From Dairy Barn to $2.8 Million: Your Old Buildings May Be Your Best Agritourism Asset

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In 2020, someone paid $450,000 for 3 acres in Round Hill, Virginia. Property records listed the land as "vacant." The only building on it was a tired dairy barn from 1950, described in the sale as a barn "to be restored."

Most farmers look at an old barn like that and see a problem. A roof to fix. Boards to replace. Maybe a demolition bill.

In May 2026, that same barn came back on the market as a 5-bedroom home with a stone silo, a 30-foot vaulted living room and the original arched roof timbers still on show. The asking price was $2,999,990. In August it was cut to $2.8 million.

It hasn't sold yet. But here's the part that should make every farm owner sit up: an old cow barn was given a multi-million-dollar asking price, and Dwell and Northern Virginia Magazine both wrote stories about it. The selling point wasn't the land. It was the barn's story.

So if you've ever wondered what to do with an old barn on your farm, here's the answer. You don't have to sell it, and you don't have to spend millions. The farms making the most from old buildings rent them out again and again: as wedding venues, holiday cottages, silo stays, farm shops and cafés. This article shows you the real numbers, the real farms and the rules to check first.

The Short Answer

Your old barn, shed or silo can earn far more as a place people visit than as storage. Real examples: an 1834 Virginia barn rents for $3,500 to $7,500 per wedding; a 1910 Vermont dairy barn charges $8,600 to $12,000 per event and has hosted about 40 to 45 weddings a year; one English dairy farm now makes 30% of its profit from holiday lets in its old barns. Start with the building you have, match it to the right business, and clear five gates first: structure, zoning, building and fire rules, insurance and a small paid test.

Old red dairy barn with a concrete silo on a farm, the kind of old farm building that can become an agritourism asset — An old dairy barn and silo like this one is worth more as a place people visit than as storage. Illustrative photo, not the Round Hill barn. Photo: Unsplash.

The $2.8 Million Barn Nobody Wanted

Let's look closer at the barn that started this, because the details teach the lesson.

The property sits at 18360 Turnberry Drive in Round Hill, in western Loudoun County, about an hour from Washington, D.C. The barn was built in 1950 as a dairy barn. Dwell magazine described it as converted from an abandoned dairy barn.

In August 2020, according to Redfin property records, it sold for $450,000 as "vacant land." The listing said the old dairy barn was "to be restored and used for residential."

The conversion was finished in 2022. Architect Steve Workman, designer Erica Deputy of New Home Old Soul and builder Collier Homes kept what made the barn special:

The original arched wood roof structure, left exposed
A stone silo attached to the house
A 30-foot vaulted living room with a stone fireplace
A mezzanine loft, custom wood staircases and an office wing
A separate one-bedroom carriage house with its own kitchen

The home has more than 9,000 square feet of living space. Its tax assessment jumped from $245,610 in 2022 to $1,770,240 in 2023 once the conversion was done.

Chart showing the Round Hill dairy barn bought for $450,000 in 2020, assessed at $1.77 million in 2023 and listed at $3.0 million then $2.8 million in 2026 — The Round Hill barn's numbers, from 'vacant land' to a $2.8 million asking price.

Reality Check:

The renovation cost was never made public, so nobody can tell you the "profit" on this barn. And it was taken off the market in October 2026 without selling. A $2.8 million asking price is not $2.8 million in the bank. The real lesson is not "flip your barn." It's that buyers, guests and couples will pay serious money for the character only an old farm building has.

Here's what I want you to notice. In 2020, the property was sold as vacant land, with the barn listed as something still to be restored. Six years later, the barn was the whole selling point.

How many farms have a building like that sitting behind the house right now, quietly falling down?

Why Old Farm Buildings Are Worth More Than You Think

Loudoun County, where this barn stands, once had more than 360 dairy farms. That was as recently as the 1960s, according to the Lovettsville Historical Society. Today only a handful of dairies remain, according to Visit Loudoun.

The milk left. The barns stayed.

And then something interesting happened. Loudoun turned those old farms and buildings into a major agritourism destination. A study of 2018 data found that visitors to Loudoun's roughly 195 agritourism businesses (about 55 wineries, breweries and distilleries, plus about 140 farms such as U-pick fields, pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms) spent an estimated $252.9 million across Virginia that year.

And many of Loudoun's wedding venues use old barns.

