Bells Retreat
OUR STORY
10 years in the making, from the meticulous scraping and de-nailing of the floorboards through to the preperation of all the weatherboards, this has been a journey our family will long remember. The realisation of the dream of Bell's Retreat is a standing a testament to craftsmanship, friendship and love.
When an opportunity presented itself to Cheryl Dingle and Mark Glover to rescue the Chum Street Uniting Church from demolition the couple rose to the challenge of relocating and restoring this fine old lady as the centrepiece of Bell's Retreat.
The external shape demonstrates this church's heritage value and it claims the distinction of being the second largest weatherboard church still standing in Victoria.
When you consider the quaint width of Bells Reef Road in Maldon you can see the moving to Maldon on the back of several trucks was a feat in itself. Mostly deconstructed, piece by piece (quite often numbered) the walls were transported in eight seperate units as well as the complete front porch which was quite enough for one truck.
The new resting place for this beautiful building is set on twenty-five acres beside a very large dam, complete with island in the centre. It is not tucked away from the road view, nestled up along a private drive complete with water feature and lined with Australian native trees.
Although the floor was replaced completely (the original being far too uneven) and quite a few weatherboards needed to be replaced, it is mostly in its original format. The new floor actually comes from the Old Bendigo Base Hospital. Each of these one-inch thick Kauri floorboards sanded and then oiled to bring out the highlights as well as preserving them. These boards had not seen the light of day for over a hundred years so preserving that ultimate heritage feeling.
Mark, organiser and overseerer extraordinaire has almost single handedly juggled this amazing exercise. His strength and versatility has ensured quality and integrity throughout! Best mate, Murray - heritage builder extraordinaire - contributed his amazing attenion to detail, especially the old-fashioned way using floor clamps, his obvious delight in restoring original timbers and design extras helped kept us all going. Countless hours of volunteers also, especially WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) as well as all the family children, Kimberly, Joel and Harley, brought together fun and friendship in making this building come to life once more.
We love sharing this piece of history with others and love to host functions, music nights and special workshops using this wonderful space.
In it's original location as the Chum Street Uniting Church
A very life sized jigsaw puzzle. Various photos of the deconstruction and reconstruction at Bell's Retreat.
Our deepest, heartfelt thanks to everyone involved!
