Hudswell church hostel conversion plans given £50,000 boost

The trustess of the charity want to raise £1.1m to convert the church into an 18-bed hostel

A project to transform a redundant church into a hostel has received £50,000 from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

Saint Michael and All Angels, in Hudswell, near Richmond, closed to worship in 2017.

Now Hudswell Community Charity wants to raise £1.1m to create accommodation for walkers and cyclists, including turning the old pews into bunk beds.

Martin Booth said the plans would give the church a "new lease of life".

He said the building was near a network of paths favoured by walkers, including the Coast to Coast path, and there were plans for a new pilgrim trail from Durham to the south coast and onto Santiago in Spain.

He said proposals for a hostel in nearby Richmond had not off the ground, but research had shown there was a need for hostel accommodation in the area.

"We're very confident there would be enough custom to make the hostel viable," he said.

The team are hopeful a local joiner will conver the pews into bunk beds

Charity treasurer Annie Sumner said the pews had seemed too good to waste and thought they could be turned into bunk beds.

"I've asked a local joiner who will take them away and he thinks he can get at least some of the beds out of them," she said.

The Reverend Martin Fletcher, of the United Benefice of Richmond with Hudswell and Downholme and Marske, said despite being closed the building needed to be maintained.

"The churchyard is open so people come here to visit loved ones buried in the graves, so it's very important the church isn't let to go to wrack and ruin," he said.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park said it hoped the grant, from its Sustainable Development Fund, would help the charity secure the rest of the funds it needed.