The Yorkshire Shepherdess
I summarised and took quotes from this article from The Country & Town house online magazine
Image from Amanda Owen’s instagram account
Summary with vocab in bold
Amanda Owen, known as The YorkshireShepherdess, is an incredible woman. Over the summer I became a littleobsessed! I read her books, started following her on Instagram and watched the television programme about her and her family. If you’re wonderingwho the heckThe Yorkshire Sheperdess is and why I think she’sthe bees knees,just look at her lifein numbers:
‘it would go something like this: 46 years old, nine children, 2,000 acres,1,000 sheep, 40 cows, six dogs, four ponies, 156k Twitter followers and four bestselling books.’
Amanda lives on aremoteruralhill farm in the north of England with her husband, six daughters and three sons. Sheturned downa career in modelling to follow her dream. Interingstly she wasn’t born into farming but grew up as a city girl. After seeing beautifulglossyphotographs of hill farms in a library book, she decided that she had found hercallingand‘set aboutfinding her own way to do it.’ She and Clive believe in farming ‘in the same way as has been done for hundreds of years before them’ and they’re out in all weather tending theirflock.
They have a sign saying‘free-rangechildren’ on the road leading up to the house and their kids certainly are kepton a loose rein.The little ones can be seen‘bustling aboutoutside in themuckand mud’ while the older ones help their parents on the farm,tinker aboutwith this and that, ride around on motorbikes, ponies and horses, go sledging in the winter, swimming in the river in the summer and generally keep themselves busy. She ‘treats herbroodlike her flock. There’s no room fornonsense,whingeingis not tolerated, they eat what they’re given.’ Whatever she’s doing, it definitely works because they do seem to beas happy as can be.
Amanda Owen is very Inspiring because she manages to do so much so effortlessly. Her husband says she’sas tough as old bootsand when asks how she does it all, she justshrugsand says in her Yorkshire accent, “Pah.Jog on.It’s what tis, in’tit?”
Summary with vocab in bold
Amanda Owen, known as The Yorkshire Shepherdess, is an incredible woman. Over the summer I became a little obsessed! I read her books, started following her on Instagram and watched the television programme about her and her family. If you’re wondering who the heck The Yorkshire Sheperdess is and why I think she’s the bees knees, just look at her life in numbers:
…‘it would go something like this:46 years old, nine children, 2,000 acres, 1,000 sheep, 40 cows, six dogs, four ponies, 156k Twitter followers and four bestselling books.’
Amanda lives on a remote rural hill farm in the north of England with her husband, six daughters and three sons. She turned down a career in modelling to follow her dream. Interestingly she wasn’t born into farming but grew up as a city girl. After seeing beautiful glossy photographs of hill farms in a library book, she decided that she had found her calling and ‘set about finding her own way to do it.’
She and Clive believe in farming ‘in the same way as has been done for hundreds of years before them’ and they’re out in all weather tending their flock.
They have a sign saying ‘free-range children’ on the road leading up to the house and their kids certainly are kept on a loose rein. The little ones can be seen ‘bustling about outside in the muck and mud’ while the older ones help their parents on the farm, tinker about with this and that, ride around on motorbikes, ponies and horses, go sledging in the winter, swimming in the river in the summer and generally keep themselves busy. She ‘treats her brood like her flock. There’s no room for nonsense, whingeing is not tolerated, they eat what they’re given.’ Whatever she’s doing, it definitely works because they do seem to be as happy as can be.
Amanda Owen is very Inspiring because she manages to do so much so effortlessly. Her husband says she’s as tough as old boots and when asks how she does it all, she just shrugs and says in her Yorkshire accent, “Pah. Jog on. It’s what tis, in’tit?”
Glossary
Shepherdess
A woman whose job it is to look after sheep
obsessed
To think about someone/something all the time
Who the heck
Used to emphasise something. You can also say ‘what the heck’ or ‘how the heck’.
The bees knees
Someone or something that is amazing
in numbers:
To explain something using numbers
Acre
A unit for measuring land - about 4000 square metres
remote
A place that is far away from towns and cities
rural
In the countryside
turned down
To reject (say no to) something
glossy
Shiny
calling
Your purpose in life
set about
To start doing something with a lot of determination
flock
A group of sheep
free-range (adj)
Farm animals that are allowed to move around freely
on a loose rein
To give someone a lot of freedom/to not control them strictly
bustling about
To be busy doing something in a noisy, crowded place
muck
Dirt/animal waste
tinker about
To repair something (usually metal) slowly, trying different things.
brood
A large group of children that have the same parents
no room
No possibility
nonsense
Statememnts/Ideas or behaviour that are not true or sensible
whingeing
Complaining. Children use a particular tone of voice to do this and tend to repeat what they dislike
tolerated
Allowed
as happy as can be
Extremely happy
effortlessly
Without trying
as tough as old boots
Very strong and able to deal with difficult situations
shrugs
To lift up your shoulders and drop them down to show that you do not know or care about something
Jog on
To continue in the same way as usual
It’s what tis, in’tit?”
It is what it is, isn’t it?
Questions
Had you heard of Amanda Owen?
Why do you think she has become so well known? Do you think a woman like her would become so famous in your country?
Do you think 9 children is too many children to have in this day and age? She said that it’s possible that they might have a 10th. She doesn’t want to but they have never used contraception. What’s your opinion of this?
What do you think of her parenting style? If you are a parent, how does it compare to your style? How does it compare to the way that you were brought up?
How would you feel if you had a day in the life of Amanda Owen? What would you like/dislike?