Mel B operates a mechanical digger as renovation work continues on her £2.2 million dream country bolthole in the Yorkshire Dales

Mel B has told how she likes to get her hands dirty mucking in at her farmhouse home where she is now raising goats and chickens.

And it would seem she is also keen to help out with her ambitious plans to spice up the place with a glamorous makeover in her bid to turn it into her dream country bolthole.

Now the former Spice Girl has posted an online video of herself behind the controls of a mechanical digger as construction work continues at the property in the Yorkshire Dales.

While she may have some way to go until she’s mastered it, the light-hearted viral clip shows the pop star, who is also known as Scary Spice, appears to be prepared to take on the heavy lifting tasks of a rural lifestyle.

Mel, 51, has since flown to the US and has now taken up a more familiar seat among the judges of America’s Got Talent which is currently airing its live shows.

Last year the Daily Mail revealed Mel had splashed out £2.2 million on a rambling property set in 11 acres of land.

She now divides her time between the glamour of the Hollywood Hills and a far more simple life down on the farm in her native Yorkshire.

After snapping up the property, Mel quickly embarked on a major project to transform the place into a modern day family home complete with leisure facilities befitting a global superstar.

We revealed how Mel had been given the go-ahead by planners to build a pool house and cinema room along with an extension that would create a magnificent new master bedroom suite.

Now it has emerged that she was successful in a further application to ensure she was able to give her showbiz pals a truly warm welcome when they come to visit.

Mel won permission to knock down a ‘rather awkward’ sentry box-style entrance porch which her architects described as ‘utterly useless’.

Planning documents show that Mel wanted to build a larger entrance area that was sheltered from the surrounding ‘wily, windy moors’ where should would able to greet friends and loved ones - and keep the front door shut at the same time to stop the cold getting in.

The new larger and wider structure featuring a catslide roof would also enable visitors to hang coats and store outdoor shoes and boots instead of getting mud all over the carpets.

In a design statement to North Yorkshire Council the architects explained the existing ‘pencil top sentry box’ porch was ‘ineffective’ and had been an ‘inappropriate and unwelcome addition to the property’.

Explaining the issues they wrote: ‘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 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 plan, which would see the introduction of solid timber double doors on the outside, was given the go ahead after it was accepted the alteration would ‘improve the appearance of the current arrangement with something far more in keeping’.

The property which was once a modest farmhouse and barn had been turned into a substantial country residence by previous owners.

The hideaway in a secluded hamlet had five bedrooms, five-bathrooms and a one bedroom annex, as well as a detached office, double garage and stunning views across hills and a reservoir.

But Mel and hairdresser husband Rory McPhee, 38, were keen to put their personal stamp on the property where they live with her three children.

Last summer we revealed her new master bedroom suite featuring a trendy standing bath, would sit alongside a large dressing room, sweeping walk through area and an en-suite bathroom.

Documents show Mel planned to create a reiki room for natural healing and a treatment room as well as a new gym and sauna and an outdoor space for a hot tub and ice bath.

The renovations included a huge new kitchen and a new dog kennel complete with a special shower and 'flap' to allow the star's two Rottweiler 'protection dogs' and Yorkshire terrier Cookie to come and go as they please.

The property already had a swimming pool but the plans included a new single storey detached pool hall that would make it an indoor space along with room for poolside loungers - so it can be enjoyed all year round.

The pool house and gym would lead off to a new enclosed outside kitchen and dining space.

The extensive grounds on the estate include an ornamental pond, two paddocks where Mel keeps her livestock and it is fringed by expansive woodland along the boundaries to ensure privacy.

Last year the singer, whose full name is Melanie Brown, gave an insight into her new life when she appeared on BBC show Alison Hammond's Big Weekend.

Mel greeted the TV presenter on a powerful quad bike dressed in orange high visibility working overalls and jacket and completed the look with a leopard print crash helmet.

Describing her morning routine, Mel told how she was dressed in her 'daily get up' and told how she would 'sort the chickens out' and 'potter around' with the goats, one of whom she had named Sharon.

