Former church turned holiday home for sale

dream home, Former church turned holiday home for sale,

{[['']]}

MEMBERS of the Bell Shakespeare Company trod the boards there, it was used for a Quiksilver photo shoot, and a host of well-known radio and TV personalities have used it to recharge their batteries.

It was also a dream home for Kylie Baxter, her husband and their two young daughters, both of whom loved the acoustics while they were learning to sing opera.

The Hobart-based family have owned the historic church at Newrybar, in the Byron Bay hinterland, for the past 11 years but with less time to travel north from their Tasmanian home, have decided to place it on the market.

Kylie, an ABC radio newsreader, and husband Glen Shackcloth, a commercial abalone diver, bought the historic 1911 church on impulse and set about a major restoration over several years.

They created a four-bedroom, two-bathroom accommodation facility for for tourists. "We are both fascinated by churches because of the architecture and, when we saw this old church for sale I flew up, had a look, and said: I'll buy it on the spot," Baxter said.

"It had a beautiful interior but we repainted the outside which was salmon pink, shipped in Tasmanian oak for the floors in the bedrooms and studio to match the loungeroom and did major landscaping on the gardens.

"It has a great creative energy, fantastic acoustics and lots of creative people have stayed there."

Ms Baxter said foodies loved the well-equipped kitchen and the nearby Gaia Retreat, owned by Olivia Newton-John, has been a big drawcard for people who indulge themselves by visiting the day spa.

She said the church was also "incredibly strong" -- it survived a cyclone in 1942 without damage, while the community's Methodist Church was destroyed.

The church was closed and deconsecrated in 1973 as families started moving away from the region and the main church attendance shifted to Bangalow.

The couple's passion for church buildings also led them to buy and renovate a romantic gothic sandstone church in West Hobart in 2002, which they also set up as a tourist accommodation business before selling it in 2008.

"We then tried to purchase a third church, in Strachan in Tasmania, but it didn't quite come off," Ms Baxter said.

The Newrybar church is less than 100m from the village main street and its famed Harvest Cafe and Deli.

Behind the church -- and linked by a covered walkway -- is a two-storey building with a downstairs entertaining space and open-plan bedroom upstairs.

The main hall features pressed metal ceilings and a huge lounge for entertaining.

The property is for sale at offers over $1.6 million and is being marketed by Nicolette van Wijngaarden of Unique Estates.