Shepherd James Rebanks: ‘My ambition is to be a really good nobody’

The Lake District farmer and prolific tweeter on his Oxford education, dealing with fame and how to breed a good sheep

In your bestselling memoir, The Shepherd’s Life, you imply that non-farmers everywhere and the tourists who visit the Lake District have little or no interest in the farming life. But don’t your book’s sales figures prove you wrong?
I have been surprised that there is a massive desire to understand farming better – and I think tourists suspect now that they are not getting the full story. I must admit it has partly been farmers’ fault – we’ve not shared our story enough, we didn’t see how important it was to share it.

You have 60,000 followers on Twitter. Do you tweet and herd simultaneously? And why does your life appeal to your followers so much?
I never tweet when I have something else on. I do it like a diary, like thoughts in my head and don’t think of it as being for anyone. I am then surprised when people know about my life. But that’s why it works. If it appeals it is because people have heard nothing but negative stuff about farming for 20 years and become mistrustful. They like the idea farming is not all industrial, that there is resistance, defiance, the message: I’m not changing.

Twins https://t.co/TjhBx7yQik

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