Sisters Natalie and Matilda Bourchier left city lives behind and returned to their family farm in Dorset to create Sorelle, a farm-to-table destination with a side order of wellbeing
A café by the sea, an art gallery and plenty of dogs. That was the childhood dream for sisters Natalie and Matilda Bourchier, whose mother hails from West Bay. While the gallery is still waiting in the wings and Sorelle is a good hour from the coast, much of that vision has quietly taken shape among the rolling hills outside Motcombe.
‘We’ve ended up with the café and the dogs, at least,’ laughs Natalie.
Opened in May 2023 on family land at Bittles Brook Farm, Sorelle is a farm-to-table café with Italian-influenced food, coffee and community at its heart. Since then, it has grown into a wellbeing destination too, with a wellness space, sauna, weddings and events spread across the farm. At its centre is a former riding school arena, transformed beneath a sweeping stretch tent.
After years of city living, work and travel, both sisters eventually felt the pull of Dorset. Food had always been central to family life, thanks in no small part to their mother, a ‘really good cook’, who encouraged them to experiment in the kitchen from an early age.
We have a big family and it’s always been a core part of our lives to gather around the table and enjoy food,’ explains Matilda. ‘Our upbringing has always been about fresh, home-cooked meals, so we’re really passionate about local produce. We’ve got so many memories of cooking on campfires and making cakes from random ingredients from the larder. I guess it all spiralled from there.’
With just 18 months between them, the sisters have always been close and their shared energy is palpable. Both entrepreneurial, they had long imagined building something together.
‘We’ve always been close and it just made sense. When we were living in different cities, me in London and Tilly in Florence, it felt very separate and strange. It made us want to do something together. Now we either get: “Oh, I would love to work with my sister”, or we get the complete opposite: “How on earth do you work together?”’ laughs Natalie. It’s no coincidence, then, that Sorelle means sisters in Italian.
Like many rural businesses, Sorelle grew from a desire to maintain a connection to family land while creating a sustainable future for it.
‘It’s the classic story of trying to diversify when the land isn’t strictly agricultural,’ explains Matilda. ‘It’s a beautiful spot, so it’s really nice to have people come and visit it now. We love that local people, who wouldn’t have known about it before, can come and enjoy the space in whatever way they wish.
‘When we first opened, we did everything ourselves but soon realised we need help with the café. We now have a brilliant team who are invested in our ethos and ensure every customer has the best experience when they visit us. We couldn’t do it without them!’
The first chapter was the flower farm. After leaving her job in London and studying agriculture, Natalie returned home determined to help secure the future of the family farm. ‘Initially, I wanted to get into farming,’ she explains. ‘Our parents have this small farm and it needs a lot of work and maintenance, so I wanted to come back and help.
I set up the flower farm and ran the glamping business.’
At the time, Matilda was living in Florence, a city whose café culture, food markets and relaxed approach to hospitality would leave a lasting imprint on what Sorelle would become. More than a thousand miles apart, the sisters found themselves constantly exchanging photographs of meals, recipes and ideas whenever they spoke on the phone.
‘We’d always get distracted talking about food and wine,’ says Natalie. ‘We first thought we’d just have a coffee shack or a van on-site, but we quickly got a bit more ambitious than we probably should have done.’
Today, Sorelle encompasses far more than the café the sisters first imagined. The café remains at its core, while the family’s flower farm continues to flourish beside it. Yoga classes take place overlooking the fields, wellness sessions are held throughout the year and the recently introduced sauna makes the most of the sweeping countryside views.
‘When we first started, we thought it would be somewhere people could pick flowers and grab a cup of coffee,’ says Matilda. ‘But it snowballed from there. The local village has been so supportive and, with Shaftesbury and Gillingham sandwiching us, it’s become a lovely community hub. It’s a destination and about wellbeing as a whole.’
One thing’s for sure, what they have created feels deeply rooted in the landscape around them. The sisters have upcycled old structures, turned their hand to carpentry and made sustainability a guiding principle. The food offering, initially conceived to complement the coffee, has become something they are particularly proud of.
‘We’re spoiled by suppliers such as The Real Cure, Primrose Organic Produce and Girls Who Grind Coffee, and we use the pigs from our own farm, so although it sounds clichéd, it really is farm-to-fork,’ says Matilda. ‘We’re proud of that.’
Alongside Dorset produce sits a distinctly Italian influence. Inspired by Italy and rooted in Dorset, Sorelle blends the sisters’ love of local ingredients with the slower, more convivial approach to food and hospitality they encountered abroad.
‘It’s the Italian atmosphere we really like more than anything,’ says Matilda. ‘The culture of eating fresh food, taking your time over meals and creating a welcoming space where nobody feels rushed. We really aim for everyone to be welcome. No one is pressured to spend lots of money, and I think that’s needed these days.’
There is definitely little sense of hurry here. Families linger over brunch, walkers stop in after exploring the surrounding countryside and regulars greet one another across tables. Perhaps that’s why it feels less like a business and more like an extension of the family table on which it was founded.
‘I hope people feel like it’s a home from home,’ says Natalie. ‘It’s really nice to be in a rural space and offer that to the community.’
As more people discovered the farm, visitors increasingly came for the sense of calm as much as the food. The landscape itself inspired the next stage of Sorelle’s evolution.
‘People who’ve lived here for years comment on the views and say they didn’t realise they were here,’ explains Matilda. ‘The wellness side of the business allows us to open this up and share the land. It ties into that Italian ethos of eating and living well, and enjoying the outdoors.’
Throughout the year, Sorelle hosts events with The Kitchen Table in Shaftesbury, Friday night food and music evenings and collaborations with local businesses, including Rocky’s Pizza.
‘If you look at our WhatsApp history, it’s basically just us sending photos of food or recipes we’ve tried,’ smiles Matilda. ‘Success for us is seeing people come back. It’s a huge honour that people choose to spend their money with us and we’ll continue making it worthwhile for everyone. We’ve got lots of plans for the future.’
For now, the sisters remain focused on doing more of what they love: feeding people, bringing the community together and sharing a corner of Dorset that means so much to them. Judging by the familiar faces returning through the gates at Bittles Brook Farm, they are already doing exactly that..
Bittles Brook Farm, Motcombe,
Shaftesbury SP7 9NX
sorelledorset.com
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