EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
JO WOOD
THE ROCK CHICK AND GREEN GODDESS ON LIVING THE ECO DREAM WITH HER FAMILY
INTERVIEW: SALLY MORGAN
CARDIGAN: MES DESMOISELLES AT THE CROSS.
‘When I foun‘found this place, I must have been guided by angels’
INVITING US INTO HER BEAUTIFUL AND QUIRKY COUNTRY HOME
Jo sits on the jetty - built by son Tyrone - at the wild swimming pond she has created in the six-acre grounds of her Northamptonshire home
DRESS: RIDLEY LONDON. WELLIES: JOULES
With her tousled long blonde hair, husky laugh and an edgy dress sense that involves bold splashes of colour and a bohemian vibe, Jo Wood will always be the ultimate rock chick.
Yet when she shows HELLO! around her idyllic new domain - a beautiful grade II-listed farmhouse in the depths of the Northamptonshire countryside - for this exclusive interview and photoshoot, it is evident that she has become quite the green goddess.
Surrounded by six acres of fields and trees, Jo has finally kissed goodbye to the frenzy of her life in London and embraced the tranquillity of an off-grid lifestyle. With her own well for water, solar panels for energy, plots-full of home-grown organic fruit and vegetables and even a wild swimming pond, she’s clearly in her element.
“As a woman who believes in the power of organics, I’m leading the sustainable life I’ve always wanted,” says Jo, a grandmother of ten who looks two decades younger than her age. “I want to do something good in the world, to be part of the solution, not the problem.
“That’s why I’m creating my own little ecosystem. I’ve sown wildflowers around the pond to attract butterflies and bees, and later this month I’ll be planting 60 trees.
“I’m also growing my own orchard,” she continues, looking every inch the earth mother as she proudly surveys the soil that will produce green shoots and bumper vegetable crops next spring. “I plan to install beehives for honey, too.”