The Farmers

Ivy Singh-Lim is not your ordinary Singapore idol, but she is certainly one of the most vocal and colourful personalities in the Republic. In a place where most people avoid controversial issues and try to be polite publicly, Ivy has never been shy about making controversial remarks.

As immediate past president of Netball Singapore, she is remembered for her stinging observations about the state sporting affairs here, but her friends know her as a daring, fun-loving person and a live wire at parties.

Today, Ivy is again making news. Together with her husband Lim Ho Seng, she has become a farmer-entrepreneur living on a 10-acre farm in the Lim Chu Kang area. A farmer? That is right - the outspoken woman has been rallying support and promoting life in the countryside, in Singapore.

Ivy and Ho Seng run Bollywood Vegetables and have turned the land into a picturesque farm where they grow organic vegetables and fruit trees, complete with fishponds and a lovely spice garden.

"Ho Seng and I have been very fortunate. We got married quite late in our lives and were very busy the first 15 to 20 years of our lives together. We have worked very hard and we knew that when we retired, we wanted to go to the countryside," explains Ivy.

"You see, Ho Seng and I hardly had a courtship before we got married. We met and decided to get married soon after. Our first honeymoon was in Brighton, England and then we went to Perth. We discovered that we both had a great love for the countryside and gardening."