Amanda Owen

The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, this summer he's working on a set of haikus inspired by the landscape around him and the people who drop by. Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about poetry, creativity, music, art, sheds, sherry, music and the countryside. His guest this week Amanda Owen, the Yorkshire Shepherdess, came to public attention though the television series Our Yorkshire Farm. Ravenseat Farm in North Yorkshire is home to Amanda, her husband and her nine children. Having grown up very close to the location of Simon's shed, the conversation ranges from shared memories of growing up in Huddersfield and a love of the Marsden Hills to the business of running a sheep farm and the joy of the hay meadow at this time of year.

Produced by Susan Roberts