TV STAR Amanda Owen has opened up about ex-husband Clive after marriage breakdown as they reunite on new TV show.
Our Yorkshire Farm stars Amanda, 50, and Clive, 69, are getting back together for a new docuseries which reveals their new working relationship post split. Although it wont be a romantic reunion.
Since their TV debut in 2011, we’ve watched Amanda and Clive Owen run their Yorkshire farm in Swaledale, while their brood grew to nine children before the couple split, after 22 years of marriage, in 2022.
Yet they’ve carried on farming Ravenseat together, and they’ve taken on a mammoth project – rebuilding the neighbouring stone barn, known locally as Anty John’s, to be a new family base, as they are currently tenant farmers.
“When Anty John’s was put up for sale, it was a dream come true,” says Amanda, 50. “This is for the future, because with all these children, they need to have a place that they can call home.”
However, the derelict building is listed, so there are strict rules about materials that can be used, there’s no proper road leading to the property and it has no roof. This would be a challenge for anyone – let alone a separated couple.
“I do his head in and he does my head in,” laughs Amanda. “But we are basically on the same side.”
The house got its nickname from Anthony John Clarkson, a mapmaker and diarist who lived there in the 1800s and whose writings have been a revelation.
“It’s the description of the parties, who was philandering, the arguments and gossip, reading about the fairs he visited and children being naughty,” says Amanda. “The core message I suppose is that, socially, not much has changed.”
The five episodes will follow the Owens through the first year of the project and they’re all getting involved, as much as they can.
“I’m viewing it as a labour of love, a complete nightmare and very expensive,” admits Amanda. “I’m Yorkshire through and through, so if I can cut a corner and save myself a bit of money, of course I will. But we’re a family and we have to make ends meet. We’re all going to wade in.”
Amanda admits there is already heated debate about which family members get to live there when the work’s finished.
“My preference would be someone who can at least tidy up after themselves,” she reveals. “It could be someone who thinks nothing of dismantling a carburetor on the kitchen table, or someone who watches television with a goat on their lap, or even someone who has a pony that likes to be groomed in their bedroom! Welcome to the countryside and Our Farm Next Door.”
When the pair parted in 2021 – it spelled the end for their hit Channel 5 series about Ravenseat Farm.
They both went on to do other tv work, Amanda becoming the Yorkshire Shepherdess. They also pursued other relationships.
She said that the fame they got from Our Yorkshire Farm put pressure on the marriage.
At the time she revealed: “We both saw other people. I knew about Clive’s girlfriend and we would tease each other.” she said.
“There were never any secrets. We’ve been open and honest with the children too.”
Amanda went on to have a relationship with Robert Davies.
One of the reasons they agreed to the series is to build a legacy for their nine children Raven, Reuben, Miles, Edith, Violet, Sidney, Annas, Clementine and Nancy. .
Their son Reuben landed his own spin off series Life in the Dales, with Channel 5.
The cameras have come back into the Owen’s lives.