The same pattern shows up everywhere farms have struggled:

United States: 28% fewer working farms reported old barns in 2017 than in 2007, and less than a quarter of working farms still had a barn built before 1960, according to the National Barn Alliance's analysis of Census of Agriculture data.
England: Historic England says more than 80% of the conversions of listed farm buildings it studied were into homes. Only about 10% of surviving farmsteads have been reused for business.
Letting buildings is already big business: in England, 50% of farms now let out buildings, earning an average of £27,900 a year from it, according to Defra's 2024/25 Farm Business Survey. It's the most common way English farms diversify.
Visitors keep coming: U.S. farms earned $1.26 billion from agritourism and recreation in 2022, up 12.4% after inflation since 2017, according to USDA's Economic Research Service.

Put simply, old barns are disappearing fast. Most of the survivors get turned into houses and sold, or left to rot. Very few are put to work earning money for the farm that owns them.

That's your opening.

Old red barn with a collapsed roof in a field, showing how old farm buildings are lost when left empty — Every year, barns like this one are lost. An empty building earns nothing and costs you repairs. Illustrative photo. Photo: Unsplash.

Field-Tested Play:

Walk your farm this week with a notebook. List every building: its size, its age, its condition and what it's used for today. Put a star next to anything that is empty, used for junk, or would make a good photo. Those starred buildings are your agritourism shortlist.

What to Do With an Old Barn: Sell It Once or Rent It Forever?

The Round Hill barn was turned into a house and put up for sale. That's one way to cash in. You get paid once.

The farms in this article chose a different path. They kept the building, opened the doors and got paid again and again: every Saturday for a wedding barn, every booked night for a holiday cottage.

And when you keep the building, you keep the farm. You keep the land your family worked. You just give it a second job.

Here's how the main options compare:

Old building becomes	How it earns	Real example
Wedding and event venue	Site or facility fee per event	Round Barn Farm, Vermont: $8,600 to $12,000 per event
Holiday cottages	Nightly rent, year-round	Gilling West, Yorkshire: two cottages earn £30,000 a year
Silo or unique stay	Premium nightly rate	Silo stay in Pennsylvania: $450 to $750 a night
Farm shop or café	Daily sales	Wheatacre Hall, Norfolk: shop in an old bullock shed
Small event or tasting room	Hire fee per event	East Lynn Farm, Virginia: milking parlour room seats 100
Storage, offices, start-up kitchens	Monthly rent	Hunters Hill Farm, Yorkshire: old dairy buildings

Diagram matching old farm buildings to agritourism businesses: big barn to event venue, stone sheds to holiday cottages, silo to unique stay, open shed to farm shop, milking parlour to tasting room, any shed to storage — Match the building you already have to the business it suits best.

If you're not sure which way to go, I've written about the costs of setting up a barn for agritourism and about how to make money without building anything at all. Read both before you spend a cent.

Path 1: Turn the Barn Into a Wedding and Event Venue

This is the big one. A large, open, old barn is exactly what many couples are looking for.

The numbers back this up. According to The Knot's wedding data, barn, farm and ranch venues grew from just 2% of U.S. wedding receptions in 2009 to 15% in 2017. For 2023 weddings, The Knot found a farm, barn or ranch was the most popular ceremony location (17%) and the second most popular reception venue (18%, behind banquet halls).

The money is serious too. The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study found the average U.S. couple spent $34,200 on their 2025 wedding, including $12,900 on the reception venue. And 83% of couples said the venue took priority when they put together their team of wedding vendors.

In the UK, barns hosted 21% of weddings in 2025 and make up 28% of 2027 bookings so far, according to Bridebook. Average barn venue hire there is £6,343.

Here's a detail every farmer should notice: in The Knot's research, 60% of couples said being able to hold the ceremony and the reception in one place mattered most when deciding which venues to contact. A farm with a barn, a meadow and a view can offer exactly that.

Chart showing barn and farm wedding receptions rising from 2 percent in 2009 to 15 percent in 2017 and 18 percent in 2023 in the United States — Barn and farm weddings went from a niche choice to one of the most popular.

Long wedding reception tables set inside a rustic timber barn venue — Couples will pay for a room like this. Illustrative photo, not a venue named in this article. Photo: Unsplash.

Round Barn Farm, Vermont: The Cows Moved Out, the Couples Moved In

In 1910, Clem Joslyn built a 12-sided round barn in Waitsfield, Vermont. It was a working dairy barn until 1969.