She told how the farmyard animals, which she said she had reared since they were 'babies', all had their 'own personalities' but added that there was 'a pecking order'.

At the time Mel revealed the farm was very much 'a work in progress' and how when she moved in the only piece of furniture she had was a 'Spice Girls Union Jack sofa' she had acquired after the band's comeback tour in 2019.

Mel went on to show how she had already begun putting her own stamp on the property after she decorated the living room with leopard print wallpaper.

Meanwhile Rory had lined an upstairs landing with wall-to-wall Spice Girl tour posters, photos and memorabilia to surprise her when she was working away.

During the programme, Mel and Alison also spent an evening under the stars roasting marshmallows in a fire pit on the edge of a wooded area at the property.

Mel has also been keeping fans updated on her radical change of lifestyle with occasional posts on social media.

In one Instagram post she wrote: 'On Sundays we hug trees, spend time with the animals and have a Sunday dinner.'

In another 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.'

Mel - whose neighbours include former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate and ex Manchester City defender Micah Richards - has also told how she had at last discovered what she 'really really wants' and how returning to her Yorkshire roots was 'one of the best decisions she had ever made'.

She described how she had finally found her 'forever' sanctuary and how the farmhouse was the perfect place to home for her children Phoenix, 27, Angel, 19 and Madison, 14.

Mel told her local paper: '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.'

And in a recent interview she told how she has spent some of the happiest days of her life at the retreat.

Mel said: ’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.’

The property - in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (OANB) - featured 6,950 square feet of floor space and Mel's two single storey and one double storey conversions will see it increase in size by 18 per cent.

Mel has told how she has come 'full circle' after growing up in a council house in Leeds before travelling the world to international acclaim and relocating to America.

Her journey has, at times, been a rocky one. Her first marriage to Dutch dancer Jimmy Gulzar, who is Phoenix's father, ended acrimoniously after two years with the couple divorcing in 2000.

The couple had set up home in Little Marlow, Bucks, but Mel has told how she was driven out by racist hate mail.

She told how she received letters saying: 'Get out of this village, you don't belong, you can't buy something like this.'

She moved to the States and had a relationship with actor Eddie Murphy, father of Angel, before going on to marry film producer Stephen Belafonte in Las Vegas in June 2007.

The couple bought a vast home in the Hollywood HIlls, once owned by movie legend Rudolph Valentino.

The property had four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a cinema, recording studio, a chef's kitchen, outdoor kitchen, gym, games room and a swimming pool overlooking the LA skyline.

But the 10-year marriage ended in a bitter divorce with Mel accusing Belafonte of being abusive, allegations which he denies.

Mel said of the experience which she claims nearly broke her: ‘I totally lost myself. I went from Girl Power to girl powerless.’

The warring couple put the home up for sale for £6.8 million but despite an opulent refurbishment and sought-after setting, they had to twice slash the price to just below £5million as they became desperate to sell.

Despite making more than £80 million during her career, Mel endured years of financial hardship after the split.

In 2024 she told how she was left with just £700 to her name after costly divorce and custody battles.

Mel revealed she ended up so broke she took to shopping in budget stores Lidl and Costco after returning to the UK in 2019 and moving into her mother Andrea's bungalow with her three kids.

She said: 'I didn't expect that to happen in my 40s after a successful career but I had nowhere else to go.'

Now she says her new life in ‘100 per cent my second act’ and insists she is happier than ever after tying the knot with Rory at St Paul's Cathedral last July.

It was third time lucky for Mel who was granted special permission to marry at the iconic cathedral as she was awarded an MBE in 2022 for services to charity and vulnerable women.

The couple held a second wedding celebration in Marrakech, Morocco, in August last year where they hired an entire hotel for the weekend and invited ‘all the people I love’.

She said: ‘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.’

And celebrating the first anniversary of her wedding day last month Mel wrote a glowing tribute to Rory on Instagram hailing him ‘the most amazing, kind, gorgeous’ man in the ‘whole universe’.

Accompanied by a photo of herself in her ivory wedding gown and Rory, who was wearing 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.’