From the meticulous scraping and de-nailing of the floorboards through to the preparation of all of the weatherboards, this has been a journey our family will long remember . . . but we are getting ahead of ourselves this is not exactly where our story began.
The story of Bell’s Retreat Maldon began not on, or even near, Dingle Farm, but in Bendigo, at the height of the Gold Rush in 1857. Used as a place of worship as well as a school for the children of miners, the “Specimen Hill Wesleyan Church” has enjoyed a long and colourful history. It its first 110 years, it was opened, closed, renovated, expanded, and relocated, all while still (primarily) serving as a church, and occasionally as a school. For its next 33 years (from 1867-2000), the church continued to serve members of what would then be known as the Chum Street Uniting Church, as a hall for social activities and Sunday School.
In late 2000, Cheryl Dingle began negotiations for the old church with the hope of relocating it to its current home beside a picturesque lake on her 20-acre property in Maldon, Victoria. During the deconstruction and re-construction of the building, some elements were upgraded, and or restored to their former glory.
While new floorboards were required, not just any new floorboards would do. Instead of newly milled wood, Cheryl and her team of artisan builders chose to use Baltic Pine floorboards out of the old Bendigo Hospital, while recycling the church’s old floorboards for cabinetmaking. No part of the building was wasted or lost in the move. One new feature that creates was a floor to ceiling fireplace made from locally sourced stone. The reconstruction was a labour of love that continues today, as gardens and facilities continue to be upgraded to meet the changing needs of Bell’s Retreat Maldon.