TIM AND ANGELA DEVLIN are such romantics that they walk down the aisle every day of their lives — which is simple because they live in a converted church. They even keep their wine where the altar used to be.

And, unlike a lot of church conversions, the Devlins’ Victorian home in the Lincolnshire Fens still feels ecclesiastical, with its Gothic arches, woodwork carved with religious motifs and jewel-bright stained-glass windows.

Jolly good for them, I say. People who convert churches and chapels into homes often do their utmost to remove anything suggestive of the devout. The Devlins did quite the opposite. They trawled reclamation yards all over Britain for years to find nice bits of wood, furniture that would look exactly right and a couple of prayer stools cunningly crafted into an altar cupboard that has become the wine store.

You can only admire the Devlins for taking on the Church of St John the Baptist at Amber Hill, west of Boston. It had long been deserted by parishioners — for the lure of the Sunday car boot sale, perhaps — and had fallen derelict. The only creatures who visited were pigeons, collared doves and a family of church mice.

But they knew they had an ace up their sleeve — in the form of their daughter Esmerelda, an award-winning designer of stage sets and theatre costumes, who had clearly inherited a love of the romantic from her parents. Es, as she prefers to be known, has designed sets for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for the latest performance of Don Giovanni in Vienna, and did all the sets for the last tour of the Pet Shop Boys and the rapper Kanye West. She also won an Olivier award for her work on the Spanish Golden Age season for the RSC, so no wonder she was undaunted by the vast project of St John the Baptist, which was clearly in need of some theatrical touches.

The Devlins’ church was quite dark, so Es insisted on light-coloured furniture, flooring and fabrics, which would all reflect and make the space much brighter. She says: “My parents had an awful lot of objets, but I made them go through everything and get rid of anything that wasn’t white or cream.”

The light furniture includes two striking chaises-longues that were used by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon for its production of Antony and Cleopatra, another Esmerelda triumph.

Angela says: “This house was a complete indulgence because our four children had left home and we could do what we wanted.” The Devlins kept the soaring height of the roof, putting in a single mezzanine floor to hold their bedroom and enclosing only the lavatory and a shower room. Everything else is open plan. Angela says: “The Fens are a huge open space, so we didn’t want to live there and be all boxed in; we wanted to reflect the great expanse where we were privileged to live. The beams in the house are so high that they have been used for trapeze workshops.”

That’s right, trapeze workshops. “A friend of mine, who is in a circus, saw the beams and said, ‘Ooh, I’d love to swing from those’, so we invited the local school round and the children were shown the basic techniques. It worked very well actually,” Angela adds.

The roof fortunately was in decent order, as were the stained-glass windows, which dated only from the 1950s, although one of St John had a bit missing from the kneecap, which was easily put right. The organ and bells had already gone, but the choir stalls were swiftly made into work surfaces and one old pew was kept for weary callers. Occasionally people knock on the door to say “I was christened here”, and ask if they can have a quick look round. The Devlins always oblige. “It has become more common since the rise of internet genealogy sites — we have had visitors from Australia and the US,” Angela says.

It took a year of building work to make the place habitable, but Tim valiantly rolled up his sleeves to build the kitchen, something you don’t quite expect from a man whose father was Lord Devlin, the eminent judge.

The various bits of wood the couple found were ash, pine and oak, but Angela gave it all a sense of uniformity by rubbing in lime wax. “We used a lot of pine, but didn’t want our home to look like a Swedish sauna, so we used the wax and ended up with what we call the ‘distressed château’ look.”

David Waller, of Savills, which is selling the property, says: “We have sold quite a few churches and chapels but this one is unusual because the Devlins haven’t tried to create a house inside a church, which often happens. Theirs is a fantastically bold conversion, because they resisted the temptation to interfere with the height by putting in a complete second floor. It’s also good value because you get much more for your money in the flatter parts of Lincolnshire.”

It’s seven years since Tim and Angela took on the Old Church, and although they run a thriving PR business from home they are itching to start another property project. Angela would like to live in an old watermill. “I would like to start from scratch again, because then you can be indulgent, as we were with this home.”

The Old Church, however, will always be Esmerelda’s favourite project, for the simple reason that it’s the only thing she’s done that won’t be taken apart when the show is over. She says: “It was my first adventure into something permanent, and I’m very proud of it.”

The Old Church at Amber Hill is for sale at £435,000 with Savills, 01522 508908, www.savills.co.uk, www.esdevlin.com

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