Liz Hutton shares her journey of restoring a derelict chapel in Wales

As I’m coming up to my first anniversary of joining Thackray Williams, it’s a good time to take a moment and reflect on the last year. One of the great privileges of my job is to join clients on their property journey. I’ve been lucky enough to help many first-time buyers navigate the stamp duty changes at the start of 2025 as well as assisting my more established clients expand their portfolios and there has been some mega mansions thrown in for good measure!

Whatever I’m buying or selling for clients, I’m always interested in the story behind it- what are their motivating factors? Do they have development plans or what life events have brought them to the conveyancing process? For me, one of the joys of working at Thackray Williams is the variety of work on offer with the opportunity for real personal growth through client interaction.

One of the areas of property I’m really passionate about is the restoration of historic buildings. Outside of work, my husband and I have bought a derelict chapel in the beautiful village of Crickhowell in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park in Wales. We were fortunate enough to be assisted in the conveyancing process by the incomparable Adrian Whichcord, a Partner in our Sevenoaks office, whose technical knowledge and patience proved invaluable during the purchase. There’s always a lot to learn with a new development project on this scale, and being surrounded by outstanding lawyers will be so valuable throughout the process - even if I’m sometimes just canvassing their opinion on paint colours.

I was born and brought up in Wales and still have family in the area. The chapel represents the important heritage of the village, and we’re proud to be the new custodians aiming to give it a new lease of life.

We’re in the process of finalising our drawings with our local architect, and hope to have news of the planning application process in the next edition. Follow along on the (no doubt many!) ups and downs of our journey on Instagram @crickhowellchapel.