The Old Rode Church

Knowing the weather was going to be overcast and still muddy, we arranged a visit to Rode, Somerset (UK) to visit my aunty and uncle (my mum's brother) as we haven't seen them for a while and they're not getting any younger! It was a good catch up. I took some photo's which I'll treasure. We also popped in to see our son, his wife and the two oldest grandchildren before they went to bed as they live a few miles away.

The blipfoto is the church they can see from their house. It's now a deconsecrated church that is a violin shop and the owner lives in the house behind.  Researching it I found the following article (Telegraph, April 2001)....

Andrew Hooker, a former Sotheby's director, called the church commissioners in 1994 when  he was looking for an unusual building in which to live and work. He received a list of redundant churches and looked at 17 before choosing a twin-steepled Georgian church at Rode, Somerset. After a lengthy process, he became the owner in 1997 and in January his violin sales business was launched.
He chose the church because of its location near Bath, and because "it was heatable". His proposals were accepted and he made an offer subject to survey. But some of the Grade II building was in "a parlous state" and he withdrew the offer. Finally a peppercorn price of £1 was agreed, but Hooker could only take on the building when he was assured of a 50 per cent grant from English Heritage towards repairs; waiting for that took "many months".
Hooker stresses that the £1 price tag is only part of the story. "Steeples don't come cheap," he says. The church now provides a wonderful setting for musicians to try out Hooker's instruments before they buy.
Respecting the architecture of a church is crucial. "You don't want the conversion to lose the qualities you were attracted to in the first place," says Rumball Sedgwick's Woodgate. He acknowledges that design mistakes have been made in the past. "There were inappropriate conversions in which, for example, window openings were altered and modern picture windows installed. But in the past 10 to 15 years we have been more conservation-minded."
To retain the character of St John's Church there is a detailed statement of design principles, and Woodgate believes the conversion will cost "at least another £200,000". The buyer must be aware of the importance of the building.
"When a church has been the focal point of a community it is a big step to acknowledge that it has become redundant," says Woodgate. "We should respect it."