Our Yorkshire Farm’s Amanda Owen reveals all-time lowest moment since moving to Ravenseat

OUR Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen has revealed her all-time lowest moment since moving to their family home at Ravenseat.

The shepherdess was completely honest and admitted she was “haunted” by an experience on the well-known farm.

Amanda, 46, choked up as she recalled the devastation to her flock of sheep during the country’s Foot and Mouth outbreak.

The mother-of-nine was visibly upset as she spoke about the 2001 crisis to Ben Fogle on his Channel 5 show Return to the Wild.

The reality star revealed: “I think at that point it was the time when we felt the most isolated and the most remote.

“And to look out the bedroom window and to see the Cumbrian sheep being gathered in and being taken to be slaughtered.

“Realising we were just that one step away from losing everything was just horrendous.”

Detailing the extent of the damage, Amanda explained: “We lost a third of our sheep because we send sheep away in the winter to kinder climes.

“So all the sheep that we sent away – they never came back.”

Describing how the framing works, she added: “People will say, ‘well you know you can replace sheep, buy some more – but it doesn’t work like this around here.

“The sheep have always been here – if we leave, the sheep stay. It’s the whole pedigree… how they have homing instincts to stay on their patch.

“Even now, it brings a lump to my throat thinking about it – it was terrible.”

Ben asked: “Still haunts you?”

“Yeah, it really was terrible,” replied the famer as she wiped a tear from her eye.

“When I came here to live, I brought with me one turnover crate, two sheepdog and a handful of sheep – and of course they were there as well, so lost them…”

Amanda told Ben sadly: “People say you can’t know each one of these sheep on an individual basis, because you can’t, we have a lot of them.

“But it doesn’t meet you don’t have that same sort of affection for them, cause if you weren’t bothered about them, you couldn’t do this job.

“You’re always striving to do your best.”

Last month Amanda, who is married to 66-year-old Clive, confirmed her family are set to leave their iconic farmhouse.

Ravenseat is only rented and the pair have been planning to get a place of their own for a while.

The couple have been looking at a derelict farmhouse just a mile away from their current abode, Anty Johns, in Upper Swaledale.

Speaking about her living situation and renting a property with so much history, Amanda told The Home Page: “You feel very temporary like we’re just part of the bigger story before it’s passed on to someone else.

HAUNTED

“Each of the buildings on the farm are named after people who are long gone, but whose memory lives on and it’s important to keep the heritage of the place going.”

Amanda and Clive’s plans to move have already featured on Our Yorkshire Farm, and she previously said: “When the opportunity came up and I saw that ‘for sale’ sign go up, it was like a no brainer.

“The opportunity to get that doesn’t come up that often. I needed to buy it because it’s security, for us and for the children.”

However, in June Amanda gave fans an update and revealed they’ve already hit a stumbling block.

Unfortunately, their plans to renovate the building have been put on hold as they await planning permission from the local council.

Our Yorkshire Farm airs on Channel 5.