Joanna Shimwell

About Joanna Shimwell

Joanna is a Peak District, Derbyshire UK-based farmer, outdoor enthusiast, wild swimmer, and content creator from the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. She manages her family's Dale Farm (a 100-acre livestock farm near Great Longstone/Bakewell), where she handles sheep, has previously reared pigs for sausages and bacon, and runs diversifications like a campsite.
She grew up on the farm as a farmer's daughter, enjoying an outdoorsy childhood with horse riding, exploring the countryside, and activities like one-day-eventing.
After university in Nottingham (where she studied journalism and briefly tried city life), she returned home. For a time she worked a desk job, but about six to seven years ago she left it to take over running the farm from her father — making her the first Shimwell woman to do so. She has spoken openly about how a future in farming was initially discouraged due to past financial difficulties for her parents.
Outdoor Passion and Mental HealthJoanna is best known for her love of wild swimming (open water swimming), mountain biking, and cold water exposure. She started mountain biking during a particularly tough period in her life when she felt "lost," and it helped her rediscover herself. She took up winter wild swimming around three years before some of her interviews (roughly 2018–2019 timeframe) and found the adrenaline, endorphins, and quiet natural settings incredibly beneficial.She uses outdoor activities — swimming in lakes, rivers, or even breaking ice for dips, mountain biking in the Peak District, and cold exposure (like ice baths in snowy fields) — as tools for mental health, coping with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and emotions. She describes it as "wild wellness my way," emphasizing joyful movement, challenging herself, and reconnecting with nature to "unhook from modern life." She's been a dryrobe ambassador and was nominated for Wild Swimmer of the Year in 2020.