Our Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen has opened up about the challenges of co-parenting her nine children following her split from her husband Clive.
The couple, who had been married for 22 years, rose to fame through the Channel 5 show which followed their shared life on Ravenseat Farm in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. Owen, 48, admitted it has been “tough” since they announced they were separating last year, but that they “just have to get on with it”.
She told the Radio Times: “Look, there are two simple facts: if he thought I was brilliant, and I thought he was brilliant, then we wouldn’t have separated. It’s a fact, isn’t it?
“But, you know what, that’s not unique, it’s just how things are, pressures, all the rest of it. But we have nine kids, with associated friends, girlfriends, and we just have to get on with it.”
Owen said she felt the term co-parenting is a buzzword which just meant “we take it in turns to shout at the kids”. Following their split, the Yorkshire shepherdess began filming a new More4 documentary, titled Amanda Owen’s Farming Lives, her first solo series without Clive.
She explained that her time away had to be carefully negotiated with the filming done in small sections. She said: “We go for the three-day rule: three days is the maximum number of sandwich boxes and stuff that we can get prepared and the maximum amount of carnage that I can cope with on my return.”
The new series sees her visiting other working farms across the UK, exploring their innovative methods and the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis. She said: “If you’re in farming and agriculture, it’s very easy to feel like you’re unsupported, even vilified.
“There are so many people pointing fingers. So it was actually really heartening to see how different people were making it work and how diverse modern farming is.”
Despite her TV series and range of farming books, she said she does not consider herself a celebrity farmer, but admitted she can see the irony that her side projects can be more profitable than the actual work with the animals. She explained:
“I’ve just paid a feed bill and our costs have doubled – and those prices never come back down.
“Obviously that hits your margins, so you’re then left trying to find ways to make money. But farmers are incredibly good at adapting.”
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