Otham salon in a pod on a smallholding placed second in the UK for best home salon

A one-woman hair salon in a purpose-built pod on a family smallholding at Otham, near Maidstone, has been placed second in the United Kingdom for Best Home Salon at the 2026 UK Hair & Beauty Awards.

Karistyle, run by Karis Petersen, is listed as runner-up in the category on the organiser’s published national results, behind Lucy’s Beauty Studio near Swansea. The results were announced at the AO Arena in Manchester on 15 August.

“I’m essentially one woman working from a pod on a smallholding in Otham, so it still feels slightly surreal,” Ms Petersen said.

From a hallway in Paddock Wood to a pod among the sheep

The business did not begin anywhere near a smallholding. Ms Petersen said she started it after the Covid lockdowns, “essentially in the hallway of my old house in Paddock Wood”, having decided she wanted work that fitted around her family rather than the other way round.

“Lockdown put a lot of things into perspective for me and made me rethink the way I was working,” she said. “I knew I wanted a better work-life balance and to build something that could work around my family rather than my family having to work around my career.”

When she later moved to Otham, where her husband Neil was already living on the smallholding, the salon came with her. “I basically arrived, invaded his space and gradually took over a little corner of it for Karistyle,” she said. In March 2025 a purpose-built pod was delivered and became the dedicated salon in use today, surrounded by the family’s sheep, chickens and ducks.

“What started in a hallway after lockdown somehow evolved into a purpose-built salon surrounded by sheep, chickens and countryside, and has now been placed second nationally for Best Home Salon. I don’t think I could have planned the journey if I’d tried.” The salon’s tagline, Where Salon Meets Smallholding, “ended up being quite literal”.

One client at a time

Karistyle is a one-to-one salon. There is no second chair and no other stylist; Ms Petersen does everything herself, from the consultation to the finished result, and each appointment has the pod to itself.

“It means when somebody books with me, the appointment is entirely theirs,” she said. “Clients can look out and see the animals, there’s no busy salon environment and people don’t feel rushed in and out.”

She said the setting had become “a really comfortable environment for clients who find traditional salons overwhelming or simply prefer a quieter, more private appointment”, adding: “It isn’t unusual for the chickens or sheep to become part of the appointment too.”

What went into the entry

The UK Hair & Beauty Awards are a national industry scheme in which businesses enter themselves. Ms Petersen said her entry set out to show the whole business rather than only photographs of hair: the story behind the salon, the smallholding setting, the way she works with clients and what she had built as an independent business.

“There are some incredible salons across the country, so to be placed second nationally in Best Home Salon was a huge surprise,” she said.

Asked what the placing had changed, she pointed less to bookings than to confidence. “When you’re working by yourself from home, you don’t necessarily have the same benchmarks around you that you would in a large salon. Being recognised nationally has made me realise that what I’ve created here can stand alongside businesses from anywhere in the country.”

Switching off, and the escaped chicken

The hardest part of running a salon from home alongside a family, she said, is “switching off”. She is a mother of three, runs the salon alone and looks after the smallholding and its animals. “There isn’t really a point where somebody else takes over because I’m responsible for all of it.”

“Some days are definitely more organised than others, though. You can be running a professional salon one minute and dealing with an escaped chicken the next.”

Her advice to other people running a business from home in Kent is not to underestimate it. “You don’t necessarily need a high-street premises, a huge team or something that looks like everybody else’s business for it to be successful,” she said. “A salon on a smallholding with sheep and chickens isn’t exactly the most obvious business plan, but somehow it’s taken me to second place nationally, so I’m a big believer in making your business your own.”

Three more shots at a Kent title in October

Karistyle is also on the shortlist for the 2026 Kent Health, Hair & Beauty Awards, run by Kent Business Awards, in three categories: Home Based Business of the Year, Hair & Beauty Business of the Year and, for Ms Petersen personally, Hair Stylist of the Year. The winners will be announced at the Ashford International Hotel on 16 October.

“Being placed second nationally was incredible, but being recognised here in Kent feels different because this is where I live, where my clients are and where I’ve built the business,” she said. “To win after this year’s national result would probably take a little while to sink in.”

Karistyle takes bookings through its online booking page.

Sources

• The UK Hair & Beauty Awards, 2026 results page, which links to the organiser’s Official UK National Top 100 List 2026 (Best Home Salon, page 51).
• Kent Health, Hair & Beauty Awards 2026, published finalists (Kent Business Awards).
• Written interview with Karis Petersen, Karistyle, by email, 4 September 2026.