Yes what kind of churches in France that StCirq is referring to - all places of religious worship or just the Catholic Church?

We just rented this church for two nights in France to stay. It was partially bombed during the shelling in WW1 but fixed and then the church sold it to this couple who restored it and rent it out. Letempleverdun.com I saw the before and after pictures. Very nice place.

You can stay in a church to help defray the cost of maintenance, or you can stay in a Landmark trust property for the same reason, or a national trust property for the same reason. I guess I don't get all the angst re helping protect/maintain a significant bldg.

Nanabee, those church covenants aren't kept secret, they'll be in the deeds and other documents; but the implications are easily overlooked in the business of buying a dream cottage, since they're rarely called upon. Ten or twenty years down the road, it can be an unwelcome surprise, but that's property ownership for you.

There are people who move in to a village and within weeks start complaining about the church bells or a neighbour's cockerel, which you would have thought might have been something to check on in the first place.

Champing has been going on for a while now in England. I don't think people necessarily go for a 'good night's sleep' as opposed to staying somewhere unique and very special.
My children would have loved the experience - and I'd have loved waking up with light coming through stained glass windows. You have the place to yourself usually until 10am (when you might get visitors!).
Our local champing church has a local lady taking in bacon rolls for breakfast (or whatever else is required).
Downsides might be the cold (few churches have heating!) and possibly mice/bats/insects!

Our local church has full heating, a large theatre space a multiple use facilities despite the foundation being of Norman foundation and with yew trees (a symbol of religious activity) that is even older in the churchyard. Place is busy all the time, so much so that I find getting quiet time between the cake sessions is getting difficult. All based on strong beer swilling religious foundations.

It was a great nights sleep in our church. Nice beds and linens. I loved the stained glass and the details of how they did the reno. The light coming in was beautiful. The price was not bad for three of us and the huge tub was so nice. Two bathrooms, two bedrooms and loft in the rafters of the ceiling was great. I now wonder how they were able to buy the church. My brother was trying to buy a church in his town but the church people were worried he would not respect the building...He owns a bar but that was not his intention. He wanted to make it into a residential building.

I think some of us are talking at cross purposes about what we mean by 'champing'.
It's a stay in a church that is usually still very much a 'working' church and not redundant.
NOT a church converted into a rental property.
The idea is that you have the church to yourself for a night - some places provide bedding, in others you bring your own. Then you settle down on camp beds or whatever. There are a few rules - no open flames, no cooking etc, but basically you get the run of the place for a few hours. You normally need to leave by mid morning as churches are usually open to visitors during daylight hours.

Not in England. This is what the Churches Conservation Trust says: "Our churches remain consecrated and can be used for occasional worship." [Emphasis added.]

These days many English churches only have 'occasional' worship and services - due to drastically falling attendance. The days of one (or even two) services every Sunday have long gone. Village churches are often on a rota system with a service every few weeks.

Since she is always with us, and everywhere, the need for a church for "worship" is just about having a paid person at the front leading a sing along, very little to do with being part of a church or believing in some greater being. Still the bells have just been re-hung this year so can peal away.

You can also have sleep overs in museums and aquaria in the UK. Bring sleeping bag and go for it. https://londonist.com/2015/07/londons-best-sleepovers

Britain apparently has a serious homeless problem - even in places like Windsor- I'd hope unused churches could help accommodate these too - that's what Jesus would do?

There are people who move in to a village and within weeks start complaining about the church bells or a neighbour's cockerel, which you would have thought might have been something to check on in the first place.>>

indeed. we had just that problem a while ago with the clock in the tower in the middle of our village. As usual, a newcomer. Eventually they moved. And then there was the notorious case of Corky the cockerel in North Devon:

Judge silences cockerel's dawn chorus | The Independent

Clearly the judge knew nothing about poultry - there would be no way to stop a cockerel crowing at dawn, as our house sitter could testify.

<<Nanabee, those church covenants aren't kept secret, they'll be in the deeds and other documents; but the implications are easily overlooked in the business of buying a dream cottage, since they're rarely called upon. Ten or twenty years down the road, it can be an unwelcome surprise, but that's property ownership for you.>>

Patrick - I have been surprised by those cases too because as you say, any such terms in a conveyance should be thrown up by the purchaser's solicitor before they buy. As you say however, people fall in love with a dream and tend to ignore the possible consequences. And it is conceivable that they received poor advice, in which case they can sue of course. And then there have been the recent cases of some purchasers of new houses who discovered to their horror that they had only bought the leaseholds, not the freeholds of their houses. It appears that they used the vendors' solicitors whose services are often offered by house building companies for free or at a cut price as an incentive. Of course they can sue if they can show that they were not properly informed, which seems pretty obvious if you've bought what you believed to be a house outright only to discover that it belongs to someone else and you've got to pay them a ground rent. It seems to be a pretty shoddy trick to me.

Being without a home so let's put them in an old shed! Yikes.

Given that so many have some very confused minds/medical states putting them into a shared draughty hall will solve nothing. Putting them into small low occupancy housing as they get their meds right might be useful, but let's ensure it's a house and a home not just a Victorian shed with a cross.

The homelessness problem is not caused by Windsor, the poor people migrate to where there is good protection and Windsor has some of the best as does Oxford. There is no doubt that doing away with the terrible mental institutions was a great thing but the fall back position is becoming the streets.

Also a zoo: https://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zo...ver-at-the-zoo