KARISTYLE, a one-to-one home salon based on a family smallholding in Otham, near Maidstone, has been named Runner-Up for Best Home Salon in the UK at the Hair & Beauty Awards 2026. From thousands of entries nationwide, the small Kent salon placed second in the UK and was the highest-placed home salon in England.
Owned by local stylist Karis Petersen, KARISTYLE is far from a conventional salon. Set within the family's smallholding, clients can arrive for their appointment to find sheep grazing, chickens wandering and ducks just outside the salon door.
Karis created the salon to offer a quieter, more personal alternative to the traditional busy salon environment. Every appointment is one-to-one, creating a relaxed space that can be particularly welcoming for people who find larger or busier salons overwhelming.
The unusual combination has become the heart of the business, inspiring its tagline, "Where Salon Meets Smallholding."
What began as a small home business has since attracted clients from far beyond Maidstone, with some travelling more than two hours for appointments and others visiting from as far afield as Scotland and Amsterdam.
Karis said:
When I created KARISTYLE, I never imagined it would end up being recognised on a national level. It's just something I've built at home around our family and our slightly chaotic smallholding, so to be named the second best home salon in the whole of the UK feels quite surreal."
"I wanted to create somewhere that felt completely different from a traditional salon. It's private, it's one-to-one and it's relaxed. Then you add the sheep, chickens and ducks into the mix and somehow it all just works.
The national recognition comes at an exciting time for KARISTYLE, which has recently been professionally filmed and photographed to capture the unusual combination of salon life, family life and the smallholding.
For Karis, however, the award is also recognition of the clients who have supported the business and embraced its unconventional setting.
My clients have really become part of what KARISTYLE is. They come for their appointments, but they'll also ask what's happening with the animals or what's going on around the smallholding. It's become a little community rather than just somewhere to get your hair done.
From a small salon tucked away in Otham to being recognised as one of the very best home salons in Britain, KARISTYLE is proving that sometimes doing things a little differently pays off.
