THE life of North Yorkshire’s shepherdess Amanda Owen and her 1,000 Swaledale sheep - and eight children - are to be brought to a worldwide audience by Hollywood.

High up in the dales, nestled by the head of the River Swale, Ravenseat Farm may be many miles from anywhere, not least the nearest cinema, but soon the farm and its inhabitants will be starring on big screens around the globe.

Warner Bros has bought the rights to Amanda’s first book, which was first published in 2014.

It tells how Amanda, born in Huddersfield to a mother who was a typist and a father who was a car mechanic had dreamed of living a traditional life in the Yorkshire Dales and follows her journey to eventually becoming a shepherdess on a 2,000 acre farm near Keld.

She lives there with her farming husband Clive, 60, along with their eight children, pigs, chickens, dogs, horses and a 1,000-strong flock of Swaledale sheep.

Often seen with a baby strapped to her back or a small child in tow, mending a fence or feeding her hardy breed of sheep on the hilltops, Amanda, 41, maintains a way of life in the dales that has existed for centuries.

She has 17,000 followers on Twitter who enjoy insights into life on Ravenseat Farm. And now it seems it has captured the imagination of Hollywood too.

Speaking earlier this year, she said: “Life at Ravenseat isn’t easy. Winter is beautiful, but can also be bleak and harsh. This is balanced by the joys of spring and early summer, with lambs being born and the birds returning."

The studio giant Warner Bros has bought the rights to her book and work on the film is expected to begin within 18 months.

Amanda has been made a consultant on the final script and edit, but the casting of her family’s characters, including Raven, 14, Reuben, Miles, Edith, Violet, Sidney, Annas and Clementine are yet to be decided.

The children all began helping with chores on the farm from the moment they could walk and until then would accompany their mother as she worked on the 2,000 acre farm whilst strapped to her back. Her youngest child, Clementine, was born only in June.

Amanda is currently working on the second instalment of her book.