Rural renovators breathe new life into country churches

A renovator's dream, churches across the country are in high demand, but a lucky few have been able to find their perfect properties and give them a new lease on life.

Although churches are most often renovated into bed and breakfasts, some SA renovators are letting their imaginations run wild, with cellar doors, breweries, antique shops and artist retreats just some of the directions the eager designers are taking.

In Laura, it's the tale of two churches, with couples Peter and Sue Fuss and Craig and Catherine Blesing both renovating properties in the town.

Purchased in 2021, Peter and Sue's property was formerly the St John's Church of Laura and was built in two stages.

Started in 1875, the first stage of the church was completed about two years later, before an extension was added between 1881 and 1883, turning the church's floorplan into a cross.

About 40 years later, a hall was added to the opposite end of the block, with the distance between the two buildings purposefully created to allow parking for horses, according to Peter.

The church ceased use in the early 2010s, before it was deconsecrated in about 2019 and Peter and Sue purchased it soon thereafter.

"My wife and I have been collecting for all of our married life, and we had renovated an old timber house in the Hunter Valley in the late 1990s," Peter said.

"We renovated and extended onto that timber cottage and we did an all extension sympathetically to the original building, such as getting the weather boards made to exactly the same profile.

"We always had a dream of doing a stone building and top of the list was a church."

Moving back to SA in the 2010s after living interstate and overseas, the couple found their perfect property at Laura, falling in love at first sight.

Since then, the Adelaide-based pair have spent weekends and nights renovating the property to renovate the hall into a living space where they are able to stay while renovating the main church area.

The building is now an open-plan-living home, with the former stage turned into a dining area with a view across the 150 square metre hall.

The church, which is a similar size, will likely become an antique store, according to the couple, but may be renovated into a dwelling in the future.

"They're both beautiful stone buildings with 350mm and 400mm walls," Peter said.

"We're working on the main church now so we've sanded the wooden floor, we've had the plaster inside and we've had the roof done.

"There's a stunning leadlight window that was donated by a parishioner in memory of his wife and child.

"I used the secondhand sheeting from the church's roof to create a fence."

With more work on the cards, the couple have a long road ahead, but say they are looking forward to completing the project with the support of their neighbours in the town.

"It's hard to find community in Adelaide because you're in the suburbs and people come and go but we feel that we've come to Laura and found friends," Sue said.

"We've found a beautiful property, but the friends and the community are just as important to us."

Shortly after Peter and Sue purchased their property, they met the Blesings, who had been eagerly searching for a church in the region to renovate.

The couple said they had often thought they would like to renovate a church into a brewery and were infatuated with the town of Laura.

While searching for their very own church, the couple soon realised their family connection to Laura, with Craig related to many of the town's forbears.

"We kept coming back to Laura and we were sitting in the caravan park one day and someone asked us what our plans were," Catherine said.

"We jokingly said we'd love to renovate a church and they pointed to the church across the road and said 'that one over there is coming up for sale'.

"After we bought the property, we realised there were further connections to the church, with Craig's two times great aunt a founding member of the church."

Living at Two Wells at the time, Craig and Catherine were traveling back and forth between their home and the property in the first stages of its renovation.

During that time, they were able to renovate the Sunday school room into a home and have since moved to Laura fulltime.

"Like every brewer I know, we all started as home brewers and aspired to make great beer that people enjoyed," Craig said.

"I've been doing it for about 10 years and I've joined a couple of brewing clubs and did some competitions and won some Australian golds.

"At the time, we were starting to get sort of jaded with living in suburbia and our day to day jobs.

"Catherine's a teacher, I work as a mechanical engineer and we wanted to do something different so we said well let's open up a small brewery in a country town."

The church, which was built in 1875 and will celebrate its 150th birthday next year, was in relatively good condition when the couple, who see themselves as the custodians rather than the owners, purchased it, according to Catherine.

"We've had to get stonemasons in to renovate the limestone walls which had cracks," she said.

"We've put a new roof on, we've finished painting inside and we've done a lot of groundwork to set up as well as the dwelling for us.

"We've renovated modern homes before, but nothing to this scale, so it's taken longer than we anticipated but that's what you do when you renovate."

The couple hope once their property is completed, it will become a destination brewery and another jewel in the Southern Flinders region's crown, creating a tourist trail between other breweries and wineries in the area.

"The region was just named one of the best in the world and there is so much to offer here," Catherine said.

