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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 4pm

http://www.aucottinteriordesign.co.uk/

Aucott Interior Design Ltd, Bournemouth (2026)

27/05/2026

🌿 I’m Sonia and I help farmers, vineyards, country estates and equestrian businesses to develop hospitality venues which will generate recurring sources of income. 🌿

That might be converting unused buildings into holiday accommodation or transforming an old barn into an events space, opening a farm shop or cafe.

Any new space which welcomes visitors and paying guests needs to be carefully planned and developed and will require thoughtfully considered interior design to enhance the guest experience.

With farmers and landowners now in the position where they have to diversify (rather than it would be nice to), we support them through the necessary stages to bring their plans to life.

From concept design, floor plan and electrical layouts, furniture sourcing and procurement to styling and installation we seek to create spaces which draw out the unique story of their land, are reflective of our clients values, profitable and are designed to provide guests with an experience that they will want to return to and share with the people they know.

With rural tourism on the rise and farmers and landowners seeking additional sources of income, now is the ideal time to pursue those development ideas.

If this is something you or your clients are exploring let’s connect and see how we can take your seed of an idea and make it grow.

[email protected]

📸

Farm hospitality | farm hotel | rural tourism | farm diversification | rural diversification

27/05/2026

I’m looking forward to exhibiting at the New Forest Show this year on Thursday 18th June.

We’ll be in the New Forest Business Partnership Marquee so if you’re going along do come and say “Hello” as it would be great to see you!

15/05/2026

🐖 Pig Sty Project Update 🐖

One of the many things l’ve loved about this journey into
Farm/Rural Diversification is connecting with so many wonderful new people along the way who are already firmly planted in this sector.

And when I come onto social media my feed is full of photos of the countryside - farms, country estates, livestock, woodland and rural events. And so it’s lovely to be able to share some pictures of my own taken on site of the beautiful where we’re working on the Pig Sty conversion.

Frankly, nature was just showing off yesterday when I took these pictures! Isn’t it beautiful?

And back to the Pig Sty, we’re on the home strait. The decorating is largely complete, with only the wallpapering still to do, the flooring will be laid next week, and installation is planned for early June.

Following along for the finished result! 🐖🌿🦆

06/05/2026

🌿 Hôtel Le Cardinal, Paris 🌿

I’ve just returned from a beautiful few days in Paris with one of my girl, . We stayed at the near Montmartre which was a very conscious choice. After long days walking around the sights we wanted somewhere restorative rather than stimulating to stay, a quiet antidote to the city.

What we didn’t expect was to find one of the most quietly brilliant pieces of interior design storytelling l’ve encountered in a long time.

Fully refurbished in 2025, the hotel is a collaboration between interior designer Laure Zucconi founder of DZArchitecture, and natural dye artist Virginie Lagerbe of Pérégreen.

The concept is simple and beautiful: France’s eight distinct landscapes of forest, vineyard, mountain, garrigue, beach, pine grove, moorland, orchard are each home to native dye plants with their own hidden colour palette.

Each of the 80 rooms takes its identity from the native plants of these areas and the natural dyes derived from them. Not interpretations of those colours but the actual colours, drawn out through ancient dyeing techniques and mordanted onto natural fibres using nothing but rainwater and mineral salts.

Threading through every room and communal space is the oak, a symbol of hospitality in the language of plants. Warm, grounding, quietly authoritative. The result is soft linens, natural textures, pressed botanical illustrations, and the calm confidence of materials chosen with intention.

What struck me was that this concept could be beautifully translated to the UK. Our farms, vineyards, estates and smallholdings are sitting on extraordinary stories created around ancient hedgerows, heritage orchards, chalk downland and coastal grassland. Each holds a colour palette and a narrative that is entirely its own.

For landowners thinking about diversifying into retreats or holiday lets, what if the starting point for your new rural destination was simply: What grows here? What story does this land want to tell?

Continued in comments…

23/04/2026

🐖 Pig Sty Project Update 🐖

Work is progressing well at our Pig Sty project. Our client runs a successful Wedding Venue and we designed their guest bedrooms and bathrooms during covid.

So we were delighted to be asked back to help them transform this space into accommodation for the Groom and his men to use the night before the wedding.

