Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher and family in ‘new territory’ amid return to hit show

When Kelvin Fletcher was a formed subordinate astatine Emmerdale, his quality Andy Sugden would walk the time looking aft animals, cleaning barns and riding tractors. Now, a mean time successful Kelvin’s beingness truly isn’t excessively dissimilar.

Shortly after winning Strictly Come Dancing successful 2019, Kelvin, woman Liz and their children had plans to determination to Los Angeles. The satellite past came to a halt owed to Coronavirus, which meant swapping England for the USA became a distant memory.

It was Kelvin spotting the 120-acre workplace connected Rightmove that changed the Fletcher household forever. They took the plunge, purchased the farm, headed to the Peak District and, arsenic corny arsenic it sounds, the remainder is history.

Now, Kelvin, Liz and their children – Marnie, Milo, Mateusz and Maximus – are gearing up for the motorboat of the 2nd series of their ITV show Fletchers’ Family Farm.

‘There’s a batch that goes connected successful farming, it’s adjacent much jam packed with challenges, adventures, what we’re doing next, increasing the farm, the kids are growing, we’ve gone from six episodes to eight’, Liz Fletcher told me, discussing what’s ahead.

‘It truly shows you however time one, we’re backmost connected the farm, determination are truthful galore ups and downs, highs and lows.’

Sat adjacent to Liz was Kelvin, who smiled and said: ‘We’re precise overmuch successful caller territory. Every occurrence we’re doing thing caller and that itself brings an other magnitude and the farm, it’s continuing to evolve, we’re getting amended but we’re inactive learning!

‘We marque a fewer small mistakes but that’s each portion of it truly and it inactive precise overmuch feels similar it’s lone conscionable beginning. There’s a existent consciousness of escapade and who knows wherever this volition go. To person the assemblage with america is simply a existent joyousness really.’

One of the main thoughts I had astir becoming a husbandman was adapting your beingness astir the animals. The thought of waking up astatine 6am – oregon adjacent earlier – successful the mediate of November to walk the full time extracurricular wasn’t precisely an appealing thought to me, but Kelvin and Liz instrumentality it successful their stride.

‘Our aboriginal mornings are not that aboriginal anyhow due to the fact that of the kids. They are the archetypal jobs we person and that’s ne'er excessively early. I think, being successful the mediate of a freezing acold field, it does go a spot much challenging’, Kelvin said.

‘But to beryllium honest, it’s that seasonal change! It was lone a mates of months agone erstwhile it was the summer, but these are the days we emotion arsenic good erstwhile it is freezing, and we don’t truly consciousness similar getting retired into the fields and your hands are freezing cold, the h2o troughs request cleaning, fences request to beryllium enactment in, but that’s besides the spot I love.’

Growing up successful the countryside myself, thing I perfectly emotion are the views – and Kelvin couldn’t hold more.

‘There are moments, the scenery and the backdrops are similar postcards. There are truthful galore times, conscionable the different day, we had a truly pugnacious time with the animals and we had cows successful for gestation testing, immoderate had escaped, it was a full time of everything going from atrocious to worse. Everybody gets those days but amid each of that, erstwhile Liz had gone home, I was successful the woods and a household of cervid were there, and I conscionable sat and watched them for 20 minutes. That was amazing, it’s each worthy it.

‘You hide each the messiness earlier that! The sunrise, the sunset, immoderate it mightiness beryllium and it’s each quality arsenic well! They are the moments erstwhile you truly admit the seasons and, similar you say, those moments truly marque it each worthwhile.’

Alongside the animals, Kelvin and Liz are besides looking aft their 4 children. Luckily, they’re perfectly loving their caller home.

‘They person jumped successful feet first’, Liz smiled.

‘They’re obsessed with the animals. Our youngest duplicate wants to beryllium wrong the animals, Marnie has her ain flock of sheep and she adjacent wants to ain her ain field! She wants her ain small instrumentality connected everything, Milo has a emotion for the engineering broadside truthful he’s ever tinkering with a gross oregon a motorcycle oregon a car, helium loves to absorption connected fixing everything, and Max loves being progressive successful everything, the joyousness they get filling a bucket up with provender and taking it to provender the animals. They emotion it.’

On Amazon Prime’s farming amusement Clarkson’s Farm, the backlash Jeremy Clarkson and his squad person faced implicit moving a workplace wrong a tiny assemblage has been highlighted aggregate times.

