Dame Helen Mirren is a pomegranate farmer.
The 70-year-old actress may have a busy globe-trotting career but that hasn’t stopped her and her husband Taylor Hackford from trying to carve out a juicing business at their farm in Salento, Italy.
She explained: "Apart from acting, my other job is that of a pomegranate farmer. My husband I have planted over 400 pomegranate trees and we’re producing juice for the market. The juice is delicious.
"Our little company is still in the early stages but we want to sell our juice in Italy and abroad. I love the people of Salento, I love Italy and I love the climate there. The first time I saw the full moon rising from the sea and shining on my pomegranates, I burst into tears."
And, although she thoroughly enjoys her life in the sun, the ‘Eye in the Sky’ star has admitted it took a little while for her to settle in to her new home.
She told OK! magazine: "At the beginning it was very complicated and I was getting discouraged, but one day I was sitting on a bench and I saw a man passing by on a bicycle. For some reason that moment touched my heart. I thought this is where I belong."
Dame Helen Mirren’s alternative career
