Author of four Sunday Times Bestselling books and star of Channel 5’s highest rated factual series Our Yorkshire Farm, Amanda Owen is known to millions as The Yorkshire Shepherdess.
Amanda Owen runs a two thousand acre hill farm in Swaledale in North Yorkshire, fifty miles from the nearest large town. She is a full time shepherdess tending a thousand sheep and has nine children with farmer husband Clive. Her life is dominated by the seasons, feeding, clipping, dipping, herding, rescuing and lambing her flock in one of the most remotely beautiful yet tough spots in the country.
Part photography book, part recipe book and part memoir, Celebrating the Seasons includes over 200 stunning photographs taken by Amanda showcasing the bleak and beautiful landscape she calls home, opening up a window into a life lived on one of the country’s highest, wildest moors – land so inaccessible that in places it can only be reached on foot.
Amanda’s love of photography came out of a desire to keep a lasting record of family life on the farm – taking natural, honest and spontaneous pictures of spectacular scenery, and providing a real insight into the unique joys and challenges of daily life.
In many ways Amanda and her family live a simple life, in tune with nature, and Amanda’s attitude to food is the same. The book includes 24 of Amanda’s favorite seasonal and family friendly recipes including Hedgerow Nutty Crumble, Gypsy Lamb Stew, Wild Mushroom Soup with Wood Sorrel and Hazelnut Pesto and Yorkshire Curd Tart. When it comes to feeding her family Amanda believes in buying good, seasonal ingredients and shares her favourite recipes here, all easy and all cheap to make.
Celebrating the Seasons is also a seasonal account of life on the farm. Written month by month, Amanda takes the reader on a richly illustrated journey through the seasons, describing the age-old cycles of a farming year and the constant challenges the family face.
Reading has always been a big part of Amanda’s life – she was inspired to follow her farming dream by the works of James Herriot and credits the photography book Hill Shepherd by John and Eliza Forder as the book that sparked her interest in shepherding and sheep. Just as Hill Shepherd was written as a lasting tribute to a traditional way of life Celebrating the Seasons is a tribute to a simpler way of life that has been lost to many.
