CHRISTMAS on the farm
‘Christmas Day is lively and raucous!’
Amanda Owen, 47, lives at Ravenseat Farm in Yorkshire. Known as the Yorkshire Shepherdess, Amanda lives with husband Clive, 66, and their nine children, Raven, 20, Reuben, 18, Miles, 15, Edith, 13, Violet, 11, Sidney, nine, Annas, seven, Clemmie, six, and Nancy, five.
We’re almost guaranteed a white Christmas. Ravenseat is a 17th-century stone farmhouse in the North Yorkshire Dales. One of the most remote farms in England and set over 2,000 acres of valleys, moors and meadows, the snow starts falling in December and stays until spring.
When snow blankets the fields, we wake up to silence. It muffles the usual sounds of the farm, but with 850 sheep, 40 cows, 50 chickens and several horses, ponies and dogs, the jobs don’t stop, even on Christmas Day. Raven looks after the little ones while I’m shepherding. Reuben and Sidney fix our machinery, Miles helps Clive on the farm, Edith and Violet muck out the fields while Annas, Clemmie and
