A BEQUEST by a lifelong Dulverton resident has provided a lasting legacy for local people needing affordable homes.

When pensioner and regular churchgoer Joyce Burton died almost two years ago, her will contained a gift that is set to give three local families a roof over their heads.

Joyce left her home and two neighbouring cottages in Church Lane to All Saints Church.

And church leaders have just completed the first phase of a project to turn Joyce's generosity into a legacy for the town.

All three cottages needed major work so the largest - Joyce's home - was sold to pay for the renovation of the other two.

The sale, which netted just over £110,000, has also provided funds for improvements to another cottage in Church Lane, which the church already owned.

And this week the keys to two of the two-bedroom cottages where refurbishment work has been completed were handed over to young families.

Doug Haine and Jade Boult and their eight-month-old daughter and Daniel Thomas and Phillipa Burke and their young twins will move into their new homes at the end of the month.

Ivan Gunn, chairman of All Saints management committee, said all three cottages in Church Lane were being let as affordable and to people with a strong connection to the parish.

Mr Gunn said the renovations had been complex as the cottages were Grade Two listed and were within the Exmoor National Park, which also brought certain restrictions.

In addition, the cottages had no gardens but a land swap with a parcel of land, also gifted, and an area of glebeland behind the properties means residents now have their own green space outside their doors.

"It hasn't always been an easy process to tie everything together," said Mr Gunn.

"But we thought it was the right thing to do and a commitment that the church should take on."

The completed cottages now have modern kitchens, heating, double or secondary glazing and have been thoroughly brought up to standard, including some re-roofing.

Work on the third cottage will begin later this month, while a flat created above the parish office in the town - also owned by the church - has been let for the past year to a young man who works locally.

"It is quite a big thing for the church to take on because the difference between an affordable rent and what we could achieve on the open market is not small," said Mr Gunn.

"But we wanted to do something to help people working locally who find it so difficult to get social housing."

Almost 30 people applied for the tenancies of the first two cottages and Mr Gunn said although it was hoped the new tenants would live there for some years, church leaders did not want them to think of it as a home for life.

"We want to be able to help other people in the same situation in the future.

"If we had just sold these properties, they would probably have become second homes.

"But what we have done with them is very positive and, with the flat, provided four affordable homes in the centre of Dulverton, where they are so badly needed."

The keys were handed over to the new tenants at a simple celebration on Tuesday evening involving the Rector of All Saints, the Rev John Thorogood, builder Roger Lazarus, who carried out the renovations, church advisor Ross Campbell and church representatives Ian Fleming and Hazel Peck.

Photo: Steve Guscott.