Fortunately, this hasn’t been the lawsuit for Kelvin and Liz:

‘As a whole, arsenic caller farmers, everyone’s been thing but accepting and welcoming and forthcoming with proposal and help. It’s conscionable been a fantastic acquisition truthful far. It’s pugnacious whether you’ve got a tiny workplace oregon a immense one, the consistency is challenging and a existent commitment. You are each benignant of sharing that and it’s conscionable been…a existent whirlwind astatine times!

‘We’re lone 3 years successful truthful you tin lone ideate what it indispensable beryllium like. It’s the work of rearing livestock arsenic well, the paperwork, the question forms, truthful overmuch to contend with arsenic good arsenic moving your ain small family!’.

Reflecting connected the pressures the farming assemblage look each azygous year, Kelvin pondered:

‘As nutrient producers, which fundamentally farmers are, the interaction that has, you mightiness lone ever spot that if the prices person gone up connected the shelves. There’s a existent disconnect betwixt user and shaper and hopefully we’re shining a airy connected that. We’re demonstrating what we bash and the value and pridefulness you tin instrumentality successful it all, whether that’s the beverage oregon the bread, immoderate it whitethorn be, I deliberation we should each instrumentality a work and astatine slightest analyse arsenic to however it ends up here.

‘That’s erstwhile we tin each marque informed decisions. I’m a steadfast believer that erstwhile you get an knowing of the process, the determination you marque volition beryllium the close 1 and past the close benignant of farming volition flourish.’

Ultimately, amid the regular challenges these caller farmers face, Kelvin and Liz are precise arrogant of themselves and their children for everything they’ve achieved successful specified a tiny abstraction of time:

‘We don’t thin to bespeak that overmuch due to the fact that we’re ever enjoying the moments. We watched the show, and that’s erstwhile you bespeak and you bash consciousness a consciousness of pridefulness due to the fact that you deliberation wow, we’ve travel on mode and we’re truthful proud. The TV show, we’re precise arrogant of that and past we look astatine that and deliberation astir the kids, and however overmuch they’ve just…three years agone they had ne'er measurement ft connected a farm! Now they’re surviving with animals and they’ve conscionable done amazing.

‘We don’t spell into thing with fear’, Liz added.

‘Although determination mightiness beryllium immoderate reservations, america and the kids clasp immoderate infinitesimal we’ve got, we effort our implicit best. I’ve got immoderate friends who wouldn’t privation to instrumentality the hazard and bash thing we bash connected the farm! They wouldn’t privation to consciousness exposed and susceptible and that’s perfectly fine, but we bash it and our kids bash it. We amusement the kids not to beryllium frightened of thing and they travel successful our footsteps, they leap successful feet archetypal and instrumentality it truly seriously. They cognize what we request to bash connected a time to time basis, they’ve been precise reactive connected this full farming journey.

‘I deliberation that’s key. We’ve got balls of alloy to bash farming! I deliberation determination are truthful galore challenges you’ll look connected a day, your full time could alteration truthful quickly. You’ve got to beryllium capable to rapidly respond and we’re bully astatine that, and I tin spot the kids are getting bully astatine it arsenic well. Marnie, who’s 8 now, she’s the eldest of them each and she’ll be…it wouldn’t astonishment maine if she’s lambing connected her ain adjacent year.’

I couldn’t talk to Kelvin and Liz without asking Kelvin astir the imaginable of returning to Emmerdale. He played Andy Sugden from 1996-2016 and portion helium has a batch of emotion for the show, he’s firmly focused connected his real-life workplace close now.

‘I beryllium backmost from afar and respect that show. I respect it selfishly for the acquisition it gave me. 20 years I was there, 20 unbelievably blessed years and I’ll beryllium everlastingly grateful for the opportunity.

‘As a young histrion who conscionable loved the thought of, you know, the fame spot and the property spot is simply a by-product and it’s not thing I ever chased arsenic a kid. I conscionable wanted to act, that was my happening and to beryllium fixed that accidental for 20 years successful an iconic show, playing a fantastic quality who was, you know, who resonated with an audience.

‘So that is thing I’ve always, you know, felt immense consciousness of pride. And truthful I look backmost with a fondness of memories, but the amusement is doing fantastic. It won an NTA recently. Does it request me? It’s doing precise well.’

MORE: I didn’t find retired astir Dad’s diagnosis until I work his decease certificate

MORE: Explosive pictures uncover Coronation Street occurrence that brings calamity to the Platts

MORE: EastEnders fable confirms he’s not been asked backmost for 40th anniversary