A rundown wedding venue that started life as a monks’ retreat 700 years ago is to be transformed by a husband-and-wife team.

The Grade II*-Listed Salmestone Grange is nestled between houses in Nash Road, Margate, and has been empty since 2019.

Now, Jenny and Henry Pelly have taken on the monumental job of restoring the venue and getting it back up and running again.

They say they bought the property after seeing the listing in 2020 and thinking: “Wow - this is it!”

Mrs Pelly, who is currently on maternity leave with her nine-week-old daughter, recalled: “We took it on because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

“I looked at literally every place, everywhere.

“I found this and as soon as I saw it I thought ‘it’s perfect’.”

Working in London, the couple were attracted to Margate - a town Mrs Pelly “loves” - and its proximity to the city.

They wanted to make the historic site their home, but soon found it was not in a livable state.

The mother-of-three said: “It was clear it had been given a lot of love in the past by the previous family - but it needed a lot of work.

“There was a lot of damp, all the electricity needed doing, and all the plumbing.

“The building was kind of rotting and there were holes in the roof.

“I don’t think you could have safely lived there with young children.

“We’re definitely giving it a new lease of life and I hope a lot of people will get a lot of enjoyment out of it.”

After initial repairs, the family-of-five moved in in September last year, but some areas were still “grim” and they could only heat the bedrooms to 15 degrees with the heating on all night.

They have now completed their home in the farmhouse section of the grange, and are hoping to start running five bed and breakfast rooms in December next year.

“Then however long later, we finish the two event spaces and hopefully have the bar up and running for weddings,” 37-year-old Mrs Pells explained.

“We will have to see how long that takes - probably a very long time.”

Once it is open, they hope to be able to cater for up to 100 guests.

Parts of Salmestone Grange are thought to date back to the 1200s, with the chapel being built in 1326.

It was used as a countryside retreat for monks from St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury and other local monasteries.

Much of it is created from the same flint as Canterbury Cathedral and the grounds are scheduled ancient monuments.

While the pair have never run a wedding venue before, Mrs Pelly has some experience in catering and events, and her husband, 40, is an architect.

They also renovated a boat while living in London and operated it as a B&B.

Mrs Pelly, who works for the NHS, “absolutely loves” old buildings and is finding the process rewarding.

“I love learning about them and all the stuff that goes wrong with them,” she said.

“You can’t have a solid plan as the building dictates the way you go.”

Some of the grange’s key features include the windows in the church, which are intricately decorated but more modern, having been added in 1952.

There are beams that represent the first-ever example of a certain type of roof structure and an underground stone chamber.

Furthermore, big fireplaces scatter the house, and there are significant soot marks on the ceiling that amateur developers must keep.

Mrs Pelly has “ambitious plans” for the gardens, and has done much of the work herself.

She hopes to add in a pool and has just had “about 100,000” tulips delivered.

Before the Pellys took over, Salmestone was owned by former county councillor William Whelan.

He bought it with his wife in 1984 and ran the venue up until his death in 2015 following a battle with Parkinson's disease.

His wife stayed there until January 2019, before putting the venue on the market for £1.5 million that October.

At the time she announced that they “had a blast” but it was time for the next chapter in her life.