Simply Divine

Isabel and Steve Castens felt blessed when they stumbled across a former place of worship ripe for renovation

- Amander Meade

After years living and working in Mexico, Poland and Romania, Isabel and Steve Castens returned to the UK in 2000. When their eldest son Oscar turned two, and with plans to have more children, the couple decided to relocate out of London. ‘our families are in the midlands and Sheffield so we wanted to be nearer to them but with an easy commute back to London for work,’ explains Isabel.

The hunt for a family home began and the couple were persuaded to visit an unusual property although it was out of the area and needed a lot of work. ‘We had looked at lots of houses, which seemed perfect on paper but hadn’t turned out to be quite right; this was the exact opposite,’ says Isabel. ‘We saw it on a bleak day in January, but as soon as I stepped inside I could imagine us living here.’