"We're proud to be part of a community like this and we just look forward to creating a really beautiful space for locals and tourists to enjoy."

Tips from the Blesings for anyone looking to renovate their own property was to give everything they don't need a licensed tradesman for a go.

"There's always a budget involved but if you can do what you can on your own you'll learn new skills while saving money," Craig said.

"You can't do everything on your own, but it's a great sense of accomplishment when you realise you're able to do something you had never thought of before.

"This renovation has been the hardest work I've ever done in my life, but also the most rewarding."

The couple plan to open Little Blessings Brewing next month.

Meanwhile, in the Mallee, Phil Johnson has been renovating a 1930s Mexican-style stone Methodist church at Paruna.

Phil says he believes he was lucky enough to buy one of the cheapest churches on the recent real estate market, paying just $55,000.

At the time, he had been travelling and working on various farming properties across the country in a self-contained bus.

While sitting in his bus one day, Phil said he had the sudden urge to look at properties online where he immediately noticed a church had been listed about 15 minutes earlier.

Acting quickly, he put in an offer shortly after and was able to secure the property, but following that, the real estate agent fielded more than 100 inquires about the property.

Luckily, Phil had purchased the property in time, but as he bought it sight unseen, the offer to put it back on the market was put on the table due to its popularity.

"I wanted to a low cost property, I didn't want to get into mortgage at 60 and I'd always hankered after a church," he said.

"But when I walked in, I thought I'd bought rubbish junk.

"It had cobwebs, it hadn't been lived in for years and it was a mess.

"I've gotten over that now and done a lot of work myself to get it up to scratch."

Phil said he pulled out the old kitchen and replaced it with a secondhand kitchen from Adelaide, had the property rewired and connected to power and it already had water and a septic tank.

"When I was doing some of the work I was lucky to have my bus to live in," he said.

"But everything's inside now and I've been happily living in the property for a few months."

Although some might find living in the Mallee isolating, Phil says it's part of what makes him love the property.

"I've worked on isolated farms before and I've got country roots so it wasn't too much of a shock for me," he said.

"I'm only 34km from Loxton and Adelaide is 2.5 hours away.

"When you live in the city, you're anonymous, but when you live in the country you're part of a great community.

"Plus, it's so quiet here - I can go outside at night and stare at the stars in silence, that's not something you can get many places."

While his property is currently just a home for him, he said in the future he may look into opening it to others as a bed and breakfast.

For others looking to renovate their own church, Phil said Facebook groups such as Australian Country Church Renovations and Churches for Sale Australia were the perfect places to find a property or find inspiration for a current project.

On Eyre Peninsula, mother and daughter duo Andrea and Jagger Naismith have their sights set on renovating their 1950s era Butler Church of Christ into an artist retreat and event space.

Originally hailing from SA, Andrea and Jagger had been living in NSW and Qld for more than two decades before they returned to the state about 18 months ago to take on a new adventure.

The property had a dwelling attached, which had already been renovated into a livable space before the pair moved to the location.

"I've always wanted a church because the architecture is just so beautiful," Andrea said.

"We had been living in Brisbane, but after the pandemic, we wanted somewhere more peaceful."

Although Andrea grew up on the West Coast and is accustomed to living rurally, the pair agree the move has been more of a learning curve for Jagger.

"I love the peace and quiet, but having no one else around is a blessing and a curse," Jagger said.

"But we have issues like no service, which can be tricky if something happens and we have WiFi but it's dependent on our power, which isn't always reliable.

"We don't know a lot of people here, so that's been an adjustment, but those we do know have been helpful with the adjustment."

Although Andrea has renovated before, trades have become more expensive in recent years and the project is mostly a DIY experience, with the duo building furniture, ripping up carpets, landscaping and painting themselves.

Currently, they are renovating the home when they have time, but once they're able to start work on the church, they believe it would only need a few Jarrah floorboards replaced, wiring fixed and fresh skirting boards to get up to scratch.

"Once we get the church cleared and renovated, it'll make a nice creative space," Andrea said.

"If you stand there at different times of the day the sunshine just beams through the window and it's just a really nice vibe.

"Port Neill has quite a strong creative scene as well, so does Tumby Bay.

"I've personally exhibited in Port Lincoln and met some other artists through that, so there's definitely scope for a retreat where there are no distractions and just a beautiful landscape to take in."