It sounds like a proposition sent straight from the heavens: a unique character property (with high ceilings guaranteed) on a large plot of land - for significantly less than you'd pay for a regular home.It was exactly that kind of celestial offer that turned the heads of Lincolnshire couple Simon and Gilly Steel who, dispirited after seeing 22 houses they 'couldn't see ourselves living in', decided to view a redundant 119-year-old Wesleyan chapel in the village of Humberston, close to the seaside resort of Cleethorpes.'Despite being in the opposite direction from where we had been looking at properties, the minute we stepped inside, we looked at each other and both said: "Oh f***, we're going to buy this, aren't we?"' The couple are comfortable with transforming properties, with Gilly growing up on a farm 'that constantly needed renovating' and Simon, 50, 'very, very good at DIY'. He also has a thorough understanding of building works thanks to his job as a director of a specialist foundations company. A second marriage for both, they'd already carried out one successful house renovation together, spending seven years bringing a large Victorian villa back to life. A spell afterwards in a new build though had left them frustrated at not being able to put their own stamp on what felt like 'a square box'. The next property would, they thought, see them renovate their way to 'a smaller mortgage and more holidays'. Gilly, a 45-year-old mental health nurse who also works for an agricultural charity, describes the goosebumps both of them experienced when they first wandered the pews of the former Methodist chapel, which was built in 1907 but closed in the spring of 2023 after its congregation declined. Going to the chapel! Gilly and Simon Steel bought a 119-year-old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in the village of Humberston in 2025. Nearly a year on, they say they've been exhausted by the renovation project...but are determined to see it through The chapel appealed because it has enough space for a decent-sized garden...and plenty of square footage for a four-bed home A previous sale on the chapel had fallen through, and Gilly and Simon decided to have a look...deciding within minutes that they wanted to buy it 'It was a thrill and really exciting. It's a beautiful building and still had all the features, including the stained-glass windows and it had land – lots of churches don't have enough space to make a decent garden.'The initial dopamine hit quickly wore off and, with cooler heads, they did the maths. 'We did some research, some costings, because we know renovations never go smoothly. The big question we asked ourselves several times was, if we don't buy it, will we regret passing up this opportunity? Because they don't come along very often.'Most former ecclesiastical properties go for asking price, with offers not usually considered. They also usually command a cash purchase but Gilly and Simon managed to secure a mortgage on their future home, which they're now turning into a four-bedroom property, with around 325 square metres of space inside. They 'bit the bullet', paying £170,000 in March 2025 – before six months of admin ensued. They've documented all the highs and the lows so far on their Instagram page, aptly named Saints and Sledgehammers.'Borrowing for this kind of project is very, very different to a standard residential mortgage,' says Gilly, 'and that's something people don't always consider.''The paperwork is much more complicated, you need to be admin savvy. Not only are you juggling all the physical stuff in the chapel, you're dealing with all the admin side of it as well.'Although the chapel is in a conservation area, it isn't a listed building... and because it isn't a parish church there was no graveyard or war memorials to contend with. There were, however, some fly-by bats, with the couple required to prove the property didn't have any residents living in the rafters. 'I have learned so much about bats!', says Gilly. 'The season is quite narrow and then they go into hibernation so we had to have a specialist survey done with just weeks to spare – but there's not many people locally who do it.'Missing the opportunity to get the all-clear would have meant a delay of six months. When cameras were set up, one solitary bat was spotted flying past, which sparked an additional survey costing £2,000. More research discovered the bat was simply nesting in a tree nearby. And every property buyer's worst nightmare has also reared its head. Curiosity in the village has seen rumours fly...including claims the chapel would be used to house migrants arriving on small boats Left: The original organ will be re-installed as an art piece. Right: The pews in the chapel before they were removed'Next door had Japanese knotweed and it had come onto our boundary, so we had to pay extra for Japanese knotweed surveys, or face losing the mortgage. 'Thankfully, because it's on the border and there's an active treatment plan in place, any issues would fall with the people next door but we still had to pay for a survey to clarify that.' The couple finally got the keys in October and nearly a year on, trying to renovate a house of God has tested the couple in ways they could never have foreseen. They say they don't anticipate moving in now until 'sometime next year'. Until just eight weeks ago, they'd taken on most of the clearance and building work themselves, while holding down day jobs, with evenings and weekends spent worshipping at the altar of renovation. 'The full strip-out has been done by us, and we've had to demolish a side extension, which was not part of the plan...but we discovered it was subsiding. 