AN UNUSUAL village home was once a chapel for the Plymouth Brethren Christian movement.

It was then used as a hall - and, more recently, has been visited by people from all over the world.

The converted chapel of Goddards Hall in Sherfield-on-Loddon has been run as a guesthouse by owners Jacky and Brian Pyle for the past couple of years.

Visitors have tracked down Goddards Hall on the Pyles' website - myweb.tiscali.co.uk/goddardshall - and have not only come from Europe, but as far away as China, Australia and America to visit.

The couple bought the 1850-built former chapel, and its next-door cottage, as an empty shell in 1988.

And Mrs Pyle said they worked all the "God-given hours" they could find, come rain or shine, to create a character-filled private home.

While they renovated the chapel, with the help of friends, the Pyles lived in the cottage next door.

That was sold when, after about a year of renovations, the chapel was ready to move into.

Mrs Pyle said: "It was a challenge which worked out very well."

But now she and her husband - who moved to Sherfield when he was two years old - are planning to find another home in an old part of Basingstoke.

From its location in Goddards Lane, the old chapel overlooks the village green and cricket pitch.

The conversion created a four-bedroomed home, with two en suite shower rooms and a family bathroom.

The master bedroom has an arched French door to a wrought-iron balcony at the front of the house.

The room also features a walk-in wardrobe.

To one side of the main entrance is a spacious kitchen-breakfast room and, to the other side, a dining room.

There is also a staircase to the bedrooms.

The sitting room is spread right across the back of the old chapel and has one set of French doors into the conservatory and another out to the garden terrace.

To give the room extra character, the Pyles built a wall of exposed brick, which is inset with an inglenook-style fireplace.

Goddards Hall is on the market at a price guide of £450,000 with agents Lane Fox.

Mrs Pyle will continue to look after bed-and-breakfast guests until the property is sold.