Skip to main contentSkip to footer

Exclusive: Amanda Owen on handling 9 kids: 'I'm not a helicopter parent'


Our Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen opens up about her 'feral' summer with nine children: 'I have my moments of absolute crappiness'


woman in abandoned building © LORNA ROACH

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Read our full commerce guidelines here.

Rachel Avery
Rachel AveryHomes Editor
September 11, 2025
Share this:

Amanda Owen, 50, is an open book, willing to answer any question, just don't quiz her on her children's ages or how many books she's already written, as the answer may require some head scratching! With nine children: Raven, 24, Reuben, 22, Miles, 19, Edith, 17, Violet, 15, Sidney, 14, Annas, 12, Clemmy, 10, and Nancy, 9, and a whopping six books under her belt, oh and an entire farm to look after, it's safe to say, Amanda is one busy lady. With her mind still on a pesky runaway sheep, she sat down to speak to HELLO! about her latest achievement, her sixth book, Christmas Tales from the Farm, as well as revealing how she handles online backlash about her parenting. 

woman stood outside with hills behind © LORNA ROACH
Amanda Owen has found time to write another book alongside running a farm and raising nine children

"It feels like the kids have become even more feral," she admits right away. "It always happens the last week of the school holidays." With a farm and the Yorkshire Dales on the doorstep, there's no need to venture anywhere else for six weeks, as plenty of fun can be had at home. "They haven't officially, really, actually been anywhere," Amanda says, explaining they have their own campsite at home, and the children love it. "We've got space on our doorstep, around home - it's lazy parenting, because you can quit on it at any point. You know, if you decide that you really, really don't want porridge in a pot, then you can just go home and get whatever it is that you really wanted." 

Writing after dark 

"Over the summer holidays, the children have had developed a new obsession with going swimming in the dark, because there have been such beautiful skies. I've been taking little oil lamps with me and putting them on the stones at the side of the pools where they swim out in the river," Amanda tells us. But once the children finally climb into bed, that's the time she finds for writing, fueled by cups of tea. "If there's sort of a space at any point, like a gap during sort of daylight hours, I'm never gonna go: 'Think I'll go in and do a bit of writing'," and that's because there's too much to be done on the farm. "The only actual time that I will have to be able to write is after hours at night," she adds.  

book cover christmas tales from the farm
Amanda's latest book is out now

"It really kills me each time I do [a book]," she confesses. "But it's, it's good, it's like, one of those, no pain, no gain things". Christmas Tales from the Farm is exactly that, tales inspired by Amanda's real life with her kids on the farm, so in order to write her content, she must delve back into her memories – and for her, it starts with pictures. "Instead of having any sort of diary to remind myself, it's literally looking at my phone and all the pictures I take, the pictures are a diary that spurs on my thoughts," she explains. And, yes, the three little goats that think they live inside the house and are constantly eating the kids homework and socks is based on a very real story!

The busy mum has a refreshing take on parenting – and it's honest and real. "It's not always going to all go right to the book," she admits. But how she judges her parenting is by her full, busy household. "I've accumulated more kids because they keep inviting the friends and the girlfriends and the boyfriends and just randoms who seem to be asleep on the sofa. The other day in somebody else's bed - that was a problem. But that's what I like, because that is the true indicator of where you're at when it comes to being a parent. They want to be around. [People say], 'What are you going to do when they all disappear, and you've got an empty nest?' Well, it hasn't happened yet, has it?

Amanda Owen with four of her children and ex-husband Clive posing for a selfie outside farmhouse© Instagram
Amanda and Clive with four of their children as they continue to work on Anty John's, a derelict farmhouse on their farm they're transforming completely

 "I don't worship them. I don't idolise them. I call them little buggars sometimes, because they are. They can be little so-and-so's, of course they can. But I just enjoy them, right? I enjoy them and seeing their viewpoint and seeing what's happening in their lives," she adds.

Online backlash  

Amanda's parenting has previously come under fire online, with people questioning her methods, but for Amanda, she looks inwards for reassurance. "I have my moments of absolute crappiness, you know, I get the letters home, no PE kit, wrong shoes, haven't filled in the form, sent them with pond water in. Yeah, yeah, all the rest of it," she admits. "I think you have to get to a point where you have to assess yourself and say, 'Am I happy with who I am? Am I happy with how my children are?', and then after that, do your thing," she says. "[The opinions] are not actually anything out of the ordinary. It's just there that we seem to be far more shouty about everything now."

Amanda's big break

Amanda's TV show, Our Yorkshire Farm, has been a huge hit and it has thrust Amanda into the limelight, now with 542,000 followers on Instagram, but she had no idea it would turn out this way when she signed up to the show. "You know, you're not at that point. It wasn't anything to do with being paid. There was no money. It was all I thought was, 'Well, maybe it's a way I can advertise a little business making cups of tea' – it's an empire built on making cups of tea!"

our yorkshire farm 1
Amanda shot to fame on Our Yorkshire Farm

Despite having built an empire, Amanda is cautious of ensuring her children work hard instead of expecting everything on a plate. She has grafting credentials in many areas, getting stuck into every element of farming life and teaching her children to do the same. "It's in this competitive age that we live in. I want them to have fire in their belly." She points out that their latest venture, renovating an old farmhouse, Anty John's, is more about teaching the children a lesson rather than leaving them a legacy. 

"Is it sort of a legacy for them? Well, no, because, I want to prove to them that it's all about opportunities, and whether you take them. There would be much easier way to sort of hand something on, you could say, 'Let's split the money apart and do whatever you want'. Why not actually do something? It sounds very TikTok, but life is about the journey. I don't wish for [my] kids to be lucky. I wish for them to have opportunities like I've had and taken."  

Amanda and Clive are working together to restore Anty John's Farm© LORNA ROACH
Amanda and Clive Owen are storing Anty John's together
cottage with lights on next to large tree
Amanda and Clive's renovation project has been hands on for all of the family

With daughter Raven bagging a first-class degree and Reuben starting his own business in the Dales, each of Amanda's children has their own path, and she embraces that. "It's like saying, these are the groundworks. These are the foundations. This is where you grow up. This is where you learn common sense and work ethic. You learn about people, animals, everything. Then you take that with you out over the hill, and whether that's to university, whether that's to another job, etc."

She adds: "I am not a helicopter parent. I can guide and I can sort of encourage, but I just like to see their characters come through, and I like to see what they can achieve."

Christmas Tales from the Farm by Amanda Owen is out now (Puffin £14.99,) available at WaterstonesAmanda Owen is on tour from 5 Nov - 7 Dec. Tickets available here.

 

 

Sign up to HELLO Daily! for the best royal, celebrity and lifestyle coverage

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

More Parenting
See more