Never scared of getting her hands dirty, Anne Gow is perhaps best known as Farmer Gow, owner of the popular working farm of the same name.

But, while she's now in charge of a legion of animals, Anne was once more at home barking orders to soldiers.

The 44-year-old mum-of-two from Oxford, was born a farm manager's daughter and was brought up in Eaton, near Appleton, just outside Oxford.

Her dad Abe was descended from generations of farming folk. But while young Anne loved country life, she had something very different in mind as a career.

She said: "I was 18 when I thought about going in the Army. It wasn't really a 'girl's thing', but that kind of thing never really stopped me and might have even made it more exciting.

"Everyone in my family said I was mad, except my dad.

"When I went for my Army assessment it dawned on me that I was looking into a big black hole, not really knowing what was coming next.

"I enlisted in the Women's Royal Army Corps — there were so few women in the Army then they had their own Corps — on January 20, 1984 and I knew my dad thought it was cracking.

"There were just 30 women on my course in 1984 and hundreds of men. We did the six months alongside the blokes and because I was a graduate I trained to be one of 25 female officers alongside 500 male officers."

Even when she was scrambling through mud on Army assault courses Anne knew she was doing what she wanted to do.

She said: "I remember a photographer came along from the Daily Mail and put a picture of me in the paper alongside the headline: 'The girls are stealing a march on the chaps at Sandhurst' — that was fun!"

After her passing out parade, and still aged just 19, the young Anne went with the rest of her unit to Hohne in Germany and took up a post as an assistant adjutant.

She said: "I was surrounded by men — about 450 of them! And because of that they gave me my own separate living quarters.

"Obviously, some of the men thought this was a bit of a nerve though so they let off thunder flashes outside my room one night — which was typical Army high jinks.

"Looking back it was such an exciting time to be a female officer in the Army.

"On one occasion we women went all the way to Berlin just to play a netball game. We had to pass over from West to East — it was like going through a time warp into a different world.

"If we drove too slowly we risked being arrested as spies. And we were only able to have a small amount of money on us too, which we had to spend before we left — which was practically impossible because there was nothing in the shops to buy!"

For one of her next roles she was sent to Army HQ in Germany and was put in charge of the troop's cars and drivers.

She said: "I had a Bentley and I learned to ride a motorbike. I also got engaged to the commander of the White Helmets — the Army's motorcycle display team — and in 1988 we got married."

The newly-wed Anne moved back to York where she worked organising court martials.

She said: "It was shortly after that I fell pregnant with my first son and then of course, everything changed.

"Back then you had to leave the Army when you had children and frankly I felt like I became almost a third class citizen overnight.

"The following years, in which I had another son, were a constant cycle of moving homes. We eventually ended up in Northern Ireland where my husband and I had a surveillance camera pointed at our window and we slept with a pistol under our pillow."

When her marriage broke down in 2002, Anne and her sons returned to Appleton.

She said: "While we had been stationed in Cyprus I had returned home to set up farm days at my family's farm. Now I knew I wanted to set up Farmer Gow's and make it a success too. Farming was being crippled, but I knew people loved the countryside and believed we could make a go of it.

"Then, as now, I believe the success of farming depends on diversifying and for the first time since leaving the Army I felt I was doing something challenging again."

After many years at Appleton, Farmer Gow’s relocated to its own premises at Longcot near Faringdon in January 2008 and despite a miserable summer it has already established itself in its new neighbourhood.

Anne said: "We have had a really warm welcome here.

"We have new animals and a woodland being planted, and I feel like I am back to my roots and loving it.

"When I look back on everything I've done I see I am still having adventures!"

For more information on Farmer Gow's visit farmergows.co.uk