In 1986, Jack and Doreen Simko bought the farm. They spent two years restoring the barn, from 1988 to 1990. In all, they invested more than $300,000 in renovations before opening the inn in August 1990. The barn's very first wedding rental brought in about $500.

The Round Barn went on to host about 40 to 45 weddings a year, with an average of about 120 guests each, according to the Valley Reporter. Today, the published facility fee runs from $8,600 to $12,000 per event, for up to 200 guests.

Do the rough math. Even 40 weddings at the lowest fee would be about $344,000 a year in facility fees alone. (That's my own estimate, using numbers from different years, so treat it as a sense of scale, not a statement of their income.)

That's from a barn the cows stopped using more than 50 years ago.

Kalero Vineyard, Virginia: An 1834 Barn Nobody Was Using

Also in western Loudoun County, near Purcellville, sits the Heartstone Barn at Kalero Vineyard. The barn dates from 1834. It sat neglected until the current owners bought the property in 2015.

They started renovating in 2016. The first wedding took place on October 20, 2017.

Today the barn hosts up to 150 guests. The site fee runs from $3,500 for a midweek event to $7,500 for a high-season Saturday.

East Lynn Farm, Round Hill: The Milking Parlour Became a Party Room

East Lynn Farm is also in Round Hill. Its 143 acres were once planned to be split into 14 ten-acre house lots. Instead, the land went under a conservation easement and the farm became an event venue.

My favorite detail: the lower level of the old dairy barn holds a "Midcentury Industrial Milking Parlor" event room that seats 100. Wedding packages listed on Zola run from about $9,500 to $15,500.

The cows' milking room became a selling point.

Chart comparing barn wedding venue fees: Kalero Vineyard $3,500 to $7,500, Round Barn Farm $8,600 to $12,000, East Lynn Farm $9,500 to $15,500, against the US average venue cost of $12,900 — What couples pay to rent an old barn for one wedding, compared with the U.S. average venue cost.

It Takes Time to Fill the Calendar

Don't expect a full diary in year one. Here's how real barn venues grew:

Croix-View Farm, Wisconsin: a dairy family's barn from around 1869. They started renovating in April 2015 and held their first event in April 2016. They booked 14 weddings that year and 25 the next, according to Hoard's Dairyman.
Aswanley, Scotland: a former cattle barn among century-old farm steadings, turned into a 250-guest venue. Year one brought a couple of weddings. Year two brought six. Today it hosts 30 to 40 weddings a year, but it took seven or eight years before the family could afford staff, according to NFU Mutual.
The Red Shed, Michigan: Ashley Lubbers turned old dairy outbuildings, including a 140-year-old barn, into a venue that books up 18 months ahead, according to Brownfield Ag News.

Old white barn used as a wedding and event venue with wooden benches set out for a ceremony — A barn venue set for a ceremony. Couples pay for the setting, not just the space. Illustrative photo. Photo: Unsplash.

Reality Check:

Barn venues are not cheap to get right. In Vermont, Mansfield Barn's owner put in about $600,000, and told VTDigger that a sprinkler system alone would have cost about $200,000. He said they probably would never have done the project if it had been required. In Indiana, Que Sera Farms spent $150,000 to $200,000 turning a 1952 tobacco barn into a venue. And noise matters: Croix-View Farm stopped allowing live bands. Budget for fire safety, toilets, septic, parking and neighbors before you budget for fairy lights.

And weddings aren't right for every farm. Southern Belle Farm in Georgia stopped hosting weddings because its visitors mainly wanted hands-on farm experiences, according to DTN/Progressive Farmer.

Field-Tested Play:

Before you spend big, rent the barn for one small event: a harvest dinner, a workshop, a birthday party. Treat it as a paid test. If you've never hosted one, my guide to hosting farm-to-table dinners shows you how, and my tips for organizing farm weddings and special events cover the logistics.

Path 2: Turn Old Sheds and Stables Into Farm Stays

Not every old building is big enough for 150 wedding guests. But a stone stable, a cart shed or a cow byre can be just the right size for a holiday cottage.

And a farm stay has one big advantage over weddings: it can earn every night, not just on Saturdays.

Guests are looking for exactly this. Airbnb says the typical U.S. farm stay host earned about $8,000 in 2025, and farm stay hosts earned about $120 million in total. That's nearly 400% more than in 2018. Google searches for "farm stay" have nearly quadrupled in a decade, and in 2022 Airbnb said barns were among its 10 most-booked types of unique stay.

