Rural Diversification Collective

20/08/2026

Ever wondered what a working farm diversification success story actually looks like?

Join us at Land Use Reimagined 2026 on 21 October, hosted at Barnsgrove Clubhouse near Basingstoke. Jo Butler and family have transformed a former dairy site into a destination that’s redefining what rural land can do.

Barnsgrove is a 500-hectare working arable farm, where you’ll also find:

• Co-working space — private offices, resident desks and hot-desking
• Meeting and event spaces for hire
• Wellness treatment rooms
• Two indoor padel courts
• Café, bar, gym and exercise studio

All built without diluting the core farm business. Proof that can add income while protecting what’s already working.

Spend the day with farmers, landowners, vineyard owners, rural business operators, and expert rural diversification suppliers. Hear real-world case studies on hospitality and land-use diversification — all over locally sourced food.

Barnsgrove, White Lane, Greywell, Hampshire RG29 1GF
21 October 2026, 10:00am–3:00pm

Tickets are on sale now — grab yours before they go



Guest Speakers: Worthy Earth Tulleys Farm The Padel Farm Thornfalcon Winery & Press

16/08/2026

Solid walled, historic buildings are expensive to heat. For a lot of rural businesses, that's the thing that actually decides whether a visitor attraction, wedding venue or holiday let trades year round, or has to scale back through the winter.

In this insight, SPASE Architects . Surveyors look at how a fabric-first energy retrofit at Athelhampton House, a Grade I listed Tudor manor near Dorchester, took the site's energy costs from £100,000 a year to £0, and what that meant for a business trying to stay open through the winter season.

With delinked payments being phased out by 2027, more landowners are exploring diversification. But running costs can quietly undercut even the best plans, especially in heritage buildings. Worth a read if you're weighing up whether an existing historic building could work harder for your business.

Link in the comments

07/08/2026

In 2025 we started planning for a one day event exploring across hospitality, leisure and tourism. The event will be held , itself a stunning example of farm diversification. We have , and joining us. When planning for this event we decided October 21 would allow plenty of time outside the harvest window. What date should we choose for next year? Tickets for 2026 now open. Book on our website.

03/08/2026

24/07/2026

When will you be finishing harvest? With lower yields imagine what your land could become. Come and meet us and hear from successful farm and rural diversification enterprises.

Land Use Reimagined 2026 - Barnsgrove Hampsire, 21 October.

One day conference, guest speakers, rural diversification experts and locally sourced food.

Tickets now on sale

18/06/2026

We caught up with Ben Chick from after his eventful Britain’s Got Talent win. Most people know him now as one of the 34 farmers who walked onto the stage with the Hawkstone Farmers Choir .

We sat down with Ben to talk about the choir, the illness he’s been managing all year, and a planning application to build a community centred around paddle, wellness and his connection to New Zealand.

Its exciting to be documenting the start of his journey, one we plan to come back to in the coming months.

Link to full article in the comments. If you want to share your founder story please do get in touch.

17/06/2026

Great to be out yesterday at Rural Diversification Live hosted by .peverill and the Diversified Farmer. Large scale diversification on show by . So much to take in and so many great people

10/06/2026

Thinking about diversifying? 🌿

Whether it's holiday accommodation, a farm shop, storage units or another rural venture, diversification is something we're seeing more and more businesses explore.

We've put together a short article with the Rural Diversification Collective looking at some of the ways these projects can be funded.

Take a read here:

https://ruraldiversification.co.uk/insight/how-can-rural-landowners-finance-diversification-projects/

Have you spotted any interesting diversification projects locally recently?