Reuben Owen: Life in the Yorkshire Dales

Our Yorkshire Farm, featuring the Owen family, was an immediate success with TV viewers. Looking into the Owen family's life with nine children on one of the most remote hill farms in the country enthralled the nation, and now, six years later, one member, Reuben Owen, is carving out his own path. His latest TV series, Life In The Dales, has been a hit, and he is making his own mark on the Yorkshire Dales with his new business. But farming, of course, is never far from his mind. 

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Long days, long nights, and an ever changing landscape at the NFU. We understand what it means to be a farmer. That's why our community of over 45,000 British farmers and growers trust us. The expert support and guidance every step of the way. Together we are stronger. Visit NFU online.com. You're listening to the Farmers Guardian podcast. In 2018, a new farming TV show, Our Yorkshire Farm, hit the TV screens and the nation immediately fell in love with the shows featured family Amanda and Clive Owen and then nine children, showcasing life on one of the most remote hill farms in the country. Six years on, one family member, Rubino has started his own business and starred in his very own TV show, life in the Dales. For this Farmers Guardian podcast episode, I went up to the Yorkshire Dales to chat to Reuben on what was quite a wild and windy day to talk all things TV, farming and building his own business. So Reuben, we are finally here. It's taken us a while to get this in the diary, but we finally got a death in because you were a very, very busy man. It's taken us some time, and I've been ring in and I've been all over the place. But, finally we're here. We're here. So where is here? Because we've got a fantastic view. this is probably one of the most unique locations that I've film. Something in. So you want to just tell everybody where where we are right now? So here we are. Where at? oh. Marla Stang of above. Kirby. Stephen. it's about ten mile from where we run out of. And, Yeah, this job we're on leaving the field ready to be receded. So, I thought it was quite a nice place to show. Nice bit of European, is it? Absolutely. This is your office. This is Douglas. It's beautiful. And obviously, you know, this is kind of, you know, overlooking or all over this. This is where you grew up. This is the area, you obviously grew up on quite a famous farm in the public eye. So let's just go back a little bit. what was that like to grow up? kind of with people looking in on what you do on the farm, how you live your life in the farming industry in general. it was it's it's good. I very much enjoyed it. Right from being young, we were always on camera with my parents, farming at home and, now dealing with a lot of people you don't know. And it's nice. You. You get to meet an amazing mix of people and just yesterday were in the yard and someone walks through and recognize you and it's, you know, it's lovely. I get to meet a lot of people that and, it's just people are interested. It's quite nice when you, you get talking to someone and you can learn all sorts from these folk. That's it. And I do, you know, I said to in the car on the way up here that, coming to see you and your family was one of my first jobs over at Farms Guardian. And actually, what I liked about it was, you know, you, it was a very traditional way of farming, wasn't it? And to let people see those cool ways of life is actually quite nice, because they're the parts that get overlooked. Actually, when people think about farming. Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a different especially up here. It's a different kind of way of farming. It's I mainly now do diggers and plant and groundwork, but on a night in the morning, I go got and farm. but, now it's, it's different with the smaller farms around there, and the land is not as good as down country. It's it's different. You can't really always rely on machinery. I mean, we've got a hell of a bit machinery. We have. And these, this one can actually go back up home where we farm because it's too weak for it. Yeah, but, it's it's it's different. It gives people a good view into the job. Yeah. So in terms of you just mentioned what you do now obviously as a job, where did that kind of, you know, cause a few people watch you on your program now, which will come in to you kind of always been like tinkering with something or machines. Like, where did that come from? it kind of. We've always for years and years on the farm, we had an old digger, and, dad led us to drive it at least to go and do bits of training on the farm and bits and bobs like that. And I got a started me apprenticeship at Taylor and Braithwaite and, I did a year there and, it just I enjoyed mechanic in, but I was mechanic in diggers like these and I just when I finished my apprenticeship, dad said you should should buy one, you should have a go. And then we bought one and, we ended up with another one