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back with , yes , you guessed it , her copy of “ The Hill Shepherd ”! She had picked it up for pennies at an old sale . Now , here ’ s an amazing thing , Amanda has not only met but knows many of the farmers in the book ! And , would you believe it , on page 133 , there is a picture of her husband Clive – what ’ s all that about ? More later .
Before her journey started , Amanda was already getting into the farming life by helping to lamb sheep locally ; she describes herself then as “ Full of enthusiasm but knowing nowt about it .”
She left school and started right at the bottom milking cows at Flockton near Wakefield . There were times when she felt like giving up . Back then there was little modern equipment , it was up at 5am , two buses or bicycle to get there , working in the freezing cold , covered in muck . People used to move away from her on the bus as she sat there smelling of silo . She had to walk across Huddersfield to catch her connecting bus home , passing by the fantastic Victorian Byram Arcade . One day , she happened to see a sign in the window advertising for a shop assistant in the china shop , of all places . In she walked in her smelly finery . Her engaging chat and personality must have shone through as the manager , Phillip , offered her the job starting the following Monday . It was a welcome change , if a stark one , from farmyard to china shop . She actually quite enjoyed working in the shop , however Phillip could tell that Amanda ’ s heart was really in farming , just not a cowshed particularly .
Reading her Farmers Weekly one lunch hour , she saw exactly what she was after , Assistant Shepherd Required ! The only rub was it was in Wiltshire ! No matter , “ Let ’ s get on with it ” was Amanda ’ s immediate thought . So , from milking shed in Flockton ,
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to china shop in Huddersfield , to living in a communal farmhouse in Wiltshire ! The journey was well under way .
There she was , mucking in with farm life , living and working in a very male-orientated environment . Primarily , the job was looking after the Hoggs who were wintered on Salisbury Plain , so along with valuable experience in sheep farming came plenty of experience of tanks and mines !
A Lake District farmer was visiting his hoggs that were wintering on the farm at the time and suggested that she really should be working back up north long term . So , she then looked for something up north and found a job lambing at Whinfell Park in Cumbria ( which is now Centre Parcs ). In the true roller coaster life that Amanda was enjoying , she had a crash in her car on the way back up at Bath . Undaunted , she carried on her journey by train ! After Whinfell Park , she moved onto working for Atkinsons at Tirrill near Ullswater and went back to milking . From then on , Amanda did a lot of jobbing work labouring on farms , including Brunskills at Bampton . At that time , extra pairs of hands were always welcome and there was plenty of relief work . She also worked with shearing gangs and even did a stretch of dry-stone walling at the side of the A66 – it doesn ’ t ’ t get much tougher or bleaker than that !
Amanda ’ s appreciation and knowledge of farming in the Lake District was growing at a pace . As I said earlier , by now she had either met or become friends with many of the people featured in “ Hill Shepherd ” the original book that had inspired her .
1996 was about to become a major turning point in Amada ’ s life . She was working for a local farmer milking cows . He asked her to pick up a yow from Ravenseat Farm . It was a long journey right up the
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Dales , down dirt tracks , even crossing a small ford and when the road stopped there was Ravenseat . At the farm she met Clive for the first time .
As I mentioned earlier , Clive ’ s photo was also in the famous book . Clive was originally from Doncaster then his parents moved to Tebay . When he took on the tenancy for Ravenseat Farm in 1988 he wasn ’ t first choice for it , however when he went to see the farm , he had a good chat with the agent and walked the land , the agent had even gone by the time he got back . Clive ’ s enthusiasm had impressed the agent so much that he got the farm .
When Amanda arrived eight years later at the tender age of 21 to pick up the tup , her first impression of the farm was that it was looking a tad tired and in need of some TLC , despite this , for some reason , she felt she could sense what it could be like with life back in it again . So , when Clive asked her in for a cup of tea she agreed , and they chatted small talk . Clive managed to get Amanda ’ s number , she ignored his calls for a week , but finally curiosity and thinking about that first meeting she relented and answered . Clive said he had a yow with a broken leg and could she come and lend a hand . She agreed to come and help , not stopping for a moment to think why the vet wasn ’ t assisting ! Suffice to say , what started as friendship developed into something more . Amanda was living in a cottage at Crosby Ravensworth which was a bit of a trek . Suffice to say Amanda eventually moved in , however Clive did say earlier on that if his sheepdog hadn ’ t liked her that would have been it .
In 2000 Amanda and Clive got married at home . They borrowed a beer tent and asked people to bring pot plants to help decorate the tent . Ravenseat Farm is
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exactly halfway on the 192-mile popular coast-to-coast walk , which was the reason why the wedding party suddenly appeared to have some unknown guests who thought it was a refreshment tent ! Lightbulb moment , Amanda thought “ Eyup , the number of walkers that come through here in a year , if I could sell ‘ em all a cup of tea and a scone , how good would that be !”
So nowadays in summer , Ravenseat is a very popular stop-off on the coast-to-coast walk . This was the start of the diversification at Ravenseat . More of that later .
In 2001 as newlyweds they endured a tough time when they lost a third of their stock to foot-and-mouth ; the isolation they experienced was the nearest to the current pandemic .
Having seen the family on television , our conversation switched to Amanda ’ s nine children , I said “ They seem relatively spaced apart , were they all planned ?” “ Oh no , no plan here ,” said Amanda again , quick as a flash . “ It just happens , and you get on with it ”. There was no bigger test to that statement than with the birth of their first daughter , Raven . What happened would have put most people off for life . It was 2002 , foot-and-mouth disease was still everywhere , and the countryside was still , effectively , closed . Amanda was in the house , her labour having started . Meanwhile Clive was in the barn calving ! Things didn ’ t feel right , and Amanda was on the phone to the midwife begging her to attend , as from watching sheep birthing , she knew a hands-off approach is best . Such is the remoteness of the farm that midwives don ’ t like to come and visit , however she did come . Thank heavens she did . The calf was born safely , however the
Continued on page 68
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