Estate & Rural Business Masterplanning

Landowners are increasingly looking for solutions that allow them to care for land while welcoming paying visitors or guests.

Designing land used to generate income involves thinking holistically about a wide range of factors, from guest experience and aesthetics, to movement management and on-site flow, to the ecological systems that support the human enterprises.

The aim is to create landscapes where the ecological systems that support the business are strengthened rather than compromised by it. The landscape is part of the business’s operating system, and if we design it properly, ecological health and commercial function can reinforce one another.

What this usually involves

A whole-site masterplan considers how the different parts of the holding relate to one another, including how people arrive and move through the site, where buildings and activities sit, how productive and visitor-facing areas connect, and how water, soil, planting and habitat can support the whole.

Depending on the project, this may include visuals and reports that explore guest and visitor experience, access and circulation, accommodation and activity areas, productive landscapes, planting and habitat, water management, food production, infrastructure, and long-term phasing.

Who this is for

This service is suited to estates and rural businesses where the landscape is an important part of the visitor experience, the business model or both, including:

• Eco resorts, retreats, campsites and glamping sites
• Guesthouses, agritourism and rural visitor businesses
• Event and hospitality venues
• Garden centres and plant nurseries
• Private estates looking to develop a regenerative landscape at scale
• Rural businesses seeking to improve both ecological function and visitor experience

The projects below show how these principles can be applied across different types and scales of rural business and estate.