Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen says her children have learned 'good life lessons' as she hits back at critics

The 46-year-old, who has nine children with her husband Clive, was reacting as critics said her children will not be able to cope in the 'real world' because of their unusual upbringing on their Ravenseat farm in North Yorkshire.

Speaking on Sophie Ellis Bextor's podcast, Spinning Plates, the shepherdess said her children have learned good life lessons and have learned how to be independent.

She said: "They [my children] are getting really good life lessons they can translate and take to any other life wherever that should be - whether it's in the countryside or in the city.

"Because people say, 'Oh they are not growing up in the real world, they'll never be able to cope with real life'. But they are actually learning lessons, that will set them up really well to be people who are hands-on and people who've got a degree of common sense and can do things."

She said one of her children has learned to ride a bike without the help of her parents, showing how independent they can be.

It's not the first time Amanda, who found fame on Channel 5's Our Yorkshire Farm, has spoken out about her parenting skills on a podcast.

She previously appeared on the podcast of Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage, and said her children could decide for themselves if they wanted to continue working on the farm.

She said: "I don't look that far ahead. I say to the children they can be whatever they want to be and go wherever they want to go.

"Of course they go through stages where they're more enthusiastic about the countryside, as they get older into their teens, obviously they want to go away.

"Raven (her eldest child) when she went to York, she was heading to the bright lights, couldn't wait to get to a place where her phone worked and she could order a takeaway without it being cold and stuck to the paper – it's all brilliant.

"But you know within a month or two I'm getting text messages asking how to make Yorkshire pudding tins out of bean cans and can you prove a loaf of bread on a radiator when you haven't got on open fire.

"So it's instilled into you the kind of life you lead in the countryside."