and just kind of worked up really nice. something I've always fancied. Yeah. So tell us about, you know, the job now because, you've got your own business. You've got a lot of work on, I think finding your footing in the industry is quite a difficult thing to do. But you've been able to kind of find you a little. Yeah. We've been we've been very lucky really, with. I've made some. I think the, the thing that I've learned from it is contacts and dealing with people, which is I've met some really amazing people. Yeah. Especially in the, the groundwork side of I've made loads of friends do similar things and just I think the part of the way we go in is just by meeting folk and just making connections with we kind of it didn't feel like we've been gone very long, but the amount of people we know and and just, yeah, keep an eye on us. How many is in, you know, the business, how many people. Because it's not just you, is it in the business? it's my business. I yeah, but we have a couple of lads that work for us. Lots of farmland we have working for us. at the moment we have the lads on and they're. When they're not farming their run driver diggers. And because we've got a few of them, there's always someone there to drive a machine. It gives them another bit of a job to do what they can always we to have some lads day today with their with some grass somewhere. So yeah. And we brothers and just everyone kind of works together. They even get me moving forward on these from time to time. But you know, got me and I yeah, I know it's early in the day. Well. But, you know, you should have is great enough. I think you might be out of business. We'll see how we get out. We'll see how we go. and just for anyone who doesn't know what type of work you do, because obviously, you know, like you were saying about what you're going to do up here, what is it that you know, it must be a variety of jobs. Anything. Anything today with ground work, plant machinery. We we hire them to people. And we also do jobs like price groundwork jobs. We've we've been on this spot doing all sorts. We do quarrying and crushing. Yeah. Right down to your smallest little diggers that go through houses. And this one here is this is just a job preparing the land for it to be reseeded. Yeah. And, yeah, anything that involves dig in our machinery, we'll certainly have a go at it. Yeah. And in terms of, you know, so we've the first series has gone as of your program, which is by from the Dales. And for anyone who hasn't seen it, want to just give a little bit of an overview of what that was about. That was your first your own little TV. Yeah, it wasn't it. We did a bit of TV at home when I was younger and then, a year or so ago we were approached by, TV lot to follow kind of what I was doing since we hadn't been covered for a while. So yeah, the follow, those being when I started right from the start when we had working all over the place. It's it's just been a program about life around air and plant machinery and everything that went wrong seem to end up in the TV program. Makes for good TV. Yeah, definitely. Just the jobs that go right, they don't make it involved. And, when you have a disaster, that's they love to get that on. What is it do you think about these TV programs that people love because, you know, if you think about especially over the last couple of years, obviously, you know, when you were growing up that your TV program with your family did very well, you've got this farming life, but people look to like, look into our industry almost. What do you think it is that people I think it's I think it's just different because, like, I think it's just a different kind of where life. What? This neck of the woods. I don't really. You see the people that don't see this. I'm sure if I was put in that well, I'd find that very different. And I think it's just gives people a look into what we do. Yeah, yeah. And it's just something different for them. I've met all sorts of people from all over the country and world. But yeah. And it's just somewhat different. Yeah. But different. Maybe that could, be next. And, you know, you, you got to go and do an office job. How's what we know. No. Thank you for always, struggle with me. paperwork. I struggle with me. paperwork. So, I think I'll pass it. So I'm not digging there with the radio on. We'll go in a happy place. Yeah, it'll do me just what you said then about, you know, this. You can feel it when you come up. Come up here that it is a real I don't know, there's a tradition with it. There's a sense of kind of, you know, days gone by that make sense? There's something really rustic about it. Yeah, it it is especially like where we are here. Oh, the old stone walls we have here. And, Really, I mean, where are you going to side this field, level up for the receded when we just doing what the old folk would have done? Yeah, just with some of the bigger and newer. I mean, for God knows how many years it'll have been people a tech in rough ish land and making it