How to Bring Soho Farmhouse Design into Your Home
Tucked away in the Cotswolds countryside, Soho Farmhouse has become a design icon. Its aesthetic— layered, tactile, and effortlessly comfortable captures the essence of modern rural living. But the appeal of Soho Farmhouse design isn’t just about how it looks; it’s about how it makes you feel. Rooted in Cotswolds architecture and elevated with a blend of reclaimed materials, industrial touches and refined details, it’s a style that’s not only beautiful, but deeply liveable.
At HollandGreen, we’re often asked how to bring that Soho Farmhouse style into real homes – whether it’s a restoration of a listed building, a period property, a barn conversion, or a contemporary new-build set within a rural setting. Here’s how you can integrate that relaxed luxury into your own space, and how we’ve brought it to life through our own projects.
Embracing the Character of the Cotswolds
The original farmhouse at the heart of the Soho Farmhouse estate is built from classic Cotswold stone—oolitic limestone with its warm golden hues and characteristic texture. This material is central to the architecture of the region and immediately sets the tone for any home designed in harmony with the Cotswolds landscape.
Walls are thick, often rubble-filled, with hand-dressed stone laid in courses and finished with soft lime mortar. Slate roofs are laid in diminishing courses — heavier at the eaves and finer towards the ridge — lending the buildings a sense of age and enduring solidity. The natural weight and thickness of the slate tiles also necessitated thicker walls in traditional construction, further contributing to the buildings’ sense of permanence and strength.
In our own work across the Cotswolds, we’ve found that working with traditional materials, particularly Cotswold stone, requires care and respect for the region’s architectural heritage. Even stone from the same quarry can vary depending on the layer it’s taken from, and newly built walls will always contrast slightly with their aged counterparts. Where appropriate, it can be more successful to contrast new with old intentionally, rather than trying to mimic it. This is a technique we’ve applied on projects such as Rosewood Manor, where a modern addition was designed to sit confidently alongside the original stonework.
Reimagining Traditional Forms
What Soho Farmhouse does so well is reinterpret rural vernacular forms in a modern way. Many of the buildings on the site are newly constructed but designed to feel as if they’ve always been there. The Boathouse Spa, for example, features timber cladding and industrial-style glazing, set within a gabled form that echoes agricultural buildings. The Main Barn, which serves as a restaurant and bar, is constructed from a steel frame, but lined with reclaimed timber and topped with a cobblestone floor, giving it instant warmth and character.
There’s a freedom in this approach that works well in home design too. Rather than copying period features, look to reinterpret them. Use natural materials in new ways — clad a modern extension in blackened timber or use Crittall-style glazing to bring light and contrast to a stone structure. It’s a balance of honesty and subtlety that allows homes to feel both rooted and forward-looking.
Texture, Warmth, and Lived-In Comfort
The interiors of Soho Farmhouse are layered and tactile. This isn’t a polished country house; it’s a carefully curated version of rural life that feels as if it’s evolved over time. Natural fabrics, raw materials, and relaxed furniture choices create an atmosphere that’s calm and comfortable.
To capture this in your own home, focus on materials that age well; linen, wool, velvet, reclaimed timber, aged brass, and unlacquered finishes – all chosen for their high quality and timeless appeal. Lighting is soft and ambient, often wall-mounted or table-based, with dimmed tones rather than bright white spots. Furniture doesn’t match, but it works together, blending antique and modern, rustic and refined.
In our barn conversion projects, we’ve found that retaining the raw structure of a space is key. Rather than covering up timbers or plastering over stone, we celebrate the original features. Then, we layer in soft furnishings and modern comforts to strike that balance between practicality and elegance.
Letting Nature In
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of Soho Farmhouse architecture is its seamless connection to the outdoors. Large, glazed doors, wide terraces, and pathways through trees and over water encourage a constant relationship with nature. It’s not just about big views; it’s about creating smaller moments of connection too.
In your own home, consider how light enters, how rooms relate to the garden, and how natural materials can flow from the exterior to the interior. Even simple gestures like timber-framed doors opening onto a stone patio, or a window seat that catches the afternoon sun can help anchor your home to its setting.
This is something we think about in all our Cotswolds projects, whether it’s a new-build designed to respond to long landscape views across the rolling hills, or a more enclosed courtyard-style renovation where intimacy with nature can still be felt through materials, textures and planting.
Bringing It All Together
What makes the Soho Farmhouse design style so appealing is its sense of relaxed confidence. It’s not about matching every detail or sticking to one aesthetic – it’s about creating a layered, thoughtful environment that feels both grounded and timeless. It brings together the character of old materials, the simplicity of rural architecture, and the comforts of contemporary living.
Whether you’re working with an original stone farmhouse, planning a new rural home, or transforming a barn into something new, this approach offers a roadmap that’s both flexible and deeply personal. At HollandGreen, we help homeowners across the Cotswolds and beyond to bring this sense of balance and atmosphere into their homes through careful detailing, sympathetic design, and a deep respect for the surrounding landscape.
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