Martin and Janine Swaine are a Yorkshire couple with a passion for converting churches. “I must have been a vicar in a previous life,” says Martin, 45. “We are not religious people, but we just love the buildings. They have a wonderful feel to them. They give you this blank canvas and wide open spaces, rather like a barn with windows.”

So far, the Swaines have owned three. Their previous home was a converted church in Nether Haugh, a village three miles north of Rotherham, which they still own and rent out; the family business, a chain of off- licences called Rhythm and Booze, which Martin runs with his father, Ronnie, has its headquarters in a church conversion.

However, it is their latest home, which has taken three years to create, that is the real showcase. Martin first came across the Methodist chapel in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, in the classified ads of a local newspaper in October 2003. It was being offloaded by a local developer, who had converted neighbouring buildings but was daunted by the sheer scale of the 18th-century chapel, which has a footprint of 3,300sq ft, and which came with planning permission for several flats.

“I came to see it seven times, originally with a view to turning it into apartments as a business project,” says Martin. “But after looking at it so many times, we liked it so much that we thought it would make one great house.

“It took a while to convince ourselves that we might be able to fund it. It was a leap of faith because we had no real idea of how much it would cost to convert and we had to try to buy it before we could do any real sums. But somehow we believed we would get there in the end.”

There was competition for the property, and it went to sealed bids. Another would-be buyer was successful, but when that sale fell through, the Swaines’ offer of £202,000 was accepted. The deal included the former churchyard, which is now their garden, a few steps across the lane outside. They finally completed on May 2004, then the real work started: wrestling with how best to convert their purchase into a single residence.

“The last thing we wanted was for it to be compartmentalised,” says Martin. “We wanted a family house with lots of space and light, and to retain as much of the original character as possible. We wanted modern materials and finishes and for it to be practical. We did want a wow factor, but at the same time to have a home that was easy to live in.”

Janine, 44, a consultant child psychotherapist, was also concerned that the new home should meet the needs of their children, Ruby, 9, and Elliott, 12. The couple turned to architects whose work they already knew: Halliday Clark, based in Shipley, who had designed Rhythm and Booze’s offices a few years before.

“It’s similar to a barn conversion, in that you need to identify the key features that you want to keep and then design the living spaces around them,” says Adam Clark, the partner responsible for the design.

Central to the conversion were the chapel’s large Victorian stained-glass window at the rear and the large, dramatic windows at the front of the building, with views out across the valley town towards the fields on the hillsides beyond.

The building is not listed, but it is in a conservation area, so its 1820s facade had to be retained. The level of the ground floor was raised more than 3ft to take advantage of the views, as was the level of the first floor, which had once contained a horseshoe gallery. The high ceilings, though, still make every space appear generous.

The chapel now has 8,000sq ft of living space, spread over three levels. The ground floor was kept largely open-plan. A study is sectioned off to one side and a large, curved pod on the other contains a utility room and cloakroom. A combined family/television area has been dropped to a lower level, to create a feeling of separation from the rest of the ground floor. The section immediately in front of the stained-glass window has been kept at double height. It contains the family’s dining space, with a kitchen off to one side.

A walnut and glass cantilevered staircase runs along the side of the pod to the first floor, where there are four bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms in a horseshoe formation around the double-height area. A bridge across this leads to a galleried landing; it is an echo of the old chapel gallery, where part of the congregation would once have sat. A second, more traditional staircase leads to the third floor, with its massive games room and gym. This is a flexible space, which could be divided into further bedrooms and bathrooms.

In total, the Swaines have spent about £825,000 on the project, once fees and the cost of building garages are included. Demolishing the old gallery cost about £5,000, and another £25,000 was spent on sorting out the slate roof before Triton Construction could start on the actual conversion, which cost £480,000. The couple also spent about £50,000 on the kitchen and bathroom furniture and fittings.

They have ended up with a high-spec, contemporary design that is far from the usual fare in these parts; although Martin has not had the family’s new home valued, he estimates it would fetch between £1m and £1.2m if it were put on the market.

“It’s been an enjoyable process and I’m ready for another project, as a commercial proposition rather than a home,” he says. “It’s had its ups and downs but has been far easier than I originally thought. That’s because we’ve had a great architect and a great builder. They did a brilliant job.”

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