Formally a Pig Sty, then converted into office space 20yrs ago the client felt it would be a better asset as guest accommodation. And when their wedding season closes in October it can then be used as an Airlonb holiday let.

Sleeping up to 6 people we are installing a new kitchen, bathroom, flooring, lighting. fully redecorating, and supplying full FF&E. Once complete, we’ll arrange professional photography so the client can use the images in their marketing material.

The client has been on this land for generations and runs a fully diversified estate with wedding venue and accommodation, serviced offices, golf club, equestrian facilities and a field of solar panels.

Forward thinking, commerically minded and innovative our clients are a pleasure to work. If you have a farm or country estate and would like help refurbishing your hospitality spaces do reach out. We’d love to hear from you!

21/04/2026

🌱The roots of Agritourism - where it all began 🌱

When I first started researching rural diversification properly, deeply, the kind of research that keeps you up past midnight, I kept finding myself drawn back to the same question. Where did all of this start?

Well, it was the Italian countryside of the 1950s and 60s and a landscape that was quietly falling apart. After the Second World War, industrialisation and the pull of the cities hollowed out rural villages across Italy.

Small farms, many handed down through generations, became harder and harder to make viable. Families who had worked the same land for centuries were being forced to walk away from it.

Agritourism, the Italian “agriturismo” began as a response to exactly that crisis. Not as a lifestyle concept or brand but as a lifeline. The official designation was created in 1973, giving tourists a formal way to stay on farms and learn from farming families.

By 1985, the Italian government had introduced tax incentives for struggling farms that opened their doors to travellers and two framework laws began to shape and regulate what agriturismo meant.

To legally qualify, a farm had to generate more income from agriculture than from tourism, ensuring the land remained genuinely worked and the experience remained genuinely rooted.

What those early farms offered was beautifully simple: a room, a seat at the family table, and proximity to the rhythms of the land. Guests found themselves drizzling salads with olive oil pressed that morning, drinking wine within sight of the vines. The meals played a deeply social role as food in Italy is never just fuel, it’s connection, it’s a story, it’s a place.

Because of that model, Italy’s countryside was able to save an extraordinary number of historic farm buildings and preserve traditional agricultural practices that might otherwise have been lost entirely.

Today there are over 23,000 agriturismo farms across all twenty Italian regions, a quiet revolution that started with a family opening a spare room. And here we are, decades later, with some of the most extraordinary hospitality experiences in the world growing from exactly that same seed - a deep rootedness in place, and a desire to share it.

Over the coming weeks I'll be exploring how farm hospitality has grown into what it is today, the properties doing it brilliantly, and why I believe that interior design, done thoughtfully and with integrity, is what allows these places to truly come alive.

Have you ever stayed somewhere that felt genuinely rooted in its land? I'd love to hear about it.

📸 Credits: Harvesting, 1960, 1.2815.jpg & Grape Harvest - the grapes transferred into a wooden bin, 1960, 1.2994.jpg, Touring Club Italiano

13/04/2026

🌷Tulip Fest, Tulley’s Farm🌷

Last week my kids and I had the chance to visit . Having met the owner, Stuart Beare at the NFAN conference a couple of months ago he kindly invited us to visit the farm to see Tulip Fest and it didn’t disappoint.

Tulleys has grown become the UK’s leading Tulip Festival rooted in generations of farming, yet unapologetically forward-thinking. Their journey to become a fully-fledged farm attraction is not just inspiring, it’s instructive for anyone exploring diversification.

Today, Tulleys has built a dynamic, multi-season business model expanding beyond the Tulip Fest to include and events and immersive Christmas experiences.

Naturally, I appreciated the attention to detail. From the moment you arrive, the operation feels seamless with efficient car parking, clear wayfinding and signage, immaculate facilities, and a team of genuinely friendly, helpful staff. It’s evident that the visitor experience has been carefully designed at every touchpoint.

At the heart of the site, the central “park” brings a Mid-west festival vibe complete with a bar, high-quality food trucks, and beautifully curated spaces that naturally create those all-important Instagram “moments”. It’s immersive without feeling contrived.

Beyond the visual spectacle of the tulips themselves which are incredibly beautiful (I took 100s of photos!), I particularly liked reading the thoughtfully designed information boards which guide visitors through the history of tulips, woven through art and culture and offer practical insights into bullb propagation. It’s educational, engaging, and added a real depth to the experience.

