WHEN Caroline Reeves, a farm secretary in the North Wessex Downs, went freelance, she faced a problem. ‘I couldn’t work with young children running around, we had poor broadband and it wasn’t a house I could take clients back to,’ she says. ‘I’ve always lived rurally and for any co-working spaces, you had to go to a big town. I didn’t work in towns, I was a country girl. That’s what I knew and that’s what I wanted to create for others.’
Today, Miss Reeves’s company, the Rural Business Hub, provides two co-working spaces in Hampshire: The Old Post Office, near Andover, and Gander Down Barns on a working farm east of Winchester. Around the UK, 30–40% of us now work remotely at least once a week, a trend bolstered by the pandemic. Working-from-home rates in the countryside are significantly higher than in urban areas and stylish co-working spaces in repurposed rural buildings are breathing new life into the countryside.
Entrepreneurs appreciate these spaces because they can contract or expand their business easily, Miss Reeves points out, and parents like being closer to their children’s school. ‘There’s a lot of ad-hoc use during the summer holidays,’ she’s noticed, as well as customers who have moved house and don’t have broadband yet.
Denne historien er fra October 11, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra October 11, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