In the UK, Sykes Holiday Cottages reports that farm stays brought in an average of £28,900 in gross income in 2025, above the £25,600 average for all holiday lets.

Gilling West, Yorkshire: "A Huge Risk," Then a Payoff

On their farm at Gilling West in North Yorkshire, William Heslop and his wife, Ann Lovegreen, turned three traditional stone outbuildings into holiday cottages, according to FarmingUK.

They spent £300,000 converting a cartshed and stable, starting in 2014. Then they spent another £200,000 on the old byre (cow house), finished in May 2018.

By 2019, the first two cottages were bringing in £30,000 a year and were booked all year round through a holiday letting agency. They described the project as a huge risk that definitely paid off.

Wheatacre Hall, Norfolk: The Barns Earn 30% of the Profit

Wheatacre Hall is a 460-cow dairy farm. That's a serious, working dairy, not a hobby farm.

The family turned their old Georgian barns into holiday lets. The first six opened at Easter 2006, and two more followed in 2008, giving 8 lets that sleep 41 guests. In 2020, they turned an open-sided bullock shed into a farm shop.

According to Farmers Weekly, the farm's profit now splits like this: dairy 60%, the holiday-let barns 30% and the shop 10%.

Read that again. On a 460-cow dairy farm, the old barns earn half as much profit as the cows.

Chart showing Wheatacre Hall profit split: dairy 60 percent, holiday lets in old barns 30 percent, farm shop in old bullock shed 10 percent — At Wheatacre Hall, the old barns now earn 30% of the farm's profit.

Pembrokeshire, Wales: A 13% Return

In Pembrokeshire, the Perkins family turned parts of two old farmhouses and three stone barns into 5 holiday cottages. They invested £230,000. Farmers Weekly reported in 2012 that they cleared about £30,000 a year after mortgage payments, a return of about 13%.

Try getting 13% from your grain or milk check.

Cozy cabin interior with a wood stove and string lights, the kind of warm room farm stay guests book — Farm stay guests pay for warmth and character. Illustrative photo, not a farm named in this article. Photo: Unsplash.

Field-Tested Play:

Price your farm stay for what it is: a one-of-a-kind building, not a hotel room. My article on why most farm stays are undercharging gives you a simple pricing formula. If you're starting from zero, follow my step-by-step guide to starting a farm stay and my guide to turning barns into bed and breakfasts.

Path 3: The Silo Nobody Thought Was Worth Anything

If you have an old silo standing empty, listen up. Guests will pay a premium to sleep somewhere they can't sleep anywhere else.

Prospect, Pennsylvania: Jan and Cathy McDonald combined a relocated grain silo with an old hangar to create a stay for up to 10 guests. It cost more than $400,000 and rents for $450 to $750 a night. Most bookings come from wedding parties at their White Barn venue next door, according to TribLIVE. One building feeds the other.
Marion, Kansas: a silo almost 100 years old was converted into a rental for about $70,000 to $80,000, with a planned rate of about $150 a night, according to KWCH.
Junee, New South Wales, Australia: Nicholas and Amber Heffernan took down two old silos on their farm and reused the silo sheeting as cladding on a new stay for two guests. It took 4 bookings in its first week and 5 in the second, according to The Land.

Notice the McDonald trick. The wedding barn brings the guests. The silo gives them somewhere to sleep. Two old buildings, two income streams, one customer.

Path 4: Farm Shops, Cafés and Small Rooms

You don't need a cathedral-sized barn to make money. Smaller, simpler uses can pay well and cost far less:

A farm shop in an old shed. Wheatacre Hall's open-sided bullock shed became the farm shop that now earns 10% of the farm's profit.
A café in a hay barn. At Ueno Farm in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan, the old cow barn became the garden entrance and shop, and the old hay barn became the NAYA Café, according to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Rentable space. At Hunters Hill Farm in Bedale, Yorkshire, a 2017 fire ended the family's dairying. They turned the old dairy buildings into self-storage, offices, small food start-up kitchens and an events and training room, according to The Yorkshire Post.

Field-Tested Play:

Start with the use that needs the least work. A clean, dry, safe shed can sell produce, host a workshop or store a neighbor's boat next month. A wedding venue might take two years. Small wins pay for big dreams.

How Much Can an Old Barn Really Earn? A Simple Example

Let's put rough numbers on it. These are illustrative figures only, built from the real prices above, so you can see the scale. Your numbers will depend on your location, your building and your costs.

