THE WOOD LIFE!
Ronnie’s ex Jo escapes to the country... and hopes to be entirely self-sufficient
SHE was the ultimate city girl, flying around the world in private jets and sipping cocktails in London’s most fashionable bars.
But at the age of 64, Jo Wood has left her £4million Camden townhouse behind – to live a new ‘Good Life’ in rural Northamptonshire.
The ex-wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood will live completely ‘off grid’ in a Grade II-listed farmhouse with six acres, relying on solar panels for energy, drawing all her water from a well and growing her own organic vegetables.
She plans to be fully self-sufficient and eventually hopes to have a series of beehives and an orchard, too. Miss Wood, who completed the purchase of the farmhouse last month, said: ‘I want a bit of the Good Life. I went up to London first
‘I have always wanted to be off grid’
at 16 and thought I would live in London forever. My friends were shocked when I declared “I’m moving to the country”.
‘But London is getting so polluted. I just thought it was time to do something totally different.’ It is a big change for the former model – but she said she has always dreamed of emulating the couple in 1970s sitom The Good Life.
Miss Wood, who hopes to have her ten grandchildren at the £1.1million farmhouse for Christmas, added: ‘I have always wanted to be off grid, always.’
However she admits it hasn’t been all plain sailing so far – a power cut and flood in the first few days left her wondering if she had made the right decision.
But with the help of her new partner Carl Douglas, 54, a business consultant who lives nearby, she has overcome the initial hurdles. Miss Wood, who separated from Ronnie in 2009 after 35 years together, added: ‘I will miss London. My kids are in London.’ As well as daughter Leah, 41, Wood has sons Jamie, 45, and Tyrone, 36, and stepson Jesse Wood, 43.
She will be popping back to the capital occasionally, and will be back next week to visit her temporary shop on Marshall Street, central London, which is exhibiting dozens of behind-the-scenes pictures from her years on the road with the Rolling Stones.
The Polaroids are from her book,
Stoned, which charts her life married to Ronnie. She said: ‘It’s only when you look at the pictures you realise how great that time was.’
She may not have complete peace for long, however, as word has started to get round the local village that she has moved in. ‘Somebody came up to me the other day and said “you are Jo aren’t you, what are you doing here?” I said I have just moved down the road. She was so excited, I had to do a selfie.’
Stoned by Jo Wood is published by Cassell, £20