Sales of a mug featuring Yorkshire shepherdess and Our Yorkshire Farm star Amanda Owen are soaring
Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen, husband Clive and their nine children, who brought comfort and joy to more than two million TV viewers at the height of lockdown when Channel 5 screened "Our Yorkshire Farm", are toasting the success of a new mug.
Harrogate artist Anita Bowerman painted the scene for the limited edition, fine bone china mug, which is now part of Ravenseat farm's diversification to supplement its income. The mugs are now for sale via yorkshireshepherdess.com and fans of the programme are clamouring to get their hands on them after spotting one in a poignant episode of Our Yorkshire Farm.
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Hide AdAmanda and Clive’s daughter Raven was shown on screen clutching the mug with tears in her eyes as she prepared to leave her family home for university. Made in Stoke-on-Trent, it shows an idyllic scene of Amanda in her shepherdess smock in a hay meadow along with her nine children. Husband Clive is in the distance on his tractor.
Stoke-on-Trent-based Duchess China made the mugs, which are £17 each, and Amanda said: “It was amazing to see the process that goes into making a fine bone China mug. I loved seeing the attention to detail and skill involved in producing it at this English factory. I even had a go at applying the transfer which is far harder than it looks.
“Anita has illustrated a beautiful design. She just gets me, all the details of my life, from my torn shepherd’s coat to the details of the farm, the animals,wildlife and flowers and my children.”
She adds: “We have lots of mugs in the cupboard on the farm, but Clive and I always reach for these bone china ones as the tea tastes so much nicer in them.”
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Hide AdRaven will be fulfilling online orders and sending out the mugs when she returns from university at weekends and holidays and she looks set to be busy as the first batch quickly sold out. The 2,000 acre Swaledale farm is exactly halfway on the popular Coast to Coast route and usually welcomes walkers for afternoon tea. However, Covid meant that the summer tea service had to be suspended so fans are keen to snap up a lasting reminder.
Artist Anita helped source Duchess China, run by Jason Simms and Andrew Tooth, who list Taylors of Harrogate among their clients. She said: “This is an illustrated story about Amanda, an iconic Yorkshirewoman known to millions, so I wanted to find an English manufacturer to produce the illustration on a mug.
“I knew I had found a very special one with a unique story when I discovered Duchess China. It is one of the few surviving fine bone china manufacturers in the UK and provides a superbly-produced, upmarket product. I am glad we are supporting Jason and Andy and their team in these difficult economic times and bringing awareness to the amazing work they are doing in keeping British pottery alive.”
Meanwhile, the Owen family's TV exposure is glad tidings for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance as sales of charity Christmas cards featuring them look set to soar. Amanda is an ambassador and keen supporter of the YAA .The cards, which were best-sellers last year, were painted by Anita Bowerman, who has just created a new card for for the charity, “On Ilkley Moor with hats at the Cow and Calf Rocks”.
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Hide Ad*The mugs are available from Amanda’s website: www.yorkshireshepherdess.com/gifts. The Yorkshire Shepherdess charity Christmas cards and the Ilkley Moor Christmas cards are £4 per pack of 10 from Anita’s gallery The Dove Tree Art Gallery, Back Granville Road, Harrogate, or £5 including postage from www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk. To view Anita’s artwork and order prints visit www.anitabowerman.co.uk
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