‘People told us they’d had their wedding here’: how one couple transformed an ageing church into a chic home

Outside the village of Barcombe, in the rolling South Downs, lies the Tin Tabernacle: a former chapel with walls of corrugated metal, a pitched roof and a tall, pink, arched front door. After almost 100 years as a church, the 139-year-old building had been used as community centre, wedding venue, meeting hall, office, workshop. Under its current owners, it gained a further use: an unusual family home.