Our Yorkshire Farm's Clemmie heads off to school

Our Yorkshire Farm’s Amanda Owen who blasted ‘snowflake’ children says an emotional goodbye to her daughter Clemmie, 5, who wants to stay at home with her pony instead of going to school for the first time

  • Amanda Owen sent six of her nine children off to school in Our Yorkshire Farm
  • Yorkshire Shepherdess’ youngest Nancy, four,  was the only one left at home with the eldest two, Raven, 20, and Reuben, 16, at University and an apprenticeship 
  • Clemmie, 5, was reluctant to go to  school and wanted to say with her pony
  •  Viewers quickly took to Twitter to praise the adorable scenes, commending Amanda for her ‘excellent parenting’

Our Yorkshire Farm viewers have praised shepherdess Amanda Owen for her grace as said an emotional goodbye to her youngest daughter who reluctantly headed off on her first day of school.

During last night’s episode of the hit Channel 5 show, Amanda 46, saw six of her nine children travel the hour and a half journey to school after month of home schooling during lockdown.

While most of the Owen children were excited to see their friends again, five-year-old Clemmie didn’t want to go to her first day of school, saying she’d prefer to stay at home with her ‘best friend’ Tony the Pony.

Our Yorkshire Farm viewers have praised shepherdess Amanda Owen for her grace as said an emotional goodbye to her youngest daughter who reluctantly headed off on her first day of school. Pictured: Dad Clive, 67, Mum Amanda, 46, have nine children: – Raven, 20, Reuben, 17, Miles, 15, Edith, 12, Violet, ten, Sidney, nine, Annas, seven, Clementine (known as Clemmie or Tilly), five, and four-year-old Nancy

Viewers quickly took to Twitter to praise the adorable scenes, commending Amanda for her ‘excellent parenting’ and branding little Clemmie ‘a sweetheart’.  

‘Absolutely loved #OurYorkshireFarm on Channel 5.   How brave was Clemmie on her first day at school,’ said one.  

Alongside Clemmie going to school was Miles, 14, Edith, 12 , Violet, ten, Sidney, nine, Annas, seven, while the oldest Raven, 20, left Ravenseat to head back to University in York and 17-year-old Reuben headed off for his mechanics apprenticeship. 

This left just  four-year-old Nancy on the farm to help Amanda and her husband Clive, 67.

While most of the Owen children were excited to see their friends again, five-year-old Clemmie didn’t want to go to her first day of school, saying she’d prefer to stay at home with her ‘best friend’ Tony the Pony’ (pictured together)

Amanda ditched a career in modelling to work as a shepherdess in a remote farm in Yorkshire and since 2015, has been starring in the hit show which follows her family’s life in Upper Swaledale, North Yorkshire. 

The couple run the 2,000-acre tenant farm where they manage their flock of around 1,000 sheep and run a B&B while raising their ‘free-range’ childre, who all help out on the farm, even four-year-old Nancy.

‘Are you excited to put on your school uniform?’ Amanda asked her daughter Clemmie on last night’s episode.

While she initially said yes, Clemmie quickly changed her mind and put her thumbs down saying she didn’t want to go to school.     

Amanda ditched a career in modelling to work as a shepherdess in a remote farm in Yorkshire and since 2015, has been starring in the hit show which follows her family’s life in Upper Swaledale, North Yorkshire. Pictured is Miles, 14, Edith, 12 , and five-year-old Clemmie

‘It’ll be alright, it’ll be exciting.

‘You’ve been at home all summer. You’ve had all this time with Tony and Nancy has said she will help look after your pony,’ Amanda added reassuring her daughter.  

‘He’ll be there when you go to school in the morning, and he’ll be there when you come back won’t he? So, it’ll be alright.’

Speaking to the camera, Amanda said that her five-year-old is ‘bound to be nervous’ 

‘It’s a big thing, it’s her first day at school.

‘I’m just playing it down because I’m going to miss them. Obviously, they need to go back to school I’m not denying it.’ 

‘But it’ll be a bit funny without them,’ she added.  

Amanda has often been praised for the way she’s raised her children, but recently branded others of their generation ‘snowflakes’ saying they ‘can’t do anything for themselves’. 

While she initially seemed excited , Clemmie quickly changed her mind and put her thumbs down saying she didn’t want to go to school. Pictured on the farm with a chicken

But this week’s episode show that her children are anything but snowflakes and sees new beginnings for the whole family.

On the morning of the return to school, Amanda told her husband Clive: ‘I think they need to see their friends now. Clemmie has kept saying she doesn’t want to go but I’m not engaging.

‘She will have her siblings at school, they will show her what’s what.’ 

Clemmie looks more excited as she gets ready for school in the morning, sharing her breakfast with Tony the Pony, before big sister Annas holds her hands to walk her to the gate. 