Use	Example	Rough yearly gross
Wedding venue	20 events a year at a $5,000 site fee	$100,000
Holiday cottage	1 barn cottage at $200 a night, booked 120 nights	$24,000
Silo stay	1 silo at $150 a night, booked 100 nights	$15,000
Small event room	25 parties or workshops at $800 each	$20,000

Reality Check:

Gross is not profit. The University of Vermont Extension's sample farm bed-and-breakfast budget shows about 200 nights at roughly $108 a night bringing in $21,676 in room revenue, but only $2,675 in net profit after costs. In the UK, Farmers Weekly reported that a £1,000 holiday booking can leave about £100 once a 20% agency commission, 20% VAT and running costs come off. Know your real numbers before you borrow.

Before you decide, take off cleaning, staff, insurance, utilities, marketing, platform fees, repairs and the loan repayments on the conversion. A $100,000 venue that cost $600,000 to build is a very different business from one that cost $150,000. HomeGuide puts the cost of converting a barn into a commercial venue at about $225 to $400 per square foot, including accessibility and fire systems.

That's why you should always run the numbers in a written plan first. Use my free agritourism business plan template. Banks, insurers and planning officers all take a farmer with a written plan more seriously.

The Five Gates Every Old Building Must Pass

Here's where many barn dreams die. Not because the idea was bad, but because the farmer skipped a step.

Before a single paying guest walks into your old building, it must pass five gates.

Flowchart of five gates before the first paying guest: building sound, zoning allows it, building and fire rules, insurance in writing, then a small paid test — Five gates every old farm building must pass before paying guests arrive.

Gate 1: Is the Building Sound?

An old barn that holds hay is not automatically safe for 150 people dancing. Get a structural engineer or experienced builder to check the roof, the frame, the floor and the foundations. Ask them what it would take to make it safe for people, not just for storage.

Gate 2: Does Zoning or Planning Allow It?

Your local rules decide whether you can host events or overnight guests at all.

In Virginia, state law limits how much a county can restrict agritourism on farmland. Under Va. Code § 15.2-2288.6, a locality can't regulate agritourism activities on agriculturally zoned land, or require a special use permit for them, unless there's a substantial impact on public health, safety or welfare. Noise rules generally can't be stricter than the county's general noise ordinance, except for outdoor amplified music. But note: weddings and overnight lodging may not count as "agritourism activities" under Virginia's definition, so this protection may not cover them.

But don't assume your county or state works the same way. Read my guide to farm wedding venue zoning before you take a single booking.

If you farm in England, the rules changed in May 2024. Under Class Q permitted development, you can now convert agricultural buildings into up to 10 homes, with up to 1,000 square metres in total and no single home over 150 square metres. Class Q can't be used in National Parks, National Landscapes, conservation areas or World Heritage Sites, or on listed buildings. Class R, which lets farm buildings switch to certain commercial uses, rose from 500 to 1,000 square metres. Its allowed uses include storage, hotels, shops, cafés and offices, farm processing, agricultural training, and outdoor sport and recreation, but it doesn't apply to listed buildings. Weddings and events aren't on that list, so ask your council whether a venue needs full planning permission.

Gate 3: Which Building and Fire Rules Apply?

This is the gate that surprises people most.

Under the International Building Code, used in most U.S. states, fire officials such as Kansas's State Fire Marshal say virtually all barns turned into wedding venues are "assembly" buildings, Group A-2 or A-3. Under the code's long-standing rule for A-2 buildings, sprinklers are generally required when the fire area is over 5,000 square feet, when 100 or more people will be inside, or when the event space is on a floor other than the exit level. That last one catches a lot of hayloft parties. Ask which edition your area uses.

Maryland's state fire marshal guidelines for wedding barns, for example, call for sprinklers in barns where food or drink is served if 100 or more people attend or the fire area is over 5,000 square feet. They also require a fire alarm above 300 people, emergency lighting, two certified crowd managers per event, and they ban hay bales and straw.

And an agricultural exemption is not a free pass. In a 2020 Ohio appeals case, Powlette v. Board of Building Appeals, a barn built under an agricultural exemption and then used for weddings lost the exemption. The court upheld a stop-work order.

