FLAVIA CACACE-MISTRY and JIMMY MISTRY Life on the farm with the former Strictly stars
ON HOW THE GREAT OUTDOORS IS THE ‘BEST THERAPY’ AND WHY THEY’VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER SINCE LEAVING THE CITY
Surrounded by chickens, sheep and acres of rolling green fields, Flavia CacaceMistry and husband Jimi Mistry couldn’t feel further away from the sequins and sparkles of Strictly Come Dancing, the show where they first met and fell in love.
Since swapping suburbia for a smallholding in the Devon countryside seven months ago, their new routine is rather more like The Good Life, the hit 1970s comedy that followed the adventures of a couple striving to be selfsufficient – and which is making a comeback as a touring stage play this autumn.
Each morning, they are woken by a dawn chorus of birds, then head outside to collect eggs from their flock of hens and tend to their fruit and vegetable plots. Wild pheasants and woodpeckers roam outside the 19th-century converted barn they now call home, while a natural spring trickles beneath. It’s certainly a big change from the busy lives they used to lead – and they have never been happier.
PURSUING THE DREAM
“We haven’t looked back once,” Jimi says as the couple invite hello! to their farm for this exclusive interview and photoshoot. “The ambience, the feeling, the energy that has been created here has made us feel so much calmer and better about life.”
Adds Flavia: “We wanted to be outdoors and closer to nature and we’re literally surrounded by it left, right and centre. It really is the best therapy.”
The couple, who married in 2013, three years after being partnered on Strictly, had dreamt about overhauling their lives for years, but it was only when Covid- 19
struck last year that they finally decided to take the plunge.
“It was like the dream that you sort of want but you haven’t got the courage to try,” says Flavia, 42, who quit her role as a Strictly professional dancer in 2012. “We always had that itch, but it’s one thing to want something and another thing entirely to actually commit to it.”
Flavia and former EastEnders star Jimi, 48, who had given up acting and retrained as a chef, had just launched an online fitness and nutrition business when the pandemic stopped them in their tracks. Suddenly faced with competition from free online workouts, the business floundered, while Flavia’s in- person dance classes also had to be put on hold.
LEARNING CURVE
“It was hard because we’d invested a lot of time and effort into our business, but then we thought: ‘How do we turn this whole thing into a positive?’” she says.
Within 48 hours of them putting their bungalow in Guildford, Surrey, on the market it had sold and they set about searching for a new home. As soon as they set foot on the gravel driveway of the seven- acre Devon property, which sits among farmland in a pretty village, they knew they had found it.
“This place was a wild card but as soon as we came to see it, we just knew,” says Jimi, whose film credits include East Is East, The Guru and RocknRolla. “It wasn’t our intention to take on such a big project – we just wanted a house by the sea with a bit of land. But this was more than just a house – it was a whole new lifestyle.”
The property had been empty for a year so the couple spent the next few months clearing the overgrown grounds and planting seeds. They are doing all the work themselves and say the experience has been a steep learning curve.
“In the past, we couldn’t even keep a houseplant without killing it because we were never home,” admits Jimi with a laugh.
“We didn’t have a clue what we were doing,” adds Flavia. “We bought some books and didn’t intend to grow anything or get any animals for the first year, but then Jimi’s mum said: ‘If you water it, it will grow.’”
Their greenhouse and polytunnel are now full of potatoes, broccoli, onions,
‘This place was a wild card but as soon as we came to see it, we just knew’ Jimi
aubergines, pumpkins and giant courgettes, as well as tomatoes, lettuce and leeks.
There are also strawberries, citrus fruit, grapes and olives, as well as apple, plum and fig trees and an abundance of fresh herbs that Jimi adds to his home-made pizzas and pastas.
The hens, who live in a state-ofthe art chicken coop surrounded by an electric fence to keep out foxes, have names that help remind Flavia and Jimi of their breeds, from Bronwyn the Devon bronze to Gloria the speckled gold.
The couple have started selling their freshly laid eggs under the label Our Life At The Barn – the name of the popular Instagram account that charts their adventure – and they plan to set up a farm shop in a shepherd’s hut.
“It’s second nature to me now to pick a vegetable or collect an egg and cook it,” says Jimi. “They really do taste better if you grow your own.”
MINIATURE ADDITIONS
Just over a week ago, the couple took delivery of three rare Ouessant sheep – the world’s smallest breed – called Freddy, Flash and Enzo, and hope to add some ewes so they can breed lambs. Jimi says his 20- year- old daughter Elin, from a previous relationship, can’t wait to visit. “She’s studying in France but she’s itching to come over,” he says.
The couple’s cockapoos, Pablo and Zak, are also enjoying the open space and beach walks.
Inside the four-bedroom stone barn where Flavia and Jimi live there are wooden beams, a huge open fireplace and an Aga range.
Meanwhile, they are busy renovating a second, smaller barn and a derelict swimming pool so they can open a guesthouse for dance breaks, wellness retreats and painting weekends, with Jimi serving home-cooked food from their land.
“We find it so therapeutic here so we want other people with busy lives to enjoy it too,” says Flavia, who is also starting her Dance with Flavia Latin and ballroom classes in the village hall.
The couple say they decided long ago to put their marriage before their careers and Flavia gave up touring with dance partner Vincent Simone three years ago.
“We had both spent a lot of time away from home and made a lot of compromises, but for the last few years we have put us first before anything else,” Jimi explains. “I had stopped enjoying acting but I think if you can find your path, everything else starts to fall into place.”
“We feel calm and stress- free and our old life feels alien,” adds Flavia. “We did it for years, but it’s amazing when you come out of it and realise you can finally breathe.”
Follow Flavia and Jimi’s journey on Instagram and Facebook @ourlifeatthebarn.
‘Eggs and veg really do taste better if you grow your own’ Jimi