(Image: CHANNEL 4)
Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen has revealed why she refuses to impose screen time limits on her nine children, saying technology has been a "lifeline" for her family and helped keep their farming business afloat.
The 52-year-old, who lives at remote Ravenseat Farm in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, said it would be "incredibly hypocritical" to ban screens when the internet has played such an important role in supporting her family's livelihood.
The star of Channel 4's Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids said technology has allowed the family to diversify beyond traditional farming at a time when the agricultural industry is facing serious financial pressures.
Speaking to the Press Association, she said: "It would be incredibly hypocritical to say, 'Oh, no screen time, screens are death knell of society', because that would be totally and utterly not what I believe.
"Screen is what has been our lifeline.
"It's what has given us the ability to put ourselves out there and basically to prop the whole business of farming up, which, let's be honest, is in dire straits.
"Our farm diversification is through the media and without a screen, that would not have been possible."
Despite raising her children in one of the most remote parts of the Yorkshire Dales, Owen said she has never felt the need to restrict their use of phones, tablets or other devices.
Instead, she believes the family's rural surroundings provide a natural balance, with animals, outdoor activities and farm work offering plenty of alternatives to spending time online.
Internet access is also limited to inside the farmhouse, something Owen described as the "perfect split" between screen time and life outdoors.
She said: "We don't set limits on it, but there's other things going on.
"There's other things for them to do. So I've never really had to sort of push that one.
"The dynamics are always changing."
"To have this space to be in the countryside and have animals and open land and stuff to do for all the children, there's plenty to keep everybody interested to do other things," she added.
The family's lives have been documented on television, most recently in Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids, which follows their efforts to transform a centuries-old derelict farmhouse, known as Anty John's, into a modern family home.
As well as discussing her approach to parenting, Owen opened up about her struggles at school and how discovering a book about shepherding changed the course of her life.
She said she had lacked direction as a pupil until reading The Hill Shepherd – A Photographic Essay by John and Eliza Forder, which inspired her to pursue a life working with sheep in the countryside.
Owen said: "I failed miserably at school. Wasn't bad, wasn't good. I was just in the middle. I was just, sort of, like, coasting. Wasn't anything because nothing inspired me.
"And it was when I found a book that did inspire me that set me on the path, the trajectory to where I am today."
The shepherdess has since become a bestselling author, although she admitted she still struggles to see herself as a writer.
She said: "Quite honestly, I never set out to write books.
"When someone says the word 'author' a little bit of me sort of dies inside because I don't see myself as that at all."
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"I am just the one who has found their place, found their thing, what they enjoy, what they like doing, what they're good at, and then from that started to write about it," she added.
Her latest release, Cosy Bedtime Stories From The Farm, follows last year's Christmas Tales From The Farm.
Owen is set to embark on a promotional tour from October 24 to 28, with appearances planned in York, Leeds, Whitby, Beverley, Corbridge, Grassington and Haworth.
The new series of Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive And Kids is available to watch and stream on More4.