Viewers quickly took to Twitter to praise the adorable scenes, with viewers commending Amanda for her ‘excellent parenting’ and branding little Clemmie ‘a sweetheart’.

But on her return Clemmie told her parents she had a ‘great time’ and was excited to go back. 

‘Clemmie has come back quite happy, she doesn’t seem too tired, so what more can you ask for really?’ 

Many viewers praised the sweet scenes, with some saying it made them crave a life on a farm.

‘I want to move to Yorkshire and live on a farm,’ said one.

‘What a fantastic life!’ added another. 


Farm life! Amanda often poses my tractors and shows off her life on the Yorkshire Dale farm with her children while her little ones are often spotted about too (right)


Not just for fair weather! Amanda gets out on the farm no matter what the weather and often posts pictures in the rain from wet and windy Yorkshire

The episode comes as Amanda revealed young people ‘don’t know anything about how to look after themselves’ adding that they have ‘no work ethic’. 

‘All of that has gone out of the window. It’s our fault as parents,’ she told the Radio Times.

‘If you put your child on a pedestal, with no sense of independence, and think you have got to entertain them the whole time, what can you expect?’ she added.

Owen revealed she gave birth to her eighth child at home on the floor while her husband was asleep upstairs

‘I rebuff swaddling children, because I want to see them go on and do well and be themselves, whatever that is. I feel like it is their life and all I do is prepare them.

‘What we do on the farm, hopefully, is preparation for the big world. The lessons they get here will stand them in good stead.’

She also revealed she gave birth to her eighth child on her own after deciding she could handle the task on her own, said she has instilled a sense of independence in her offspring. 

Our Yorkshire Farm’s Amanda Owen hit the headlines yesterday after she blamed parents for today’s ‘snowflake’ generation of youngsters who cannot look after themselves – but how does she raise her own kids? 

The Channel 5 star said she had wanted her children to make the most of the independence she has allowed, including when it comes to home schooling. 

She added: ‘We logged in for about a week. Then I threw it back to them

‘Children have to be independent. I can’t be a helicopter parent. We read the papers and they show me some of their projects, but I have yet to be at a single parents’ evening. I did pretty poorly at my exams, but look at what I have achieved since then.’

Free spirits! The mother-of-nine said she has instilled on that same sense of independence in their children (Owen is pictured with some of her children on the Moors)

Owen met her husband in 1996 when he was already divorced with two children, after she arrived at his farm as a 21-year-old trainee shepherdess. They quickly fell in love despite the age gap.

By the time she came to deliver daughter Clemmie, now five, she had already decided she could handle the incredible task on her own

‘Our local maternity hospital is in Middlesbrough, which is 69 miles away, and on these roads, that takes a long time. So by baby number eight, I thought sod it, I’ll do it myself.


Even the youngest of the nine kids help out around the farm with chores, including feeding lambs (left, Nancy) and untying hay bales (right Sid) 

‘I knew the baby was in the right position, so when I felt the familiar feelings I went downstairs and had the baby in front of the fire with my terrier as a birthing partner.’

She added: ‘Clive wasn’t desperate to be at the birth, he was asleep upstairs. I went and woke him up with the baby.’

Many of the children help out on the farm when they are not at school – or travelling to and from as the journey takes an hour and a half each way.

The couple run the 2,000-acre tenant farm where they manage their flock of around 1,000 sheep and run a B&B while raising their ‘free-range’ children – ranging from four-year-old Nancy, to Raven, 20, who has left to study at University. Pictured: Dad Clive, 67, Mum Amanda, 46, Raven, 20, Reuben, 17, Miles, 15, Edith, 12, Violet, ten, Sidney, nine, Annas, seven, Clementine (known as Clemmie or Tilly), five, and four-year-old Nancy

Amanda has often been praised for the way she’s raised her children, but recently branded others of their generation ‘snowflakes’ saying they ‘can’t do anything for themselves’.

‘In order to make a big family work they all need to tow the line. It’s not about child labour – it’s about pulling together,’ Owen told the Daily Mail in an article in 2018.

Their traditional way of life helps keep costs down, too.

With the nearest shop so far away – and the risk during winter that they could be snowed in for weeks – Owen buys food in bulk, and manages to feed her large family for just £130 a week.

Their water is free, channelled from the stream on the moor, and they heat the house and water with a roaring fire, which burns every day no matter what the weather.

The biggest utilities bill is electricity, which costs £160 per month.

They pay for their annual tenancy in the stone farmhouse with the profits made from farming – although this can be a struggle with 2,000 kilos of sheep’s wool going for just £65.

On a good day they will sheer 130 sheep. 

Our Yorkshire Farm airs Tuesday at 9pm on Channel 5 

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