Amanda Owen lifts the lid on the painful reality of working with her ex-husband Clive and the moment she ‘felt the tears coming’ while they filmed their latest series
Amanda Owen is shepherding nine children, a herd of pregnant ewes and three unruly goats, all while overseeing a complex renovation and being mansplained to by her ex-husband Clive. On top of that, one of the goats has eaten her quad bike keys, there are several stalks of hay in her tousled brunette bun and she’s down to her crop top because of a spillage. However, with her sharp cheekbones and washboard abs, the Yorkshire Shepherdess still looks impossibly glam.
“It takes me about five minutes to wash my face and slather some moisturiser,” protests Amanda, 50, who says long-lasting make-up is her secret. “Then l put some mascara on, and I will use some irremovable lipstick too. I’ve discovered that certain brands actually don’t come off for about three days even if you have a bath or a shower. Even if I’m only going to see sheep, it makes me feel better.”
Standing in her rustic kitchen wearing just leggings and a tiny crop top, Amanda looks like she’s headed to the gym, however, there are no deadlifts or bicycle crunches for her. Instead, she puts her toned figure down to “shovelling muck” and “stress”. “Definitely no core exercises,” laughs Amanda. “It’s called run ragged and shovelling muck. I filled the barrow this morning with horse muck because the kids were wanting to plant things. Wherever you are on the farm, at some point you are going to end up sweating it out, mucking somewhere out, or trying to encourage an animal to go in a direction that it really doesn’t want to go in.”
Amanda has filmed a new series of Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids, which follows farm life and the family’s joint efforts to renovate a derelict centuries-old stone barn called Anty Johns. “We’re just getting the essentials like a roof, windows and a door,” explains Amanda. “All the things that I suppose you don’t really ever think about. They’re not optional. So in a way, it is simple. And I’m limited because it’s a listed building, so there’s no option for any sort of glass ceilings or anything like that.”
Now the structure is sound, Amanda has realised she doesn’t have a vision beyond making the new house habitable. “All of a sudden the emphasis changes to actually people asking me things, which is a problem because I don’t know,” she admits.
Amanda and Clive first shot to fame when they appeared in the 2011 ITV documentary The Dales . More TV appearances followed and they debuted their own show Our Yorkshire Farm on Channel 5 in 2018. In 2022, the Amanda and Clive shockingly announced the end of their 22-year marriage. Despite the divorce, Amanda and Clive, 69, continue to make TV shows together and co-parent their children Raven, 24, Reuben, 20, Miles, 18, Edith, 16, Violet, 14, Sidney, 13, Annas, 11, and nine-year-olds Clemmie and Nancy.
Amanda reckons their latest TV outing is their best one yet, with lots of different adventures for the whole family. “You get to see the rough with the smooth on the farm,” laughs Amanda. “We aren’t The Waltons! You’ve got the scenery, you’ve got the children, you’ve got the animals… it’s got so many different elements all rolled into one. It’s like one of these home renovation projects, but Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen I ain’t! It’s got a Time Team archaeological element, and a historical Who Do You Think You Are? history element too. It’s a bit Countryfile and a bit The Osbournes!”
Making a TV show is serious business but with her animals, her children and her ex all playing a role, Amanda admits things never go to plan. “What makes it all relatable is that things don’t always go right,” she says. “Any sort of itinerary just goes to the wall. No matter how many things you knock off the list, it always gets longer. Everything escalates.”
Goats eating her keys was one such situation. “We’ve got these three goats that go everywhere and literally no rules apply,” sighs Amanda. “They go through the house, on the roof, in the trailer, in the car… it’s access all areas with the goats. They’ve got a real liking for chewing things and they have an addiction to key fobs, one of them actually ate the quad bike keys!”
However, the moment of horror actually turned to one of triumph as young Sidney came to the rescue. “It became a great learning curve,” says Amanda. “Sidney replaced the whole ignition barrel on the quad bike. I’m so proud of him.”
On camera, Amanda’s life looks idyllic and her children are frequently seen wholesomely enjoying the outdoors and helping on the farm. However, she insists her kids are no different to any others. “They love nothing more than getting online,” says Amanda. “We live in quite judgmental times where you can’t do right for doing wrong. As a parent, it’s hard.”
Watching the show, viewers will be struck by Amanda and Clive’s positive working relationship after their divorce. However, Amanda admits they did nearly fall out while filming the new series. “Clive starts trying to tell me how to use the internet,” says Amanda. “That was definitely tear-jerking in a painful manner, in that mansplaining way. I definitely felt the tears coming – then the red mist!”
Luckily, Amanda can saddle up her horse and gallop off along the windswept moors when it all gets too much. However, she admits it never works out how she hopes.
“I absolutely love going out on my horse,” says Amanda. “I’ve got all the gear collected over the years, nice things. But do I ever go for a ride wearing nice things with a nice-looking horse? No!
“I go in my wellies with bits of string holding the girth together and everything mismatched and somewhere en route I’ll either spot a sheep where it’s not supposed to be or a blocked drain and all of a sudden what was possibly a nice, relaxing time becomes stress!”
Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids airs on Tuesday 29 April at 9pm on More4. Join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News , Flipboard , Apple News, TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads – or visit The Mirror homepage.