Church conversion set to star on TV
A young couple transformed this Methodist church into a sensational holiday let through hard work and great design and now it is set to star in a new TV series. Sharon Dale reports.
ON the face of it, Seb Harris was not the ideal candidate to take on a church conversion. He was young, had no previous experience of a major project and lived miles away from the site. What he did have was all the character traits that matter. His partner, Nadia Bounhar, describes him as “passionate, upbeat and a bit eccentric”.
Add to that creative, indefatigable, financially aware, meticulous in his attention to detail, a sense of humour and an absolute pleasure to deal with and you have all the ingredients for success.
His journey as project manager with Nadia as his right-hand woman is detailed on Monday, May 8, in the first episode of a new TV series, Derelict Rescue, which is on HGTV.
It is a wonderful watch and charts the 18-month long conversion of a Methodist church in Leeming village, North Yorkshire, into a luxury home, which is now available to rent as a holiday let.
Originally built in 1904, the Wesleyan church had been unused for several years before Seb and Nadia bought it in February 2021.
The film crew follow the couple through the highs and lows common to many grand designs.
Their budget is bust, deadlines are missed and they have to get stuck in themselves to get over the finish line.
It’s a must-watch not least because the end result of their endeavours is remarkable.
Seb says: “It all started with us looking to move from our house in Leeds. We couldn’t find anything worth moving to but we wanted a project and that’s when we found the church.
“I knew it could be something spectacular so we went online and put in a bid for it.”
They won the bidding and whether the Almighty played a part in it we will never know but that they were the right people for the job, is unquestionable.
“The building wasn’t listed so we could have stripped everything out and started again but I knew immediately that I wanted to preserve the original features and I wanted it to still have the feel of a church plus a sense of grandeur,” says Seb.
Eyebrows were raised as this meant retaining the altar and lectern, which he insisted should be the focal point of the living area.
Keeping them also meant that they had to be protected from damage while work was ongoing. Fortunately, Seb and Nadia managed to hire a brilliant team of trades and craftspeople who took great care and did a first-rate job on the conversion, though they couldn’t combat the spiralling cost of materials that shot up in price during the pandemic.
Keeping calm and carrying on was a must and the transformation began with a redesign.
“The church had planning permission to convert and it had electricity, water and gas connections but we didn’t want the suggested layout so we completely changed it,” says Seb, who refused to cut corners and began the conversion by tackling the basics.
First on the ‘to do’ list was to insulate the roof and then the floor.
The latter was topped with concrete to facilitate underfloor heating.
This meant they could dispense with radiators but involved taking up the original floorboards, which were relaid.
Seb’s plans also included a decorative plastered ceiling created by a specialist firm, a bespoke, cantilevered staircase and a mezzanine big enough for two bedrooms with en-suites plus a ground-floor bedroom accessed by a secret door disguised as a bookcase.
“You pull out a Bible to open the door,” says Seb, who also bought cabinet carcasses from Simply Dutch for the kitchen then added English oak doors.
Upcycling the old church pews to create treads for the new staircase helped the dwindling budget but every night after work was spent sourcing items, many via eBay, including the sensational new copper baths and a chandelier from a Cotswolds mansion.
When they ran out of money, Seb and Nadia carried on saving and worked weekends and evenings painting the walls and staining the relaid wood floor.
The couple set their budget for the conversion at £80,000 to £120,000 but in the end it cost £132,000.
“It was a marathon. We could have done it in nine months if we had cut corners but we didn’t want to do that and now a heritage asset is protected for the long term and that was important.
“The extra spend, all the hard work and spending every spare minute on it for a year and a half was worthwhile.
“It’s been such a privilege to do this project,” says Seb, who has now set his ambitions higher, and adds: “I’d love to do a lighthouse conversion.”
Derelict Rescue is a new home renovation series produced by Yorkshire-based Air TV for Warner Bros Discovery. It features homebuilders transforming derelict places into amazing spaces.
Seb and Nadia’s church conversion is the first episode of the new series and is on at 8pm on Monday on HGTV [Freeview 44, Sky 158, Virgin 286] and will also be available afterwards to stream on Discovery+. www. derelictrescue.co.uk The converted church is available for holiday letting via www.cottages.com/cottages/ leeming-methodist-church-northyorkshire-uk41749. Instagram @the_ church_at_leeming