The Yorkshire Shepherdess
For The Yorkshire Shepherdess, I was asked many questions by visitors passing through the farm, most assumed that I was a born and bred farmer and that Ravenseat had been in the family for generations. This book was an opportunity to share with people the story of how a city dwelling girl found her way to one of the highest, remotest hill farms in England. It's been a real labour of love getting everything written down; flashes of inspiration often came at the most inopportune moments, at the auction, at the moor. Pieces of the book has been scribbled out on the back of sheep movement licences and on scraps of paper that I've had in my pocket. Many people dream of living in a rural idyll and I've tried to share the highs and lows of life in the countryside. I've really burnt the midnight oil, typing with one hand whist feeding baby Annas and finally, it's taken a lot of dedication to get everything in by the deadlines but if there's one thing that I am it determined.
Please tell us about being inspired by James Herriot to become a shepherdess.
It was whilst I was a teenager that creatures Great and Small was made into a TV series and I loved it; I had already read a few of the James Herriot books as my grandparents were big fans. I suppose I romanticised about the simpler, quainter lives that were lived out during this era and dreamed of a career as a veterinary surgeon working with the larger farm animals rather than the pampered pooches that I had encountered on my trips to the vet with my pet dog. It was soon apparent that academically I did not have the two grades needed to achieve this, that veterinary college was already oversubscribed. It was a stroke of luck that I should have borrowed a book called 'Hill Shepherd" from the main library that made me realise that the way of life that I dreamed of did indeed still exist in the hills of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales and I decided that this was the life for me.
What were your biggest highs and lows while you were training?
It was a tough time, working in what is predominately a man’s vocation. I did on occasions encounter sexism but I just had to knuckle down and get on with it, no one is going to give a woman a job if you can't do the same work as a man or better. I mucked out a lot of deep bedded loose boxes, really hard work, a lot of sweat involved. I saw both the good and bad sides of farming and saw things being done badly, I vowed that when, hopefully one day, I had my own animals that things would be done properly. There were times when I had very little money to live on and it was a real struggle to make ends meet. One of the best times was when I got my first sheepdog to gather the sheep, the indescribable feeling of elation that I could finally say that I had my own working sheepdog! What's a shepherd without a dog.
Please tell us about your extraordinary births!
I have seven children now, three of which have been born at the roadside en route to hospital, one born in an out-of-hours surgery on the way and one born at home ten weeks prematurely at home. This was the most scary one, we were very lucky to My first baby was supposed to be a home birth, unfortunately things went wrong and the baby was stuck and I had to travel the 2 hour journey to hospital in an ambulance and then have an emergency Caesarean. I have very quick labours, no contractions; just feel a little off colour. I am not allowed a home birth due to the distance between Ravenseat and the hospital. I actually have very easy and quick births and it is only the fact that I live so remote that means I end up having the baby before I get to the hospital.
Can you tell us how your friendship with Julia Bradbury evolved. Julia was presenting a programme called Wainwrights walks, following in the footsteps of Alfred Wainwrights’ coast to Coast walk. It had been arranged that she and the film crew would follow the footpath across the Nine Standards and then film her stopping at Ravenseat and having a cup of tea with me down at my picnic benches. When none of the crew or her arrived we were not unduly worried but as there is no mobile signal here when the light started to fade my husband went on the quad bike to the moor to investigate. It transpired that one of the crew had lamed themselves and that they had been unable to walk any further or even summon help, my husband brought them all back to safety and our friendship began here. Sitting in front of a blazing fire, drying out and drinking tea amongst the chaos of the children and terriers. We kept in touch via email and I have been down to London to stay with her on couple of occasions. Our lives, although quite different have similar parallels, both busy working mothers, both work long hours, often outdoors and in the countryside.
How did the role for Wuthering Heights come about?
My husband was approached and handed a business card by a casting agent, his details taken and then Andrea Arnold the director came to the farm to see us about his prospective forthcoming role as Joseph in Wuthering Heights. It was all very exciting, a multiple million pound film being shot in the area and husband and son ( when she spotted Miles playing on his own in the dirt in the yard she suggested that he may be excellent for the part of Hindley) All was going beautifully, Clive needed an equity card, Miles needed a chaperone but when she handed over the filming dates Clive pointed out that he would be unable to fulfil his acting duties on one of the days as it was the Tup (Ram) Sales at Hawes auction Mart. Andrea wasn't that impressed with his lack of commitment and neither was I to be honest. I didn't talk to him for a whole day. It was only when he took his tup to the sale and won with it (a once in a lifetime achievement) and sold it for a great deal of money that I forgave him.
Please tell us about appearing on ITV’s The Dales.
This was a reality programme following various people as they went about their lives in the Dales, we were approached by the producer, Simon, who was looking for a family run farm to follow throughout the series. We explained in the vaguest of terms what we did, how we did it, but were unable to say really when we did it as much of what we do is weather dependant. It really was not so difficult to let the cameras in; we just carried on doing our work whilst being followed by a small film crew. I would have everything on the farm just so, the animals where they were supposed to be, the children spotlessly clean and tidy, invariably though they would get their best footage later in the day when the children were filthy, the animals had escaped and everything was going awry. It was a good experience and I am sure that in years to come, when the children are grown up it will be a splendid thing for them to look back on.
How important is it to you to meet new people who pop in when on the Coast to coast walk?
I am very lucky in that I spend 6 months of the year quite cut off and secluded, just me and the family and the animals. Then for the other 6 months the whole world comes to me. Walkers from all corners of the globe will pass right past the farmyard. I get to talk to a whole cross section of people walking for all manner of different reasons. Walking for charity, for their own personal pleasure or even on a budget, just as a stopgap until something else comes along. It is talking to the visitors that really was what encouraged me to write a book in the first place. So many people asked me about the farm and what life was like here in the wintertime and how a townie came to be living and working as a shepherdess here.
What is next for you?
Who knows what is around the corner, I try to take everything in my stride and encourage the children to follow their dreams too, lead by example I suppose. I feel that we are only the temporary custodians of Ravenseat and are only passing through. People have lived and worked here for centuries and I suppose that it would be nice to feel that although I hadn't physically changed anything at Ravenseat that I had mad my mark by sharing this beautiful, unique little place, the tiniest, furthest outpost of Yorkshire with so many people and maybe encouraged them too to try and regain some of the old fashioned values and ways that are so difficult to find in a modern society.