Amanda Owen chats away as she films her winter walk
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In an old episode from Our Yorkshire Farm, Amanda Owen’s daughters Edith and Violet made their mark in history as they etched their initials into an old hill barn which sits on their home in Ravenseat. The girls were keen to learn about the history of farming and how long their home had been around, whilst having some fun with their mum.
Close Hills barn was once home to countless shepherding families all forgotten to time, and Edith, Violet, and Amanda headed up to the old dwelling to find signs of life left behind by Ravenseat’s last occupants.
As they climbed the hillside, Amanda asked the girls: “Can you imagine this is the way into your bedroom up these outside steps, ok so this is your bedroom, it’s a bit drafty, isn’t it!
“Look at that for a fireplace, when do you think the last time this was lit?”
Edith looked closely at her surroundings and replied: “More than a hundred years, up to five hundred maybe?”
Amanda revealed: “There were people here in the 1820s and the 1830s, so that’s just about 200 years ago, isn’t it.
“People used to sharpen their knitting needles so you can see there’s lots of little lines and scrapes and marks in the stone.
“But if you look at the plaster, there’s a lot of writing in it, but you can hardly make it out!”
Edith excitedly asked: “Shall we see if we can see any names?”
As the girls searched the walls for signs of life of the previous owners, Amanda encouraged them: “Can you see anything, girls? Can you make it out?”
Edith found one and revealed: “AB 1951, who’s that AB?”
Violet also found some writing and read it out: “I think I can see something, ‘health to the girl’ something ‘eyes’.”
Amanda asked: “Is it a love letter?” to which Edith replied: “A very dry summer 1930?”
They then worked out that the writing on the walls was a weather forecast, as Violet continued: “There’s another one here saying very wet!”
Laughing, Amanda said: “It sounds like they were totally and utterly obsessed with the weather like us!”
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“I could maybe believe the very wet one, not the very dry one!” Violet joked.
Amanda told them: “I was going to say you know when we lay in bed, and you can hear the weather rattling at the window, and you don’t want to get up.
“I guess some things never change, it’s also a little bit sad as well because people have forgotten who lived here, this is all, the only trace we’ve got now.”
Before they left, Violet asked: “Because we’re here can we write our names on to it?”
Impressed and proud of her daughter’s idea, Amanda replied: “I think that would be a really good idea!”
Edith asked: “Do you think we’ll be the latest one then?”
Amanda replied: “Well, you’re today. You’ve got to be if you a write your initials and the date!”
After writing their names, Violet revealed she had written: “I’ve written ‘VLO 2020’.”
Edith was up next and said: “There we go, I’ve got my marking, ‘ELO 2020,’ I think I’ve earned the right to make my mark.
“I’ve lived here at Ravenseat all my life, 11 years, and I’ve helped out and everything.”
They added their names to the barn wall, and Edith and Violet became the first Owens to etch their record their lives in the hills of Ravenseat.
Our Yorkshire Farm is available to watch on My5.
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