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Original poster

To be jealous of Amanda Owen (Yorkshire Shepherdess)

320 replies

AliceAbsolum · 19/11/2021 19:04

Her life just looks amazing. Yes obviously hard at times and not perfect. But 9 lovely children, she's gorgeous, kind husband, successful career, meaningful job and being able to spend time outdoors with her family. All the animals and space.
What I'd give for that life!

OP posts:
TupTupGimmer · 19/11/2021 21:57

@Thatsplentyjack

No the one I'm jealous of was the woman on one of the farming programmes, I think it was This farming life, and she was an expert sheepdog trainer. She bred and trained pups and sold them for a fortune. I think she bought the farm on her own at quite a young age.
Emma Gray?

Pretty sure she and her husband are also tenant farmers though.

There's loads of women in farming on Instagram if anyone wants to see what it's really like (hint, it's mostly like Amanda Owen but with fewer kids and bangles and warmer clothes)

EdenFlower · 19/11/2021 21:58

@Eastridingclub

It must be difficult with her husband going through a painful ageing process and openly admitting he's difficult to be around. She probably feels under a lot of pressure to earn.

And they're probably always cold.

But yes I think she's living her best life and no I don't think her children have been remotely shortchanged on balance. Lovely children, lovely childhood.

I don't understand your post! Painful ageing process? Always cold? ???
BoredZelda · 19/11/2021 22:01

When Jeremy Clarkson started a farm not long back, he was visibly shocked and taken aback by how expensive everything was, how much work was involved, and how difficult some tasks were that he thought would be easy (ie, using a plough/operating a tractor!)

Didn’t he say he could only make it work financially because he was paid by Amazon?

SD1978 · 19/11/2021 22:09

They live separately and have done for some time, it's also all for media show. You like the idea of her life, fair enough, but a single coparenting adult who live in the village her ex does may not be as idyllic as it's portrayed.

Peahead321 · 19/11/2021 22:13

@SD1978

They live separately and have done for some time, it's also all for media show. You like the idea of her life, fair enough, but a single coparenting adult who live in the village her ex does may not be as idyllic as it's portrayed.
It’s annoyed me tbh, I have insider knowledge too but the daily Mail fan club won’t have it. She is being disingenuous too and knows it.
CaptainMyCaptain · 19/11/2021 22:14

@Eastridingclub

remember an episode where a little girl was feeling nervous about her first day at school…she was all ready to go, just a bit quiet! They talked her out of going and kept her at home! She’d have been right as rain with a bit of encouragement.

She had thought she wanted to start early and her parents, although reluctant, were completely led by her. Very sensitive parenting. She went the following year. Who on earth could have a problem with that

I agree. Starring school for her meant an hour's journey in the minibus and an hour back at the end of a tiring day. It's not as if they could go with her to see her settled. I think they made the right decision for them and I was a Reception teacher.
MancMum2000 · 19/11/2021 22:17

God no, her life is the absolute opposite of what I aspire to, I’d hate it.

Horriblehalloween · 19/11/2021 22:27

I prefer This Farming Life to her show

elbea · 19/11/2021 22:28

@BoredZelda I managed an estate for a multi millionaire - thousands of acres. They were nearly £1,000,000 into their overdraft. There isn’t lots of money in farming unless you are developing new tech or diversifying. There are also great tax reliefs for inheritance purposes though, this is why James Dyson is one of the largest land owners in the UK. 100% IHT relief on agricultural land.

Chichichiwawa · 19/11/2021 22:31

I simply can't get my head round anyone having 9 kids- and the impact on a woman's body. Luckily she is 6 ft 2, so she's built for breeding.

"Built for breeding?" She's not a fucking cow. What a horrible thing to say about someone. And fuck knows what her height has to do with it?!

Frostythesnowperson · 19/11/2021 22:34

The kids are lovely and it seems an amazing childhood for them.

She comes across as sort of cold, hard to warm to her.

GettingItOutThere · 19/11/2021 22:39

i think for her it was a marriage of convenience!

Shes in for the fame now

littlemisslozza · 19/11/2021 22:40

We have a farm. It's a way of life, seven days a week and non-stop. Great in summer but tough at times, particularly in winter when you are constantly defrosting water troughs and machinery. I don't think the Owen's go on holiday do they? I'm pretty sure she's said that. We do but only because my in-laws and staff are able to hold the fort. I remember my friends from farming families when I was a child, and their dads rarely went on holiday with them.
Lots of things are weather dependent so it's hard to make plans and quite stressful at times - see Jeremy Clarkson's show! I have to say we really appreciated having loads of space to walk around during the covid lockdowns though.

