Yorkshire Farm with 9 kids.

[parchworkpatty]

Now on Channel 5. Fabulous fabulous family. I grew up on a farm and reminds me of my childhood (only 2 siblings though)

So lovely to see children all mucking in as a family. And parents that don't restrict learning and adventure on 'what if' health and safety. Great balance between love , nurturing and freedom. Both parents have got it spot on !

Clive looks quite sexy when he's looking full on at the camera. Nice twinkly eyed face. 😊

It does take ages to get to Richmond from there, it's not terribly far as the crow flies but it's a very slow twisty road.

I read her books and I felt they were grossly exaggerated. She spoke about not having money to buy clothes and how the dc literally got a satsuma for xmas she must be a MN. They have lots of side lines; her books, they have a card thing on the farm and a few air bn b Shepherd's huts. Her pregnancies were all very high risk and quite a few of them needed special care so I thought her decision not to bother going to hospital for the one that was born at home was irresponsible.

Whilst the kids seem lovely and they have a very idyllic seeming childhood I would wonder how this life will prepare them for life away from the farm. In the book she said about how the dc rarely left the farm, hadn't been to a museum and didn't need any friends as they had each other. In winter the school bus doesn't come due to bad weather so they don't attend school for weeks on end.
They've maybe extended/built on but the house was a tiny stone cottage nowhere near bi g enough for the family.

Do you think the books are not like the programme then?

Clive has 3 or 4 dc from a previous marriage IIRC.

Whilst the kids seem lovely and they have a very idyllic seeming childhood I would wonder how this life will prepare them for life away from the farm. I don't know why you would think this. My DB's and my childhood was an excellent preparation for life.

derxa I felt this because in the books she spoke about not having time to do homework, not being concerned about their school work, how one summer they never left the farm once. It came across as if they were preparing them for taking over the farm, there was no talk about life beyond the farm at all.

purpleme I have only just started watching this season, but from the other programmes of them that i have seen I think the books are written by someone else not very reflective of their situation. The books are written in broad Yorkshire speak, which neither of them speak!

I think Clive should have had the snip by the Yorkshire vet ! Come in Julian. Randy bugger- so he's got around 14 children?

Yes Amanda has other businesses- a cottage they rent (sorry but it looks tatty inside) , a shepherds hut (ditto) , cream teas, her books, speeches, stationery (cards) , a newspaper column, and she was also in the Dales series before this.

I was shocked to see her driving the 4 x 4 with one hand and turning to talk to the child as they drove along windy roads.

I felt this because in the books she spoke about not having time to do homework, not being concerned about their school work, how one summer they never left the farm once. It came across as if they were preparing them for taking over the farm, there was no talk about life beyond the farm at all. I think this part of her brand. A fantasy world. However we didn't leave the farm much. My DM couldn't drive so we didn't do many outside activities. She was a teacher in her earlier life so homework was non negotiable. Anyway I don't want a silly MN bunfight about it

Clive is like our ram who never gives up despite his advanced years. He seems decrepit and barely able to walk. But when the ewes appear he can easily break into a run.

In one if the episodes Raven was chatting and seemed very articulate and and said she wanted to go away to university and would like to do veterinary science. She said she it would be strange though to be away from the farm and all the siblings being so used to such a busy household.But to me she seemed focused and her parents I feel would encourage any of the children to stay or be independent of the farm -whichever the chose.There is no doubt Reuben is a farmer of the future.

Nether Kirkby Stephen, nor Richmond, have real hospitals, the nearest maternity unit with scbu is a long way. I may watch it if they don't affect the "Wuthering heights" speech used in the books that isn't actually the accent around there at all.

Those that have read the books, is the tv series better?

Mmm I felt interested to read the book after the programme but it's interesting that people have said the book isn't like the programme....

The book wasn't very well written IMO. I couldn't understand some of the Yorkshire speak that they don't even use in RL She did come across as quite smug as a pp said.
I think the series is much better.

One of the babies was in SCBU and it was lambing season or something and Amanda left it there and went home to help on the farm. I think she went back a week later to visit it. IIRC it was a day's drive away.

But she's very pragmatic isn't she
She has quite different views for some things than a lot of people

Yes I suppose you would need to be living in those conditions. She's certainly not going to relate with a lot of stuff that is considered necessary as a parent on MN

Except the likelihood is that she wasn't needed so much during lambing time that she couldn't have stayed with a baby in SCBU.

Farming is hard work and unrelenting a lot of the time but when the chips are down you cope and the rest of the farming community comes out to help.

Sheep are never as important as a newborn baby.

The reality (I hope) probably is that she wanted to be home for the other children, and as Derxa says I think it's part of her brand to be '100% farming' when in reality that's probably not the case. There's no shame in that at all and good on her for showing many aspects of farming life that don't tend to get shown, but lots here are looking at it through rose tinted glasses when I suspect it's not really the full picture.

I love this programme. I think the family are an absolute inspiration. They are both great parents and the children are lovely - they pull together and don't ever seem to fall out! I cannot understand though why she would want 9 children. They seem to be very close together. She looks incredible with great skin , but all those pregnancies must have taken their toll. I notice she wears make up a lot for the camera though!
The children are very lucky to have an upbringing like that, but I did wonder how they will cope with life outside. It is almost as though they are in a time warp. Holidays must be impossible, and are any of them able to have friends back or ever have a day out?

When Clive dies she will left running the place on her own, probably with some of the children staying on.
Farming doesn't seem to have much of a future really, which is very sad.

Where do you think people might get their food from then owl if there isn't a future in farming?

I agree though, depending on what future governments decide to do about farming the Own's type of farming (and mine, we operate in almost exactly the same way) may not exisit in the near future without EU subsidies.

The public will have to decide if they want to pay more for food, pay the same for food but have lower welfare expectations (I.e factory farming on a mass scale) or continue to subsidise farmers like the Owen's to keep farming otherwise unfavourable land.

If shows like this can reach a bigger audience and communicate how upland farms work then all credit to them.

I don't know Scrowy. I suspect more and more people are becoming vegan anyway, or cutting down on meat and dairy consumption. It seems that land seems to be in increasingly short supply with all the endless housing estate springing up everywhere and more arterial roads being built. Also I imagine the knowledge is dying away. People want fast everything - living in a rural environment, doing hard physical work away from the attractions of town and city living don't appeal to the younger generation as much. I don't know anything about it - but this is what i imagine. It's very sad. I hope i'm wrong. I get the impression it's a hard, demanding existence with a strong skillset and work ethic required.

Land like the Owens' would be useless for growing crops though. Sheep farming is probably the only use for it.

Farming doesn't seem to have much of a future really, which is very sad. All the people who grow your food are farmers wherever they are.

Fascinating programme, the whole family are lovely, but I can't help thinking that all those kids aren't planned, it's just that neither of them have bothered to make the time to get some contraception sorted out.

My dad grew up on a farm like this, he’s also one of 9 kids. All but one have left the farm and none have married into farming either. My uncle took the farm over and his son is at agricultural college and will take it over eventually.
The uncles head home to help gather silage and hay in summer and to help shear sheep but only because getting help in is expensive.
I loved it as a kid, running about the hills and helping feed pigs and sheep but I wouldn’t want to do it as a job.