Virginia is unusual. Farm buildings open to the public for agritourism are exempt from the state building code, as long as they are used primarily for farming. Since July 1, 2023, those buildings need three things: portable fire extinguishers, a simple written emergency plan, and a sign at least 24 by 36 inches telling visitors the building is exempt from the building code and to be alert to exits.

Even there, the rules are being argued over. In western Loudoun, conservation advocates have raised concerns about "large gatherings in barns without building or fire codes," according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror. The county is rewriting its rural zoning rules, and one proposal would require operations to be verified as genuine farms before they can use the building-code exemption.

In England, anyone taking paying guests must carry out and record a fire risk assessment, even for a single night.

My full guide, Is Your Barn Legal for Visitors?, explains the occupancy limits and exemptions that decide whether your barn can open its doors.

Gate 4: Will Your Insurer Cover It in Writing?

A standard farm policy is written for farming. It may not cover a wedding, alcohol or guests sleeping overnight in your old stable.

As Ohio State University's agricultural law program has warned, a general liability farm policy probably won't cover wedding and event activities.

Call your insurer before you take a deposit. Ask them to confirm in writing what's covered: event liability, liquor liability if anyone serves alcohol, and accommodation liability for overnight guests. My guide to agritourism insurance lists the questions to ask.

In Virginia, the agritourism liability law also gives some protection from claims over the inherent risks of farm activities. But only if you post the warning sign exactly as the law requires. It must start with "WARNING" or "ATTENTION," use the wording set by statute, be in black letters at least one inch high, and be posted at the entrance and at the activity site. The same notice must appear in your written contracts. Get it wrong and you can lose the protection.

And don't assume these laws cover weddings at all. At least 39 states have some kind of agritourism liability law, but they vary a lot. Pennsylvania's law, for example, specifically excludes weddings, concerts and overnight stays. Virginia's definition of an agritourism activity doesn't mention weddings or lodging. See where to post agritourism warning signs and the agritourism laws in every state.

Gate 5: Run One Small Paid Test

Don't jump from empty barn to 40 weddings. Run one small, paid event first: a dinner, a workshop, a single weekend let. You'll learn what breaks, what guests love and what neighbors think, before you've spent the big money.

Reality Check:

Neighbors can make or break an event barn. In western Loudoun, the debate over rural event venues has gone on for years, with one resident even proposing a 9 p.m. noise curfew for rural venues, according to Loudoun Now. Talk to your neighbors before you open. Tell them your hours, your guest limits and your phone number. A neighbor who feels respected is far less likely to complain.

Questions to Ask Before You Convert (Not Legal Advice)

I'm not your lawyer, your planner or your insurance agent. But these are the questions I'd want answered in writing before spending money on an old building:

Planning office: Is my intended use allowed on this land? Do I need a permit, a change of use or a special exception? Is there a cap on events or guests?
Building or fire official: Which building code applies to this use? Do I need sprinklers, fire alarms, extra exits, accessible toilets or emergency lighting? How many people can the building hold?
Health department: What toilets, septic capacity and water testing do I need for this many guests? What permits do I need if food is served?
Insurer: Does my policy cover events, alcohol and overnight guests? What are the limits? What exclusions apply to old buildings?
Accountant: How will this income be taxed? Can I claim the conversion costs? Does it change my farm's tax status? (In England, for example, a holiday let pays business rates instead of council tax only if it's available for 140 days a year and actually let for 70, and the special tax regime for furnished holiday lettings ended in April 2025.)
Lender or grant body: Is there a loan or grant for farm diversification or building restoration? My guides to agritourism grants and funding and the Airbnb Farm to Stay grant are good places to start.

Also ask about restoration help. In the U.S., the federal Historic Tax Credit can cover 20% of qualified rehabilitation costs on an income-producing barn listed on the National Register of Historic Places. New York offers a 25% tax credit for historic barns built before 1946, as long as the barn isn't turned into a home. Vermont's 2026 Barn Preservation Grant offered up to $20,000 with a matching cash contribution. In Ireland, the Heritage Council's Traditional Farm Buildings Grant helped restore 80 buildings in 2025. Programs and deadlines change every year, so check what's open where you farm.

The Same Lesson on My Durian Farm

At my own farm, Bloopy Durians in Bentong, Malaysia, we don't have a 1950s dairy barn or a stone silo. We have a brick farmhouse, durian trees, and a durian season that lasts only about four to five months a year.

But the lesson in this article applies just as much on a durian farm in Malaysia: start with what you already have.

