do.' His co-worker Sonny agreed: 'I've never seen Reuben so disappointed. He's a bit upset but we'll get it out.' Leaping into action, Reuben soon came up with a plan to resolve the issue - while Capper headed down to talk to the neighbours. Soon able to make jokes about it, Reuben laughed: 'You know when you just feel like you shouldn't have got out of bed this morning?' Amanda replied: 'I'll tell you something - your dad's going to kill you.' But things started looking up when Reuben decided to use a two-tonne, 60-year-old tractor, known as the Major, to dislodge the machinery. Though the strain on the tractor was visible, the shovel soon started to come unstuck. Pleasantly surprised, Amanda said: 'I'm impressed. I didn't think it'd do that. 'I'm proud of them. And to be quite honest with you, Reuben does seem to enjoy a bit of a challenge. 'He likes problem solving and anything that involves him getting the old tractor out and making bad things go good.' She finished: 'I'm not thrilled about it and it looks like I'm going to have to wait a little bit longer to get my road mended but good old Reuben.' And later in the episode, Reuben, Capper and Sonny brought things back from the brink, enlisting Sid, Miles and Reuben's dad Clive to finally get the tarmac down. It comes after Reuben faced controversy last month over a 'disgusting and disturbing' video of him shared online by his mother Amanda. Earlier this month, the 50-year-old shepherdess took to Instagram to share a clip of Reuben, 21, helping her out on the farm. In the clip, mum-of-nine Amanda can be heard saying: 'Well, this is what you've been getting up to in lambing fields,' while Reuben is laying across an ewe and lamb. He then picks up the ewe by the horns and she tells her son: 'You did great there! And you got the lamb at the same time.' Amanda captioned the post: 'Caught ewe. Reuben downs tools and springs into action. '*Everyone lends a hand, there is no one exempt from lambing time tasks*.' But many fans were confused by the post and did not like seeing Reuben handle the ewe as they did not know what he was actually doing. Some took to leaving comments including, 'Why are you treating the ewe like that? Absolutely disgusting and I'm disappointed as I thought you were better than that.' Or, 'I didn't like how you held the sheep! Absolutely disturbing! Animals are treated with respect and not like trash!' In an interview with The Telegraph, Reuben responded to the online furore and said: 'I don't have the time or the inclination to scroll through social media.' The young farmer added: 'If you do ever see me on my phone, I'll be searching for machinery sales.' Some did jump to the 21-year-old's defence however and penned: 'Please ignore comments from any animal activist… if we all listened to them nothing would ever get done and we'd all be starving by now . Carry on farming.' Another said: 'Kindness is a gift, if you cannot say anything nice please say nothing at all.'
Telegraph
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Reuben Owen: ‘I don't want a TV career, I want to be known as the guy who digs big holes'
Television's least-likely star is lying on the grass, all 6ft 7in of him, stretched out in heroically filthy Levi's, with an oversized bulldozer on his belt buckle and thermal-lined Le Chameau boots. We are in a Cumbrian field, just over the border from his native Yorkshire, and Reuben Owen is taking a break from levelling land for a new milking parlour. The sun is blazing down on the parched, craggy hills, while Texel lambs are bleating their presence. But Owen, 21, only has eyes for his heavy machinery. The second series of Reuben Owen: Life in the Dales is about to hit our television screens, but it's fair to say that Owen remains almost comically unchanged by fame. 'The proudest moment of my life wasn't taking part in any TV show, it was the day I got my name on my own digger,' he says, face straight as Geoffrey Boycott's cricket bat. 'When that customised sticker was put on, saying 'Reuben Owen', I knew that I had really accomplished something.' If you're thinking that sounds a little bit bonkers – given that he is the eldest son of the ' Yorkshire Shepherdess ' and therefore a scion of a rural reality-show dynasty – you wouldn't be wrong. And that's what makes him TV gold. 'I can't believe I have my own heavy-machinery company, aged 21, and if the cameras want to follow me and watch, then that's great,' he says. 