Step Inside Beautiful Roseview Farms

I had my first glimpse of Roseview Farms on Instagram several weeks ago, immediately I knew this stylish east coast farm had to be featured. Roseview, although home to a polo team, actually specializes in dressage, offering full service boarding and care.

The unique property is owned by David and Judy Sloan, they’ve transformed Roseview into a beautiful and productive space for the horse and rider. David was kind enough to share more details about this tranquil farm. Read on to learn more about Roseview and take in a glimpse of the grounds located in Millbook, New York.

Describe your farm in one word: Engaging.

Roseview’s decor and style is very distinct, do you have a go to place for sourcing art and equestrian decor? Having grown up in New York’s Hudson Valley we are fortunate to be in an area with a treasure trove of forgotten and discarded items. Having completed a number of barns and equestrian lifestyle projects I am fortunate to have relationships with dealers, pickers and salvage yards who’ll call me when they come across something unusual. I look for architectural items with character, depth and patina that can showcase tack, coolers and sheets as art. Large institutional cabinets and storage units rescued from now demolished factories, estates, schools and warehouses are ideal for any space which is going to be regularly used… and used hard. I avoid shiny, new and fussy. I most definitely don’t want predictable; Roseview (like the other projects) is a working barn and I want the dents and bumps of daily use to contribute to the authentic personality of the barn and the narrative of the property. At the end of the day I enjoy creating spaces which tell a story while meeting the practical demands of a working show barn.

How many acres is Roseview Farms? A little less than 40 acres. It was originally a commercial gravel quarry and the farm wraps around what was once the “bowl” of the mining operation. As you can imagine, the former owner created a rather dramatic landscape.

What is one of your favorite features about the barn and/or property at Roseview: The gardens- the property is laid out as a series of “rooms” (which includes the paddocks), inviting the horse and rider to take advantage of the entire farm but, ultimately, all paths lead back to the barn complex. The hardscape features amongst the horse friendly plantings appear decorative, but in actuality serve dual purposes. As an example, the fountains are strategically placed to visually create a space, but each also hold 1,500 gallons of water and double as cisterns in the event of power outages. The old RR ticket booth defines the end of the allée of ferns and birches, but doubles as the office of the farm, and pleated hornbeams, once fully mature, will serve as a partition between the arena and equipment barn to screen those situations which just might “spook” a working dressage horse or a young polo pony.

Happy horses in their stalls.

The grounds at Roseview spare no lack of details, the farm has a strong focus on garden design. Read more about the gardens at Roseview in this article from DIG IT! Magazine.