Pawprintpaper · 19/11/2021 22:45

We enjoyed watching them on the first program with Ade Edmonson, they seemed a bit more authentic then. I have been particularly annoyed about her pontificating on other people’s parenting when life in many places just can’t be as safe or free range as theirs. I always thought Clive and Raven looked uncomfortable around the cameras too.

My DH would have loved to farm (from a farming family) but the economics just wouldn’t add up. He has a job relating to animals/livestock. It’s weird, that sense of a link to the land, in the blood almost, which he pines for despite knowing the hardships and even having lost some farming friends and extended family members to suicide. I am not from farming background so don’t fully get it but can lamb a ewe.

I think it ultimately comes down to comparison being the thief of joy, and the grass not always being greener.

And we can all appreciate the natural world, planting and growing things and being outside, wherever you find it/have access to it.

DalesLass · 19/11/2021 22:47

NC for this.

Hate to break it to you but she is strongly disliked by us locals. Attention seeking and contrived … and not a particularly attentive mother (which is putting it kindly).

Peahead321 · 19/11/2021 22:49

@DalesLass

NC for this.

Hate to break it to you but she is strongly disliked by us locals. Attention seeking and contrived … and not a particularly attentive mother (which is putting it kindly).

I know this. But so may people want the fantasy.
EdenFlower · 19/11/2021 22:55

I always think the family must have some help with the farm and the children- there's surely no way that the two of them could run the farm, the house, cook, clean, wash, and look after 9 children without some farm-hands and a nanny at least?

Frostythesnowperson · 19/11/2021 22:57

Wonder how the children seem all so lovely and happy if she’s not attentive etc

sunnyandshare · 19/11/2021 22:57

I get the impression she's a bit of a narc. I remember one episode where Raven was basically rolling her eyes at everything she said.
I'm not surprised she's not an attentive parent, in her book she says herself that she left her newborn in SCBU and didn't visit it for over a week as she didn't see the point Shock

sunnyandshare · 19/11/2021 22:59

Eden Raven was the unpaid help.

littlemisslozza · 19/11/2021 22:59

Yes, there is the odd thing in the show where my 'health and safety on the farm' radar goes mad. Sad but true. It's too late if a stack of bales falls on you. That's not to say that I don't allow my DC to climb on bales, but only low piles that are stacked in such a way that they are not going anywhere. not the higgledy-piggledy style you see in the programme and only when an adult is with them.

On the other hand those children should grow up with an excellent work ethic and a can-do attitude. Hard to get everything right all the time, I've only got 3 DC and doing anything on the farm when they were little was slow and required a lot of patience and close supervision.

EdenFlower · 19/11/2021 23:09

I'm sure Raven helped with the younger ones a lot, but she would have been at school every day herself- who looked after the little ones while mum and dad were out on the farm feeding animals etc. I don't believe the kids spent full days out working with them! I'm pretty sure there must be help. Even small farms I've been to have some workers to do some of the graft- it's not a one man/woman job!

TupTupGimmer · 19/11/2021 23:11

@EdenFlower

I always think the family must have some help with the farm and the children- there's surely no way that the two of them could run the farm, the house, cook, clean, wash, and look after 9 children without some farm-hands and a nanny at least?
Clive's son Robert from Clive's first marriage runs the other farm they have a tenancy on and there is crossover between the two farms.

And not being funny but we farm in exactly the same way as Clive and Amanda, with the same amount of sheep in the same sort of area and terrain and we do all that (with 3 school age children not 9 of varying ages - but surely after about 3 it becomes a bit moot) without any help. No cleaners or farm hands or handy sons who are apprentice mechanics here.

And I work off the farm 3 days a week.

It is hard. But it's pretty normal in the farming world, I think.

Although if anyone wants to correct me and convince my husband that we need a cleaner I'm all ears.

sunnyandshare · 19/11/2021 23:12

Eden in the book she says that she used to keep Raven off school to look after the preschoolers whilst Amanda went into the hills. I was thrilled to hear she got away to uni!

BoredZelda · 19/11/2021 23:13

There isn’t lots of money in farming unless you are developing new tech or diversifying.

Yeah, I’m part of a farming family. I know full well how little money there is in it for those who do it properly.