Interior designer Banjo Beale, known to many viewers from the BBC series Designing the Hebrides, has shared his ambition to help create a small, design-led hotel on the island of Ulva in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides.
In a new piece for The Guardian, Beale describes how he became drawn to Ulva — an island with dramatic landscapes, a difficult history, and a very small permanent population — and why he believes carefully managed tourism could help give the place a sustainable future.
A different kind of hotel idea
Ulva is not a blank canvas.
Once home to hundreds of people before the Highland Clearances, the island today has only a handful of residents. Any new development there comes with responsibility — something Beale is clearly aware of.
Rather than proposing a luxury retreat or a high-end destination, his vision focuses on modest scale, local involvement and long-term care for the island. The idea is to create a place for visitors that supports Ulva, rather than overwhelms it.
A journey viewers already know
For those who have followed Designing the Hebrides, this project will feel familiar.
On television, Beale’s work has consistently been about more than interiors. His projects often start with listening — to the history of a building, the needs of a community, and the realities of living in remote places.
He has also spoken openly on the show about building a life in the Hebrides together with his husband Ro, and about the practical and emotional realities of choosing a quieter, more rooted way of living.
The Ulva idea feels like an extension of that approach, applied not just to a single home, but to an entire place.
Why this resonates
Beale, who is openly gay, has long framed his work around values that resonate strongly with LGBTQ+ audiences: stepping away from expected paths, prioritising care over speed, and creating a life shaped by intention rather than pressure.
For many readers, particularly those who have dreamed about starting over or slowing down later in life, this story lands as both realistic and quietly hopeful.
This is not presented as a finished plan or a guaranteed outcome. It is an idea in progress, shaped by conversation, practicality and time.
A long-term commitment
Any future hotel on Ulva would take years to realise, if it happens at all.
But the proposal reflects a broader question Beale raises in his writing: how creative people can contribute to fragile places without turning them into products.
For viewers who have followed his work on TV, Ulva feels less like a sudden pivot and more like the next logical step — taking the values seen on screen and testing them in the real world.
📷 IG: @ banjo.beale / BBC