Amanda Owen, 50, is the epitome of a working mum. If she’s not out on the farm, she’s homeschooling son Sidney, making tea for nine children or finding a few hours to write another book. The Yorkshire Shepherdess sat down with HELLO! to discuss her latest achievement, a children’s storybook, set the record straight on co-parenting and working alongside her ex, Clive, and explain how her nine children are heavily involved in her renovation project, Anty John’s.
Fans of Our Yorkshire Farm show often quiz Amanda on the situation with her ex, Clive, as they still parent together, work together and film together. He lives at the farm, while she resides a mile away, but their lives are still very much “intertwined”. But all hopes of a reconciliation are quashed by the mum-of-nine. “What am I supposed to say, ‘We get on like a house on fire?’ Well, if we did, we wouldn’t want to separate, would we? He’s still the same annoying old Clive that he always was. I’ve seen him just now, and he’s still annoying – I annoy him, and he annoys me.”
There will be no drastic separation, she says. “I mean, how would we even divide that up? I mean, it’s just not even happening. Who would get custody of all the sheep and the dogs and the horses, and who would want custody? It’s tricky when businesses and families are so intertwined. Then, there must be a compromise on both sides.” She adds: “It’s my day-to-day life, and that is our situation, and you just have to make it work.” While it may be unconventional to some, Amanda assures: “Anyone who comes here and sees us and sort of how we are is perfectly at ease with it”.
Anty John’s home renovation
Amanda and Clive are working together on the renovation of Anty John’s, a derelict farmhouse in the area. The property is still a work in progress and the children are so involved, too. “They’ve been doing some plaster boarding and tidying up some scrap metal and putting it on a trailer. I left them with four bathroom catalogues [the other day], to see if they could find a Belfast sink that would fit in the space,” Amanda explains.
Filming has now commenced for the latest series of Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids. While Amanda spoke to us, she revealed that a few of her kids were mic’d up, ready to appear on camera. “I’m not overseeing that. I am not hovering,” she adds. “I just think that freedom [is important]. I’m not a helicopter parent.”
While they may be hands-on with the home reno, Amanda’s writing is something they stay out of. “It takes me all my time to get them even slightly interested,” she confesses, as she talks about her latest book, Christmas Tales from the Farm. “They don’t sit there at any point and go, ‘Oh my God, my mum’s a writer, or any of that.” Luckily for Amanda, they do muck in with farm work, though, and there’s plenty of that to go around.
Christmas Tales from the Farm by Amanda Owen is out now (Puffin £14.99,) available at Waterstones. Amanda Owen is on tour from 5 Nov – 7 Dec. Tickets available here.
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