THE ‘Yorkshire Shepherdess’ Amanda Owen delighted 228 members of the Teesside Federation of the WI at their annual lunch at Gisborough Hall in Guisborough.

Members of more than 30 branches of the WI from Loftus to Hartlepool to Yarm attended the event and were treated to a three-course lunch at the historic venue.

Afterwards they heard Mrs Owen tell stories of how she shunned a career in modelling and left her native Huddersfield to take up a life as a shepherdess with her husband, Clive and eight children in one of the remotest parts of the dales.

Mrs Owen, who has written a highly successful autobiography, delighted her audience with the news that she’s expecting baby number nine next month.

“She was excellent,” said WI public relations officer, Lynn Mitchell. “She talked a lot about her children and Clive and the fact that baby number nine is due.

“It was a really lovely day and everyone was dressed up in all their finery. We started at 12pm and when I left at 4.30pm there were still plenty people chatting. It’s a lovely venue and no-one was rushed. It all went very, very well.”