Heaven-sent conversion

Tommy Barker explores a Glengarriff home which was once a church.

RENOVATING a church and turning it into a comfortable home steeped in atmosphere wasn't too hard for Catherine and Tom Bolster they'd done house and bars before, and now fancy trying their hand at something like, oh, a small hotel in France.

"We did huge work to a pub we bought before in Cobh, Scarlett O'Hara's, but sold it within two years. We realised while we loved doing the renovation work, we didn't enjoy the bar business as much," says Catherine.

When they moved from their Victorian home in Cobh seven years ago to a classic small Victorian church in gorgeous Glengarriff, their prayers were answered, they ended up with a heaven-sent conversion project. "It needed everything done to it to make a home of it, and we had lots of meeting with Cork County Council planners in the early stages, but when they realised what we proposed was sympathetic to the building they were very helpful," recalls Catherine.

Fortunately, the structure the slate roof and limestone walls in particular was sound, so the challenge came down to dividing the place into manageable-sized rooms. Tom did much of the work, especially the carpentry, and the younger two of the couple's four children were reluctantly (initially) dragged into the project.

But, they had a great first summer in their upheaval residence, and Catherine points to a photograph of the two taking an outdoor shower under a broken rain gutter.

The conversion is elegant and attractive, and while it took quite a few years to get to this state "it could have been done in half the time if we hadn't downed tools each summer to open up the restaurant," says Catherine.

The former church property, now deconsecrated, has kept faith with its pedigree and items like the stained glass windows, pulpit and lectern have been saved in situ.

The site is about an acre, with yew, oak, holly, mountain ash, myrtle, birch, laurel, rhododendrons and colonising wild strawberries.

Estate agent Victoria Murphy up the coastline in Kinsale guides it at €1 million plus, and says as if the building itself wasn't special enough, the clincher is the location.