'The production crew love it when something goes wrong, of course, but we always find a way through. In the country, people have to be self-sufficient, we can turn our hands to almost anything and we always help each other out.' Reuben is the eldest son of Amanda Owen and her now ex-husband Clive, whose everyday life has had us all hooked since their first observational documentary series way back in 2018. Since then, we have watched the highs and lows of the couple and their brood of nine free-range children at their remote home of Ravenseat Farm – aka Our Yorkshire Farm. Needless to say, when his parents separated in 2022, it sparked a tabloid frenzy. There was talk of acrimony, and it was revealed that Amanda had started a new relationship after the separation – but after a brief pause, the broadcasting juggernaut trundled on. There was Beyond the Yorkshire Farm: Reuben & Clive, a spin-off Channel 5 series that showed the father and son duo launching the digging business. Then came Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids on Channel 4, where they renovated a derelict farmhouse. So far, so predictable. Who doesn't like lambs? Who doesn't get overinvested in property-makeover shows? But with Reuben: Life in the Dales we are talking about heavy machinery; 14-ton diggers, huge wagons, quarrying equipment. There isn't even the archetypal canine eye-candy of a winsome Jack Russell keeping Reuben company in the cab. 'A dog would get run over, squashed under the wheels,' says Owen, matter-of-factly. Everything he says is matter-of-fact. In the whole time we meet he doesn't once use the phrase 'my lived experience' or 'safe space'. 'I also haven't got the time to train a dog properly, but I'm sure the day will come when I get one.' He's quietly charming, and is touchingly smitten by his new girlfriend, Jessica Ellwood, also 21, with a smile as wide as the River Swale. She hails from a nearby farming family and can really drive a digger – the ultimate compliment from Reuben. He joins her rounding up sheep, she helps as and when – they are such hard workers, it's the best (sometimes the only) way of getting quality time together. 'Jess is so happy and chilled out,' he says, his eyes crinkling as his slow beam spreads from ear to ear. 'We met at a Young Farmers' event and it was the biggest stroke of luck. She's not bothered by the filming, either, which is great; the telly thing brings a bit of money into the pot, which is useful.' That's all well and good, although at first glance a casual viewer might wonder if it's not rather odd to commission a series (let alone a second series) about a young man and his passion for heavy machinery. Then again, a great many of us said the same about two blokes angling – cue Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing garnering nearly two million viewers per episode. Old, broken stuff? Nobody could have guessed King Charles himself, then Prince of Wales, would turn up at The Repair Shop with heirlooms to fix. So why not Reuben Owen driving his digger? And, in truth, it's surprisingly relaxing to watch him with his great big strapping mates grafting at the quarry, or playing highly competitive tug-of-war. Here is the very definition of good, clean mucky fun and the perfect antidote to the spectre of toxic masculinity that hangs over television dramas. In this new run, we see Reuben punctiliously training up his younger brother Miles, 18, in driving diggers and tractors, and when he muses 'we are always short of staff', I almost suggest three urban lads and a lass I know personally who would benefit from a summer season in the great all-weather outdoors. I doubt Owen would be in the least bit fazed if they turned up tomorrow in their box-fresh Nikes and pristine Stüssy tracksuits. He takes people as he finds them. 'What I do is all about people,' he says sagely. 'I love digging holes, but the success of a business isn't down to the diggers, you need good people you can trust and rely on. Yes, I'm in a position where I'm able to employ my friends, but I would do anything for them and they would for me.' He is clearly his own man and credits his confidence to his upbringing, when the unofficial motto was very much 'fortune favours the brave'. At a time when all small farmers are being forced to diversify, his family have elected to enjoy a parallel telly existence. His mother, in particular, has become a successful presenter in her own right. But Owen concedes there is a downside to the spotlight: 'The media still likes to dig up my parents' separation, making out there was some massive battle when there wasn't,' he says. 'I know how it went and it was all very amicable. They grew apart and split up, but they are still brilliant parents, whether they're together or not. Every now and again, there will be a headline about some little thing that has been blown up out of all proportion. But you can't be on telly and then expect people not to be interested in what you're doing off-screen.' The day we meet, there is a tabloid brouhaha about images posted online by Amanda, which snowflake townies thought were pictures of Owen 'manhandling' a sheep. He was actually helping a distressed ewe give birth to a live lamb. But Owen was blissfully unaware of it all. 'I don't have the time or the inclination to scroll through social media,' he says. 'If you do ever see me on my phone, I'll be searching for machinery sales. I don't want a career on television, I want to be known as the guy who digs big holes; my current ambition is to buy a 50-ton excavator. Now that really would be the realisation of a dream.'
