Former Spice Girl Mel B has shared an online video of herself behind the controls of a mechanical digger as construction work continues at her £2.2 million farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales.
The light-hearted viral clip shows the 51-year-old pop star, who is also known as Scary Spice, taking on heavy lifting tasks as she transforms the property into her dream country bolthole. Mel B, whose full name is Melanie Brown, has since flown to the United States to take up her seat on the judging panel for the live shows of America's Got Talent.
The singer purchased the rambling property set in 11 acres of land last year and now divides her time between the Hollywood Hills and her native Yorkshire. She quickly embarked on a major project to convert the former farmhouse into a modern family home with luxury leisure facilities.
Planning Permission for Entrance Porch
Planners at North Yorkshire Council have given Mel B approval to demolish a rather awkward pencil top sentry box entrance porch, which her architects described as utterly useless, ineffective, and an inappropriate and unwelcome addition to the property.
In a design statement submitted to the council, the architects explained: "This is too narrow to afford honest provision for coats and footwear and too short to receive guests without leaving the inner door open and rendering the principle of a porch utterly useless."
The approved design replaces the porch with a wider structure featuring a catslide roof and solid timber double doors. The architects noted: "The cat slide profile is wider and allows for benches, baskets and coat hooks. The extra depth can facilitate a covered area and protection from the elements." The new entrance will shield visitors from the surrounding wily, windy moors and allow guests to store outdoor shoes and boots without getting mud on the carpets.
Leisure Facilities and Master Suite Expansion
The property, situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in a secluded hamlet outside Leeds, originally offered 6,950 square feet of floor space. It featured five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a one-bedroom annex, a detached office, a double garage, and views across rolling hills and a reservoir. Conversions comprising two single-storey and one double-storey extension will increase the floor space by 18 per cent.
Mel B lives at the estate with her hairdresser husband Rory McPhee, 38, and her three children: Phoenix, 27, Angel, 19, and Madison, 14. Planning documents show the singer gained approval for a new single-storey detached pool hall enclosing the existing swimming pool to create an indoor space with room for loungers for year-round use, leading into an enclosed outdoor kitchen and dining space.
The plans also feature a cinema room, a gym, a sauna, a treatment room, a reiki room for natural healing, and outdoor space for a hot tub and ice bath. Her new master bedroom suite will feature a trendy standing bath, a large dressing room, a sweeping walk-through area, and an en-suite bathroom.
Renovations include a huge new kitchen and a new dog kennel complete with a special shower and flap for her two Rottweiler protection dogs and Yorkshire terrier Cookie. The 11-acre grounds feature an ornamental pond, two paddocks, and boundary woodland to ensure privacy. Local neighbours include former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate and ex-Manchester City defender Micah Richards.
Life on the Farm and Social Media Updates
Mel B gave an insight into her rural lifestyle during an appearance on BBC show Alison Hammond's Big Weekend, greeting host Alison Hammond on a quad bike dressed in orange high-visibility overalls and jacket with a leopard print crash helmet. Describing her morning routine, she spoke of wearing her "daily get up", telling how she would "sort the chickens out" and "potter around" with her livestock, including a goat named Sharon. She noted that the animals she reared from "babies" all had their "own personalities" but operated under a "pecking order".
She revealed the farm was "a work in progress" and recalled that when she moved in, her only piece of furniture was a "Spice Girls Union Jack sofa" acquired after the group's 2019 comeback tour. She has since decorated her living room with leopard print wallpaper, while Rory lined an upstairs landing with wall-to-wall Spice Girl tour posters, photos, and memorabilia to surprise her while she was working away. The pair also spent an evening roasting marshmallows over a fire pit on the edge of a wooded area.
Documenting her life online, Mel B shared an Instagram post stating: "On Sundays we hug trees, spend time with the animals and have a Sunday dinner." In another post, she wrote: "This will be my happy home, I'm thinking about my dad, I'm thinking about my kids, and I'm thinking about all those survivors out there - you CAN reclaim your power. Trust and believe."
She told her local paper that returning to her Yorkshire roots was "one of the best decisions she had ever made", having finally found what she "really really wants" in her "forever" sanctuary. She said: "I have three goats, nine chickens now and I've got my two protection dogs and I have a forest. So I come home and breathe the fresh Yorkshire air, go to tend to my animals and chill at my house and feel very thankful and appreciative of it. This is the safest, best place that I could be."
In a recent interview, she added: "As I've got older, I consider great days to be me at home with my dogs and animals on my farm. Walking around my forest or feeding my goats, chickens and ducks is perfection for me. I love the simplicity and peace of it."
Financial Hardship and Third Marriage
Mel B described her new life as "100 per cent my second act", having come "full circle" after growing up in a council house in Leeds before achieving international acclaim. Her first marriage to Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar, Phoenix's father, took place in 1998 and ended in divorce in 2000 after two years. While living in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, she was driven out by racist hate mail containing letters saying: "Get out of this village, you don't belong, you can't buy something like this."
After moving to the US, she had a relationship with actor Eddie Murphy, father of Angel, before marrying film producer Stephen Belafonte in Las Vegas in June 2007. They bought a home in the Hollywood Hills once owned by Rudolph Valentino, featuring four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a cinema, recording studio, chef's kitchen, outdoor kitchen, gym, games room, and a swimming pool overlooking the LA skyline. Their ten-year marriage ended in a bitter divorce, with Mel B accusing Belafonte of being abusive, an allegation he denies. Reflecting on the split, she said: "I totally lost myself. I went from Girl Power to girl powerless." The couple put the home up for sale for £6.8 million and cut the price twice to just below £5 million to sell it.
Despite earning over £80 million during her career, legal costs from divorce and custody battles left her with just £700 to her name in 2024. Returning to the UK in 2019, she moved into her mother Andrea's bungalow with her three children and shopped at budget stores Lidl and Costco, stating: "I didn't expect that to happen in my 40s after a successful career but I had nowhere else to go."
Her fortunes turned after she tied the knot with Rory McPhee at St Paul's Cathedral last July. Having been awarded an MBE in 2022 for services to charity and vulnerable women, she was granted special permission to marry at the landmark cathedral. The couple hosted a second celebration in Marrakech, Morocco, in August last year, hiring an entire hotel for "all the people I love". She recalled: "I wore a beautiful dress that was designed especially for me - with a lot of input from me - and the words my husband wrote in his vows still bring tears to my eyes. The whole weekend was magical from beginning to end."
Marking their first wedding anniversary last month, Mel B paid tribute to Rory on Instagram as "the most amazing, kind, gorgeous" man in the "whole universe". Sharing photos in her ivory wedding gown alongside Rory in a tartan kilt to honour his Scottish heritage, she wrote: "Looking at these pictures captured on the day brings warm streams of tears to my eyes... bit by bit you showed me what true love is and feels like." She added: "You always knew we were meant to be. I couldn't be happier in life and you, my darling husband, I love you beyond words, you're my everything."
