With beautifully high ceilings, magnificent windows and splendid architectural style, a building steeped in spiritual history could be just waiting to welcome you as your new home.
Many churches have been sensitively converted to retain original features while blending in all the mod cons and high tech comforts today’s discerning homeowners require.
So why not take a pew and enjoy 10 of the best church conversions on the market today.
1. Three-bedroom converted church hall, Ash, Kent, £450,000
Anyone who steps into this converted church hall is going to want to buy it thanks to its modern arts-and-crafts feel.
Downstairs it has double-height ceilings and an open plan living and eating area, with painted floorboards and a generous kitchen opening onto a cute courtyard garden.
Upstairs the three bedrooms are cosy and modern, each with an en suite bathroom. One of them has a mezzanine sleeping floor, and there’s a home office, too.
The 1500 sq ft space is dominated by striking design features like a wrought iron spiral staircase and dark crittall-effect doors.
There's even an external utility room for keeping laundry appliances out of sight.
Available via Foundation Estate Agents
2. Two-bedroom detached church hall, West Hampstead, London, £1.9m
This converted church hall in the beautiful Fortune Green district of West Hampstead has been an artist’s studio, a photography studio and a scouts’ hall.
Now, thanks to a change of use permission, it can become a residential home. And just look at the potential!
With original parquet flooring, a huge studio room with a fitted kitchen and a shower room on the ground floor, it’s already liveable.
The spacious first floor could be arranged to create multiple bedrooms, and there’s space for an en suite in the attic bedroom.
It has a small balcony area and off-street parking.
Available via Goldschmidt & Howland
3. Three-bedroom converted church, King's Lynn, Norfolk, £500,000
This pretty former church dates back to 1881 and was converted into a home in 1992.
It's full of character with plenty of original features, from gothic arches to inglenook fireplaces. There's even a pulpit in case you fancy giving an after-dinner sermon.
The interior could do with a little updating but the bones of this church are excellent and there’s a wealth of space. It also has eco credentials thanks to solar panels on the roof.
With mature cottage-style gardens to the front, side and rear, there's also a separate garage and a studio space for a perfect home office.
Available via William H Brown
4. Five-bedroom converted church, Walbottle, Newcastle upon Tyne, £1.2m
There is a lot to love about this sensitively modernised converted church which dates back to 1860.
Stained glass windows, exposed beams, original doors and even a painted chancel arch have been retained.
This is all the more impressive for the obviously thorough renovation that has brought this building up to luxury living standards.
At a whopping 4,800sq ft there’s plenty of space for a large family. The vestibule leads to a large corridor (probably the nave) where an imperial staircase leads to rooms on either side of the home.
The master bedroom has vaulted ceilings and original glass, but with the addition of double-glazing to make the space warm and comfortable.
The living room is generous, with chandeliers, a built-in bookcase, and a wood-burning fireplace.
Available via Signature North East
5. Three-bedroom converted church, Carmarthen, Wales, £475,000
The way the old stained glass windows have been incorporated into the interior walls of this former church makes a really special feature of this particular conversion.
The living area is dramatic and light-filled, with two floor-to-ceiling windows and a clever use of mezzanine levels.
The rooms are all good sizes and it is a conventionally-shaped house for a church-conversion, with no complicated angles or corridor-like rooms.
There's off-street parking and a lovely sheltered garden with a mixture of lawn and patio surrounded by mature trees and a stone wall.
Available via West Wales Properties
6. Three-bedroom converted church, Bisley, Stroud, £1.25m
There’s a fairy-tale quality to this tasteful church conversion. Just imagine it decked out with a tree and decorations at Christmas (swoon).
Thought to date from the 1840s, it has previously served as Methodist chapel. The design retains the carved archways, vaulted ceilings (complete with hammerbeam roof supports) and beautiful stained glass windows.
Throw in a fabulous kitchen, three bedrooms with three bathrooms and a dressing room within the master suite, and this is 2,000sq ft of modern comfort.
The fireplaces and woodburning stoves must make it toasty warm when it’s snowy outside.
Available via Hamptons
7. Four-bedroom converted chapel, Cookham Dean, Berkshire, £1.6m
The location and calming interior of this converted chapel are enough to make anyone feel like taking a pew and chilling out.
Tucked away in a gorgeous village with fabulous rural views, this home couldn’t be more quintessentially English – it is beside an old cricket green for starters.
Originally built as the village’s Methodist chapel in 1858, it closed for worship in 1972 and was converted into residential use in 1977.
With stunning architecture, spacious gardens, excellent room proportions and even a garage and garden office, it has everything you could pray for.
Available via Pike Smith and Kemp
8. Three-bedroom converted chapel, Little Addington, Kettering, Northamptonshire, £450,000
This is a cosy and historic home in a lovely village location.
The property was originally a Wesleyan Chapel built in the 19th century and was converted in 1987.
It retains original arched windows, solid wood flooring and exposed beams.
A generous open-plan living and dining room has a high pitched ceiling, exposed beams and stunning views from the multi-aspect windows.
Outside it has a pretty garden and gravel driveway. A nice touch above the garage is a patio for entertaining which offers elevated views across the village and the church.
Available via Express Estate Agency
9. Five-bedroom converted Sunday School, Grindleton, Clitheroe, Lancashire, £650,000
This former church Sunday school feels like the ideal spot to raise a family.
The interior is contemporary and warm thanks to underfloor heating, double-glazing and properly insulated walls.
Set on the first floor to maximise the light and views over the stunning countryside, there's a large open plan lounge and dining area, which leads through to a kitchen with a snug to one side.
The Chapel and Sunday School dates back to 1862. It retains ornamental iron gates and the gardens are practical and beautiful with astroturf lawn, a patio area and decking with a large wooden pergola.
Available via Athertons
10. Two-bedroom flat in former Methodist chapel, Jedburgh, Scottish Borders, £155,000
Inside this architecturally arresting redbrick former Methodist Fisherman’s Chapel built in 1870 are 15 self-contained apartments.
This two-bedroom home is on the second floor accessed via a communal entrance, with its own entrance hall, lounge and dining room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms.
Converted in 2006, it is modern and comfortable with double-glazing and a layout that makes the most of the building’s fabulous windows.
Available via DMA Estate Agents