'We had to demolish it and rebuild it. Simon has very quickly learnt how to use a digger, having never used a digger before in his life.' The couple say they were attracted to the way the church had been beautifully preserved with many of the original features, including the stained-glass windows still in placeSimon's fear of heights means Gilly has spent plenty of time in the rafters on a scissor lift – with friends and family mucking in to help the couple. Right: Wooded cladding pulled from the interior of the chapelThe cost of grab wagons – around £140 each time – to get rid of rubble has quickly totted up into the thousands: 'We've had a good 30, 40 of them.'One weekend was spent feeding rubble into an industrial crusher; what was chewed up and spat out has helped lay the internal foundations and the driveway. Simon is terrified of heights, which means Gilly – with family members and friends also helping – has been in the rafters on scissor lifts to repaint the beams. 'I now know what Icarus felt like flying into the sun, it was so, so hot up there. We've had a couple of weekends of hard grafting feeling like a crisp melting up there.'Church renovation is not a project for the faint of heart, she warns: 'You need to be really motivated unless you've got buckets of money. You need to keep the end goal in mind, otherwise you just get so deflated and so eaten up.' The couple are unlikely to be able to move in until next year but say they'll plough on in spite of the setbacks, saying: 'When we look up at the beautiful stained glass-window, that's what keeps us driven' Gilly and Simon stripped out the church initially themselves before employing builders to help around eight weeks agoMany a marriage has fallen apart mid-renovation – and Gilly, who also runs her own mental health training and relationship coaching company, understands why. 'You're knackered, you're dirty, you're hungry, you don't see your friends, you're missing out on social events because you're on a time scale. 'If we didn't have the stable marriage that we have, we would quite possibly have been divorced through this. Our conversations every evening are about the chapel.' They're both holding down full-time jobs, with Simon leaving the house at 5am and both of them heading to the chapel every evening and every weekend. The couple have been living in a 'very small' rented bungalow, with three dogs and half of their possessions in storage while renovating – but will decamp to a caravan on-site in a month. The budget? It's been 'blown out of the water', with extra borrowing required, and they say they're living with the question: 'What if we can't afford to live in it when it's finished?'As Gilly says, 'There have been moments where we've both sat there and said "What do you think is worth in its current state? Let's just sell it".' Finances aside, one of the most frustrating aspects of the project so far has been the rumours that have circulated around the building site. While most villagers, many of whom have attended the church through the decades, have simply been curious about future plans, the couple say they've faced hateful gossip on social media, with some claiming the finished property would be used to house small-boat migrants or be turned into a mosque. 'There's been some horrible things put on social media – not ours, but elsewhere, which is just absolute nonsense, and upsetting.' Where the couple have been luckier, it seems, is by choosing to buy a Methodist chapel. Parish churches are much harder to buy and mortgages on them are extremely rare, says specialist Simon Linford. He runs Church Converts, which develops church buildings and has expert knowledge on how to negotiate planning, listed building reuse and even moving graveyards – including once taking 94 sets of human remains from a church in Manchester.Linford tells the Daily Mail: 'Closing a church for worship is quite a long process in the Church of England, because it's the parish church, so it has significance beyond just being a listed building.' Fancy a celestial home? Five-bed former church in West Yorkshire is on sale for £875,000 This five-bed church conversion in the small West Yorkshire town of Denholme is set in 1.8 acres Prayers before dinner: The home has kept many of its original features despite a modern makeoverBoasting a whopping 446 square metres, St Paul’s Church in Denholme has had all the hard graft done, with the former Grade II-listed parish church now a five-bedroomed home. Sitting on 1.8 acres, the property has an enclosed paddock with countryside views, a studio space and three levels of accommodation. On sale with Finest Properties, the former church was reduced in April and is currently on the market for £875,000. 'Proving that the church is not needed can take up to ten years and it's the diocese that does it. There will be a person in the diocese, normally the diocesan secretary, whose job it is to deal with the closure, then find the agent, then deal with the long, drawn-out process of selling the building.'He says converting parish churches is only for those who have plenty of cash behind them, explaining: 'It's nigh on impossible to get a mortgage to buy the church in the first place. 'And then for the works, you're unlikely, unless you're really experienced, to get a self-build mortgage. Basically, you need to have a kind of developer's budget to get it going.'After working in more general heritage renovations, Linford specialises in churches now. He says he's not especially religious but completely understands why Gilly and Simon have embarked upon renovating a chapel. 'I love church buildings and I want to help solve the problem of what to do with closing churches. It's a problem that's particularly difficult and that attracts me.'It's an attitude akin to how Gilly and Simon feel about their ongoing renovation. Despite the setbacks, the church is now 'starting to look more like a house' inside – perhaps there is someone looking down on them after all. They plan to have an open house so local residents can see the property after its transformation. 'We are really excited about breathing life back into the building, but in a different form. They shut this church down because the congregation was so small and it wasn't being loved anymore. 'We want to create a really loving, warm family home. When we look up at the beautiful stained-glass window, that's what keeps us driven.'