We renovated a church – we added £2 million to the value & make £25k a month renting it out, but chores are a nightmare
WITH cobwebs hanging from the crumbling 12-metre high ceiling, prayer mats and Bibles lining the pews, when Annie Lacey and Tim Self bought a derelict church, they knew they were in for a project.
The couple spent a year and over £1 million doing up the Grade II listed building in Graveley, Berks, which they bought for £500,000 in February 2016.
It’s now been valued at £2.5 million – a £2 million value increase – and is raking in £25,000 a month as a luxury rental.
But the renovation wasn’t without its challenges – with the pair navigating mating bats, building a new roof around ancient wood carvings and pricey ecologists to get it off the ground.
Former estate agent Annie, 49, who has two adult sons from a previous relationship, tells Fabulous: “The church was run down, tired, sad, unloved, unused and full of cobwebs when we bought it.
“By the time we started the work in October 2017, it had been sitting empty for 10 years. There was quite a lot of water damage and the roof was in a really bad state.
“It was covered in dust too. The old piano was there, falling apart. It was really quite a sad looking place.”
Tim says: “All the pews and choir stools were still there, with prayer mats and Bibles on the front of the pews. It was almost as if they’d finished their last service, walked out, said goodbye and locked up.”
The former letting agent and dad-of-two, 54, met Annie online nine years ago – bonding over a shared love of property development, as well as red wine and Formula 1.
The couple bought and renovated the church with cash from a previous project, where they turned an office building into 24 apartments, and moved from Hook, Hampshire, to live in a former coach house in the grounds.
Tim says: “We both have this thing where we look at rundown properties and see them as something else. The church came up on Rightmove and we said ‘wow, that could be something quite nice’.”
Annie adds: “It’s a very pretty building and the location is fantastic, because it’s rural with an excellent commute into London. That’s what drew us in.”
After waiting for changes to planning permission, the couple finally started work – and realised the scale of the project ahead of them.
They had to start by digging internal foundations and bolting the steel frame, as it couldn’t support the church, as well as installing a new roof and floor, with underfloor heating.
Annie says: “Before we even started, the roof, floor and scaffolding had broken our budget. We had to build the new roof within the wood carvings and ceiling inside in situ.
Before we even started, the roof, floor and scaffolding had broken our budget.
“We couldn’t take the whole roof off, because of the Grade II listing, which made it really good fun.
“The church threw a lot of things at us we hadn’t encountered before, even though we’ve both developed properties.”
Tim adds: “There’s a 12-metre high ceiling; we had almost as much scaffolding inside as we had out.”
The couple originally planned to do a high-end conversion and attract a London buyer, completing the work in 51 weeks.
Annie says: “But the budget was blown to pieces. We spent £1.5 million as it was all done with professionals – we had conservation specialists, archeologists, ecologists and they all cost a lot of money.
“When we were clearing the brambles in the garden, we had to pay an ecologist more to stand there and watch them than the two guys and machinery to do the work.
“So we went to plan B and made it a holiday let. The church is very hard to value, because it’s unique. Things like the stained glass windows and stone carvings are irreplaceable.
“One estate agent valued it at £2.6 million but others have been less generous, and we want to make a decent profit.
“We know it’s an unusual property, I describe it like a pink Lamborghini, it’s not going to appeal to everybody. But the right person will fall in love with it.
“All our guests walk in and say ‘wow’. They’re blown away by it. The rental isn’t something we were originally planning to do, but it’s a great success and our guests really love it.”
The couple, who now manage the rental full-time, launched it in August 2018 and welcomed the Made In Chelsea cast later that year.
Annie says: “That catapulted us into people’s living rooms, we’d only been going a couple of months and we got a lot of bookings on the back of that show.”
They now charge £2,150 a night for the five-bed, four-bath rental – which sleeps 20 – but lockdown put another spanner in the works.
Tim says: “We’ve only been able to operate again since July, but it’s going crazy. We’re making at least £25,000 a month now.
It’s going crazy. We’re making at least £25,000 a month now.
“As long as the business keeps coming in, we’re happy doing this. But if somebody comes along and makes us a worthwhile offer, then we’ll do something different.
“I think we’ll try and avoid anything quirky for our next development, definitely no more churches or Grade II listed properties. Annie describes the church like a teenage son. You love it, but sometimes you don’t like it very much.”
Annie adds: “Business is booming at the moment, so it’s difficult to know what to do. Either way, we’re very proud of the renovation and feel like we’ve saved an old building that would’ve been left to rot.”
With a state-of-the-art Italian kitchen, Porcelanosa bathroom and smart home system, Tim describes the rental as a “brand new 21st century home, inside the shell of an old church”.
But household chores are a nightmare, with Annie explaining: “It takes two people just to change a lightbulb, Tim has to get the scaffold tower out.
“To clear the cobwebs, we have a Henry Hoover with 11 attachment poles and cleaning the gutters is not for the faint hearted.
“One time, a bird flew in and we couldn’t get it out. Now we have to tell our guests ‘don’t leave the doors open’.”
Tim laughs: “I used to be scared of heights, now I just get on with it.”
Annie adds: “It’s worth it though. This is a home like no other. The architecture’s amazing, the decor is classy, there’s such a luxury feel to it because of the size, the photos don’t do it justice.
“The 1.1-acre grounds are so beautiful too. We’ve got a hot tub out there among the headstones, which our guests enjoy.”
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