We seem to be drawn to old and unique buildings, maybe it's our English heritage?

But these types of building aren't that easy to come by in Australia, so I started looking for that special building about 6 years ago. My husband , Simon, was quite resistant to the derelict offerings I  suggested in remote inland locations, however  in a moment of weakness he said if I found something nearer the coast he "would think about it"  

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Perhaps it was fate but about 3 weeks later the Church @ Tantawangalo appeared in my inbox.

Not only was it beautiful, it was set in the spectacular sapphire coast countryside but only a short drive to the areas  . It ticked all our boxes.

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A camping trip we had planned to the far south coast of NSW was combined to take in a viewing ....and we were sold. Luckily for us and inspite of unprecedented interest in the building - on the 5th of February 2018 we became the owners of a church!

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So the start of our conversion journey began.......slowly. We camped, literally with our tents inside, with the microbats and no running water, kitchen or bathroom for a year before plans, energy reports and council submissions were all finally in place and the actual work started . Water tank, septic, electrics, plumbing, insulation and a new roof  were all  ticked off to upgrade the building into a home but we still had an empty building and no running water.

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What we did find in that first year was that we were welcomed unreservedly into an amazing local community.  Offers of help, support , local knowledge and hot showers were invaluable, but we value the new friendships we have made the most.

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Then exciting stuff  started to happened -  kitchen, flushing toilet (inside!) followed shortly after by a bathroom (which we were unable to christen due to the drought and no water in our tank) , furniture, lights, fresh paint, a new insulated roof, a huge wood burner and  the addition of some over-height steel bi-fold doors to let in the light and the sun. 

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By the end of 2019 and after a huge amount of work over 18 months from Simon and  lots of local and sometimes not so local tradies, the church was almost finished and we started planning to share the amazing space with guests. December, January and February focused  on bush fires and defending the church delaying our plans but we were more than grateful to have survived unscathed unlike so many others in the area. 

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We  quietly opened for bookings on 1 March 2020 . At the time we never thought that  our world would be turned upside down by a global pandemic. 

The Church became a bit of a shining light during such challenging times and we found ourselves bust with guests looking for a holiday getaway unlike any other. A technology detox and time to relax, revive and reconnect.

 

As the pandemic restrictions faded we found ourselves looking for another project and were drawn to a small Uniting church just outside of Echuca in Northern Victoria. So in November 2022 we embarked on our 2nd chruch conversion

The Vines - Wyuna  

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