into better farming land to produce food. And, it's the same process now. Just we've moved on a bit. Instead of using horses and shovels, we go. They go limp. I have no idea which. If you watch the video, you will be able to see that we sat on it. That's where we are. But, you know, even like the dry stone wall and and things like that, you just don't get that anywhere else, do you? It's so iconic. No, it's it's, it's an underground air especially. There's that much of it. This estate here where we're on the just brilliant cable, all the walls up. It's it's nice to say. And what is it that you you know, you might not be, farming. Farming in a sense, but you still obviously quite, you know, a huge part of the community. What what is it that you love about what you do? Just. I just like, I like different things and just being out and about and just especially machinery, I just always been interested in machinery and, we able to spend time in this part of the world. And on the machine, it's, we still farm at home like, and on a night, and I'm on and I'm home farming. But during the day, I spend my time away. Yeah, but that still drags us back. Farming when we did. Been a lot of sheep, a lot of stuff today. And that will obviously never leave you. But when you do go home, what do you what what what aspects of farm life do you like? I just like all of it, to be honest. It's just it's just nice. I like I like going up on the family gathering, shaving and it's just just nice. The to the two jobs work well together because it's it's two different. Sometimes you can have a day on one of these by the time you spent a week sat on one of these on the same job. It's lovely to go at the weekend. And yeah, chase a few sheep around. Yeah. Is this is this where you always thought you'd be? Yeah. I wouldn't go anywhere else. I won't go anywhere else around here. Yeah, it's a place that I live around there. just out of interest. You know, when you said you did your apprenticeship. Yeah. Where was that? That was at, Taylor and Braithwaite. It's, written on the side. That digger. That was way of deal with them. I did my apprenticeship there, and, they've looked after the machinery as well, so. Okay. I'm a diggers come from them as well. So you did he. I don't remember saying that before. So did you. Did you go to college? Yes, I went to, I went to my college as well. I was even closer. Yeah, I went to my co, I did that, and, I did a land based engineering, so I do. Okay. So you've always been direct. Yeah. So in that, in that way. Okay. I think that's one thing that I would like to say is that actually, you know, there's loads of opportunities for what people look at our industry and they don't quite know what actually, you know, you can do. Yeah. It's not true. I get asked a lot by a few Fogle and Young and wanting to get into it and oh, I it's one of them if, if they're keen to get into it. This place is far and now it's good. Really. There's a lot of interest in it at the minute. And, I think anyone that's keen to get in on the job, you just need to bray on another guy. Yeah, it's one of them. Yeah. So in terms of, I mean, you only, what, 20 year old. Yeah. 20 actually, you've done quite a lot already in terms of setting yourself up with a business and whatnot. What's next? you know, is a new project, what's next, career wise? Can you tell us anything? career wise, we just carry on with what we're doing with diggers, I think is a plan. We never really have a set plan because, okay, if you make a plan, it never sticks to it. So we just see what happens. We're doing a little bit. We've got the odd telly project here and there, but we're mainly just suddenly old diggers can we potentially see you on our TV screens? Yeah, I think I think initially we'll see what happens, but I think there'll be some going on. There's stuff to keep an eye out for it. And in terms of like, say you only 20 years old, but would you ever consider, you know, do you want your role in kind of farming enterprise at all alongside this? Are you happy just keeping it between going back home and then working on a, you know, your own business? May we ultimate goal is once I get enough diggers going and machinery going, I'll, I'll go farming. I don't I love to one day once we get female diggers go and have my own bit of farm round. Yeah, yeah, but, just stay. It would just stick at the biggest for now and see what happens. But, I'd, definitely want to carry on farming because it's just. Yeah, I think I appreciate it a lot more since I went mechanic in as an apprentice and not been around the farm as much, I've learned to appreciate a lot more. But, no, it's lovely in the place I want to be. Really? Yeah. Right where you meant to be, right? I meant to say I was on. Farming is certainly in Reuben's blood, and it's good to hear him being an advocate for encouraging people into the industry, too. That's it for me this week. But Farmers Guardian will be back again next week with another episode. Thank you and goodbye.