Customers can pitch tents at the farm. That's an overnight stay that didn't need a single new building. We supply durians for corporate events. And in durian season we welcome up to 100 visitors a week, many of them finding us on Google. I wrote about one simple addition that brought in revenue in my story of our 4WD adventure ride.

Your old barn is the same kind of asset. It's already paid for. It already has a story. The question is whether you'll let it fall down, or let it earn.

Your 30-Day Old Building Action Plan

Week 1: Walk and list. Record every building on your farm: size, age, condition, current use. Take photos.
Week 1: Pick one. Choose the building that is soundest, most photogenic and closest to the road or parking.
Week 2: Get it checked. Ask a structural engineer or experienced builder for a quick safety opinion.
Week 2: Call the planning office. Ask what uses are allowed and what permits you'd need.
Week 3: Call your insurer. Ask what's covered for visitors, events and overnight guests.
Week 3: Match the building to the business. Use the diagram above: big barn for events, stone sheds for cottages, silo for a unique stay, small shed for a shop.
Week 4: Run the numbers. Put rough costs and prices into a simple business plan.
Week 4: Plan one small paid test. Set a date, a price and a guest limit. Then sell it.

Empty old barn interior with a high arched timber roof and a window letting in light — An empty barn is an empty asset. Illustrative photo. Photo: Unsplash.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I do with an old barn on my farm?

The most common money-making uses are wedding and event venues, holiday cottages or farm stays, unique stays in silos, farm shops and cafés, small event or tasting rooms, and rentable storage or workshop space. Match the use to the building's size, condition and location.

How much does it cost to convert a barn into an event venue?

It varies widely. HomeGuide estimates about $225 to $400 per square foot for a barn-to-venue conversion. Real examples range from about $150,000 to $200,000 for a 1952 tobacco barn in Indiana, to about $600,000 for a Vermont barn venue, to a $6 million makeover of a former dairy barn in Pennsylvania. Fire safety, toilets, septic and parking often cost more than the barn itself.

How much do barn wedding venues charge?

Published fees at real barn venues include $3,500 to $7,500 at Kalero Vineyard in Virginia, $8,600 to $12,000 at Round Barn Farm in Vermont, and packages of about $9,500 to $15,500 at East Lynn Farm in Virginia. The Knot found the average U.S. couple spent $12,900 on their reception venue for 2025 weddings.

Is a barn conversion a good investment for a farm?

It can be. One Welsh farm family reported (in 2012) about a 13% return on £230,000 invested in holiday cottages, and one English dairy farm earns 30% of its profit from holiday lets in old barns. But returns depend on demand, location, conversion cost and how well you run it. Test small before you spend big.

Do I need planning permission to turn a barn into a holiday let or venue?

In most places, yes, or at least a check with your planning office. Rules differ by country, state and county. Some places have agritourism exemptions; others treat events and overnight stays as a change of use. Always ask before you take bookings.

Can I host events in my barn without meeting building codes?

Usually not. Most places apply building and fire codes to buildings used by the public. Virginia is an exception for farm buildings used for agritourism, but it still requires fire extinguishers, an emergency plan and a sign at the entrance. Check with your local building official.

Is the Round Hill dairy barn home sold?

No. It was listed in May 2026 at $2,999,990, cut to $2.8 million in August 2026 and taken off the market in October 2026 without selling, according to Redfin.

Don't Let Your Best Asset Fall Down

Right now, somewhere on your farm, there may be a building that you walk past every day without a second look.

To you, it's the old barn. To a couple planning their wedding, it's the most beautiful room they've ever seen. To a family from the city, it's the holiday they'll talk about for years. In Round Hill, Virginia, a barn like it earned a $2.8 million asking price.

Don't let it rot. Don't knock it down. Give it a second job.

Not sure where to start? Take my free Farm Readiness Quiz. It takes a few minutes and shows you which agritourism business suits your farm, your buildings and your budget.

Take the Free Farm Readiness Quiz

Then download my free 21-Point Agritourism Blueprint, a step-by-step checklist for getting your farm ready for paying visitors.

Get the Free 21-Point Agritourism Blueprint

P.S. In 2020, the Round Hill barn was sold as part of "vacant land," still waiting to be restored. Six years later, that same barn was the reason for a $2.8 million asking price. Go and look at your old barn again today. Then ask yourself: what is it worth if I give it a second job?

Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, tax, planning or insurance advice. Always check the rules where you farm with a qualified professional.