Former Strictly Come Dancing star Flavia Cacace-Mistry has left the world of dancing behind for mucking out and growing crops on a smallholding. Now she's revealing all about life at the barn to a Sussex audience
For most of her career Flavia Cacace-Mistry has been associated with the glitz and glamour of the ballroom.
From her championship-winning performances alongside long-time dance partner Vincent Simone - they lifted trophies for ballroom, Argentine Tango and were the UK professional Showdance champions for three years - and their national touring shows, to her seven years as one of the professionals on BBC smash hit Strictly Come Dancing, she has generally been seen sporting a smattering of sequins illuminated by a glitterball.
So it’s a surprise to discover that for almost two years the dancing shoes have been swapped for wellies, as she and husband, actor Jimi Mistry, create their home on a previously neglected south Devon smallholding.
Now they're heading back to the bright lights - for a while at least - initially this month for a world premiere of a new show telling their story Our Life at the Barn at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre, ahead of Flavia’s December residency as part of the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Flavia arrives to meet Sussex Life in the theatre's Denton Lounge wearing her sparkling white fairy costume from the pantomime complete with bejewelled wings.
But it is a world away from where she and husband Jimi - her partner in the eighth series of Strictly - found themselves in the middle of January 2021.
‘We always had this bubbling desire to make this big lifestyle move,’ says Flavia, who previously lived in Guildford. ‘It was difficult as there are all these barriers that you put up.’
She and Jimi - who married in 2013 - explored the country for a dream home, even considering Worthing to be near the sea. But owning a smallholding and farming animals wasn’t something they had really thought much about.
‘We were looking at houses and there were always these wildcards that we would throw in,’ says Flavia, 43. ‘The smallholding had a little bit of something - we plucked up the courage to go for it.’
It was the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 which gave them the final impetus to make the move - although it took eight months for them to sell their home and arrive in Devon, on the same night that Storm Christophe was ravaging the country.
‘It was a long drive there, through gales and wind and rain,’ recalls Flavia. ‘When we arrived we couldn’t get the front door keys, and we couldn’t get into any of the garages where we were going to put all our boxes. When we eventually did get in, it turned out the removal men had packed all our bedding in the garage. We ended up sleeping on cushions on the floor with our coats on top of us thinking: “What have we done?”’
The house hadn’t been lived in for a year, the greenhouses were rundown and the polytunnels were full of moss.
‘For much of the first year we were clearing things out - in fact we’re still doing it,' Flavia says. ‘There’s been a lot of rolling our sleeves up.’
At this point much of the country was still in lockdown and the weather for the first three or four months was pretty bleak. ‘We were wondering “Is it always like this?”,’ admits Flavia. ‘Then spring came - one morning the birds were singing and everything was looking pretty.’
Working in this new environment was still a shock. ‘I have been in dresses my whole career,’ says Flavia pointing to her tiara-topped creation. ‘Now I was wearing baggy clothes, going outdoors, getting covered in mud. But it didn’t feel wrong.
'We have animals now - a lot of people don’t like mucking out, and all the mess, but we’re just doing it - and it feels like it was meant to be.’
The smallholding now has 225 chickens, and eight rare breed sheep - four ewes, three wethers and Ernie the ram. ‘There are so many things to learn,’ says Flavia, who left Strictly in 2013 after finally winning a series with Olympic gymnast Louis Smith. ‘We are getting close to the animals - all the chickens have names.’
Their new show Our Life at the Barn, which is also going to Haverhill after its Worthing debut, arose from an Instagram account Jimi launched to document their experiences on the smallholding (@ourlifeatthebarn).
Looking at recent feeds you can see their undisguised pride at growing everything from cooking apples and tomatoes to melons and figs to sell on their stall. ‘A lot of people were confused about what we were doing, but our Instagram account now has got 65,000 followers,’ says Flavia, who says the idea for the live show came direct from Worthing Theatres, after initial interest from TV companies. ‘Lots of our followers now have chickens - we’re to blame for that!’
And chickens are going to play a role in Flavia’s return to Worthing throughout December where her starring role in Jack and the Beanstalk sees her fairy accompanied by a flock of puppet chickens. The character draws on Flavia’s new life down on the farm - hence the promotional shots of her in a sparkly costume with muddy boots.
This won’t be Flavia’s first pantomime - she and Vincent danced in non-speaking roles as the King and Queen in a version of Snow White at the London Palladium in 2018 alongside Dawn French, Julian Clary and Paul Zerdin.
But she is looking forward to having a proper dialogue with an audience. ‘Our dance shows had storylines, but it was all told through mime and dancing,’ she says.
Vincent and Flavia performed their final tour, Tango Moderno, in 2018. She still hosts her own dance masterclasses, Dance with Flavia, which came to Worthing in the summer.
When it comes to learning her lines she will have the support of her husband - star of East is East, EastEnders, Coronation Street and The Guru: ‘Jimi will be playing all the other characters!’ she laughs.
‘It will be a learning curve. I have been to a pantomime once, but in Italy, where I’m originally from [her family moved from Naples when Flavia was five] they don’t have pantos.’
She will be getting lots of support in her debut role - not least from panto veteran and Worthing local Dave Benson Phillips who plays the king.
She knows that pantomimes can be demanding: ‘I’ve done eight shows a week before,’ she admits. ‘The Palladium was more of a concert version of a pantomime. This is a longer run, with more shows. I’ve always worked hard though.
'And now every time we come away it’s a rest from The Barn!’
Good to know
Flavia and Jimi: Our Life at the Barn is at Pavilion Theatre, Worthing, on Sunday October 9 from 7.30pm. Tickets from £19.50.
Jack and the Beanstalk is at Pavilion Theatre, Worthing, from Thursday, December 1, to Monday, January 2. Various times, tickets from £10. wtm.uk
