Amanda Owen says renovation project ‘very difficult’ due to Yorkshire weather

Our Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen has spoken about the challenges of a renovation project due to the “very difficult” weather.

The Yorkshire shepherdess, 50, who rose to fame on the Channel 5 programme, announced in 2022 that she was splitting from her husband Clive Owen but would continue to work with him on the farm and co-parent their children.

The pair star in new Channel 4 programme Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids, which follows the pair and their nine children as they renovate a derelict farmhouse.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, alongside her children Clemmy, Nancy and Annas, Ms Owen said: “We’re getting there (with the renovation). We like a challenge, don’t we?

“Yeah, it’s been very difficult, what with Yorkshire’s weather coming at us. Things have gone far slower than we’d have ever wished for.

“Because it’s a listed building, because it’s got a lot of history – we’ve got the diaries from the chap who used to live and farm there – it’s really important to us that we keep that heritage and that legacy that he left behind, and keep it true to what it really is, those roots.

“That is quite an undertaking, but it’s been fascinating learning about who lived there.”

Reflecting on what it is like to farm in 2024, she said: “It’s difficult times, you don’t know what the future holds for you.

“You’re always mindful, particularly when you’re farming the land and very much in touch with the historical aspect. You’re very mindful of the passing of time.

“Although we’re looking backwards, at what was (on the show), we’re also looking forward, and it’s so interesting to find out and see that a lot of the ideas that we are championing now about the environment, sustainability and our sort of more holistic way of farming – it’s just a rebrand. We were doing it a long time before.”

Ms Owen and her family appeared on Our Yorkshire Farm, launched in 2018, which followed their life on Ravenseat Farm.

She later published a book titled Celebrating The Seasons With The Yorkshire Shepherdess, which features stories and pictures from their lives in the countryside, alongside seasonal recipes.

In the new five-part Channel 4 series, the family work with a team of local tradespeople for help on the renovation while they run the family sheep farm, battling one of the wettest years on record.