I’ve never said I was a feminist ... I just do what I do
MUM-OF-NINE AMANDA OWEN TALKS TO HANNAH STEPHENSON ABOUT FEMINISM, FARMING AND MIXING SHOWBIZ WITH SHEPHERDING
wear green waterproofs all the time’. I’m not out to make a statement, I just want to do my own thing.
“When I go out to do a talk or a book signing, I think it would be really contrived if I looked like I’d just come out of the farmyard. I will be wearing something far sleeker than I would on the farm.
“I want to make myself feel pretty,” she adds. “I might work in a man’s world but I don’t want to be one.”
She’s never been to a spa, or a gym and only occasionally gets out the tweezers to tame her bushy eyebrows.
But she does river-swim, cycles a lot, and walks for miles on the moors tending her sheep.
Is she a feminist?
“I’ve never said I’m a feminist because I wouldn’t particularly say that I am.
“I’m not trailblazing or championing a cause. I just do what I do.”
She and her husband, farmer Clive, who live in the tenant farm of Ravenseat, have bought a nearby farmhouse in Swaledale for the family to put down more permanent roots. It’s currently being let as a holiday home. She also has a shepherd’s hut B&B.
Amanda admits they couldn’t have bought the farmhouse without the money she’s earned from TV and writing. When she’s away filming or doing book promotions, Clive takes over the running of the B&B. The older children also help out a lot.
“It’s never been a case of, ‘That’s your job, that’s my job’, it’s always been a question of us mucking in,” Amanda says.
“The children help. People might frown on that, thinking I’m rearing my own workforce, but it’s not like that. We take a great deal of pleasure and pride in what we do. We work really hard.”
With nine children between the ages of two and 18, Amanda admits she’s relied more on them to help as they’ve got older.
“Edith and Violet have been helping to take out tea trays and take orders. Yesterday we were bloodtesting cows, taking blood samples, and the children were helping with the paperwork,” she explains.
“Anyone can come here and talk to the kids about how their life is. It’s not like the Gulag, they actually like being involved in it. I’m not saying we’re all skipping around like the Waltons but there’s a satisfaction in doing stuff.”
While she’ll never say never, she doubts if she’ll have any more children.
“I’ve reached that time, I’m 44,” she says. “I’m a big believer in going with the flow, really. We’ll see what happens. I’ve a two-and-a-half-year-old now and nothing’s happened since. So maybe we’re sticking at nine.”
So, has becoming a celebrity made much difference to her everyday life?
“Put it this way, today I’ve had one lamb with stinking foot rot, I’ve had a dog that I’ve rescued, made umpteen cups of tea, baked scones, and now I can look forward to not having electricity all day so I’ll be cooking on an open fire, so not a right lot has changed in my everyday life. But that’s good. I never wanted anything to change.”
She has her own website and nearly 59,000 followers on Twitter, and while she hasn’t personally experienced trolling, she can see how it could happen.
“You do have to toughen up because there are people out there who will say things you’re not going to like. You have to accept you’re not going to be everybody’s cup of tea.”
I haven’t grown a moustache yet. I wear eyeliner and waterproof mascara and lipstick