And of course, the commercial ecosystem is smart: branded merchandise, potted tulips to take home, and multiple opportunities for visitors to extend their connection with the brand.

This is a fine example of farm diversification not just adding revenue streams, but creating a destination. A place where agriculture, storytelling, and hospitality come together to form something truly memorable and will generate income for many years to come.

For farms, estates, and rural businesses who are looking to evolve would like to hear more about the Tulley's story do come to our next Rural Diversification event on Wednesday 21st October. Stuart has kindly agreed to come and speak so you'll have the opportunity to ask him questions in person.

So save the date and we look forward to seeing there! Tickets will be released soon.

https://ruraldiversification.co.uk/product/ heritage-hospitality-and-land-use-reimagined/

24/03/2026

✨ Tickets are live! ✨

To celebrate the launch of the platform we are hosting a Summer Networking Event.

To be held at on Wednesday 10th June at 12pm, we’d love to welcome along specialist suppliers, farmers, landowners and estate managers who are involved in rural diversification and land use projects.

Hosted by Robbie Williams and his wife Tracy, Everards is an established and evolving farm diversification project set in the beautiful Somerset countryside.

The gathering will include welcome drinks, lunch and plenty of time to meet other members, exchange ideas and build connections across the rural sector in a relaxed setting.

📍 Everards Farm, Nedge Lane, Radstock, BA3 4LR
📆 Wednesday 10th June
🕰️ 12.00 - 3.00pm

Book your tickets click on the link in the comments.

There will be opportunities for sponsorship. If you would like further details, please email
[email protected].

We hope you can join us!

09/03/2026

✨We’re building something new! ✨

When I first started to pivot my business towards the fascinating world of rural diversification I quickly realised how complex, nuanced and site specific it is.

Diversification can take many forms and with the rural landscape such as it is, for farmers and landowners it’s no longer a case of “it would be nice to diversify”, but rather “we have to”.

As an interior design studio we help farms, vineyards, country estates and equestrian venues to develop hospitality venues that will generate recurring sources of income. That may be converting estate cottages into holiday accommodation or transforming a disused barn into an events space, for example.

As with any development project though rural diversification projects are layered with complexity and require many specialists to take them from concept to completion. Over the last 18 months we’ve been actively connecting with all the necessary professionals you would need to undertake such a project.

Through one such connection I met my new business partner, of and between us we have built the . This is a new and truly unique tiered membership platform which brings together all the professionals you would need to undertake a rural development project. From planning and feasibility, architecture, construction, heritage and ecology consultants all the way through to operating systems, food & beverage providers, and everything in between, this platform will be a free and comprehensive resource for farmers and landowners.

Please do head over to the , follow and share with anyone who you think would be interested. Ultimately we’ll be hosting events and monthly webinars hosted by members on specialist subjects so follow along for more updates!

Link to website in comments below.

03/03/2026

✨A Re/Introduction ✨

I’ve connected with lots of lovely new people recently and thought it time to re/introduction myself.

In Autumn ‘24 l began a journey or pivoting my business into the fascinating world of rural diversification. Guided by my wonderful mentor, Julia Begbie I went back to basics. Re-establishing my core values which are my faith, integrity and truth, dignity and respect and creative excellence, they inform everything I do.

Having done an enormous amount of research on rural diversification I began to see how aligned it was with my values. From the raw honesty of the farming landscape, the production of food and the extraordinary people who shape this world, all roads seemed to lead down the proverbial farm track.

There are many forms of diversification and with farmers and landowners now in the position where diversification is necessary (rather than it would be nice to), we aim to support them with developing hospitality venues which generate recurring sources of income.

That might be converting existing cottages into holiday accommodation, transforming an old barn into an events space, and so much more besides. Whatever their chosen route we design interiors that are deeply rooted in place, complement the heritage of their land and are created to enhance the guest experience.

If you’d like to know more about the services we offer, or talk about a project you’d love to bring to life, do reach out at [email protected] as l’d love to hear from you.

Aucott Interior Design Ltd

27/05/2026

27/05/2026

15/05/2026

06/05/2026

23/04/2026

21/04/2026

13/04/2026

24/03/2026

09/03/2026

03/03/2026

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Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 4pm