AMANDA OWEN DEFENDS CHILDREN’S SCREEN USE

Amanda Owen says screens have been a “lifeline” for her family at Ravenseat Farm in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. The Yorkshire shepherdess told the Press Association that she does not set limits on her children’s screen use. She said banning screens would be “incredibly hypocritical” because they help her family run its farming business. Internet access is available only inside the farmhouse, a boundary Owen called the “perfect split”.

Owen appears in the Channel 4 documentary series Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids. The series follows her family as they renovate Anty John’s, a centuries-old derelict farmhouse, into a home. Owen co-parents nine children with Clive Owen: Raven, Reuben, Miles, Edith, Violet, Sidney, Annas, Clemmy and Nancy. She said living in the countryside gives the children space and other things to do besides using screens.

Owen said screens allow the family to share its life with an audience and support the farm through media work. “Our farm diversification is through the media and without a screen, that would not have been possible,” she said. She described farming as being “in dire straits” when explaining why that work matters to the family business. Owen said she has not had to push her children away from screens because they have other activities available, adding that family dynamics keep changing.