Amanda Owen, the Yorkshire Shepherdess known from Our Yorkshire Farm, opens up about the intense pressure she experiences while renovating her family’s farmhouse, Anty John’s, in a recent episode of Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids.
Challenges in Farmhouse Renovations
The house divides into two distinct sections: the listed main house requires traditional blind plastering, while the unlisted barn end allows for quicker plasterboard and skimming. This approach proves faster, easier, and more cost-effective.
Progress accelerates as the project shifts focus to interiors and styling. Amanda explains, “The house is, in a way, split in two. Basically, the house end is listed. The barn end is not listed. So the main house needs to be done with blind plaster, and the barn end, we can just plasterboard and skim it.”
During a consultation with lighting expert Simon, initial options fall short. Amanda rejects the first as “too modern” and the second as making her feel “sea sick.” She notes, “I’ll tell you something, it’s incredibly interesting. But I feel like that is far too much out there for this place.”
The decision-making weighs heavily on her. “There’s a bit more sort of onus and pressure on me to kind of make decisions, and that’s really hard,” she admits. “I don’t know quite what I am doing, so what I am doing is relying on other people to come up with suggestions while I say, ‘No’.”
Heartbreaking Loss of Family Dog
The episode also captures the Owen family’s grief over the death of their cherished dog, Chalky. Amanda fights back tears as the children, aware the end neared, rush out devastated. The family gathers to bury Chalky, with daughters reciting a poem in his honor.
Amanda recalls, “When the children came running out of the house door saying that Chalky had passed away, they were absolutely bereft, and they knew it was coming, and I knew it was coming. But still, just to see her laid there, as peaceful as anything and still warm, it pulled at your heartstrings.” She adds, “No, she’s had a good life.”
Clive reflects fondly, “Oh, it’s good old Chalkie. She’s gone, but not forgotten. She’s lived a great life, and she’s been a great friend to us all. There she’ll be, and we’ll remember her there, won’t we?”
Our Yorkshire Farm airs on Channel 5, and Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids streams on All4.
