“MOST PEOPLE ASSUMEI’m some sort of loud, outrageous party girl,” says Melanie Brown, aka Mel B, aka actual blimmin’ Scary Spice. “But that’s not me. I’m from Yorkshire. God’s Own Country! I’ve always loved the countryside. The more remote the better.”The life of the former Spice Girl, and current America’s Got Talent judge, certainly hasn’t been short of an event or two. Think of the hits, the world tours, the hordes of screaming admirers.
These days, Mel’s life looks rather different. The former chart-topper is more likely to be found in a muddy field on the North Yorkshire farm she shares with her husband Rory, a menagerie of animals and a steadily expanding flock of hens. It is, by all accounts, her happy place.
“I always wanted chickens,” she tells us. “My dad grew up in Nevis, on a Caribbean island running free with his friends. His mum and dad came to Britain on Windrush, but Dad stayed behind on Nevis with his grandma. She lived to 107, the oldest person on the island. She had goats and chickens. They were part of his life.”
For Mel B, I wonder, is henkeeping a way of feeling connected with her family, a link to the past? “One hundred percent yes. Weirdly, my dad never talked much about his early life, except arriving from the Caribbean and coming up to Leeds in the middle of winter, and seeing snow for the first time. But here, I feel connected to him. I even find myself talking to him while I’m pottering about in the garden sometimes.” These days, of course, Mel has her own kids. Do they, I can’t help but ask, enjoy getting stuck into the hen life? “They love it!” she beams happily. “Especially my youngest, Madison. I think it’s so important for kids to be in touch with nature. Actually, I hear from various teacher friends of mine how some children just think eggs come from a supermarket. Can you imagine? There are kids out there who have no idea of the connection between land and table, or what it takes to look after and care for animals.”
Caring for animals, as any British Hen Welfare Trust follower knows, is a twoway thing. “All my animals relax me. I find you can really lose yourself watching them, whether it’s the hens or the goats or the ducks or my dogs.
“I think animals bring you back down to earth. And they bring love, joy, laughter and a sense of reality into life. I couldn’t live without them.” And it’s not just the fuzzy stuff. For Mel B, the daily chores and rhythms of farm life create meaning – although of course