Own a business and home in a heavenly location

A converted church property offers the opportunity to own a slice of SA history and run the business of your dreams in a truly heavenly location.

The Auburn property at 85 Skilly Rd has been renovated throughout, and offers the best of both worlds – a fantastic place to live, and the perfect opportunity to start a small business.

Jeff and Chiggy Schiller bought the home 12 years ago, attracted by its location and unique offering of an old-meets-new property with income potential.

“We bought it on the eighth of the eighth in 2008 – a very auspicious date,” Schiller says.

“We fell in love with it as soon as we saw it and bought it.

“It was so beautiful and peaceful out here and that’s what we were looking for.

Schiller was living with his Japanese wife Chiggy in Perth and, having grown up in Port Augusta, was looking to return to SA.

85 Skilly Chapel Road, Auburn. Supplied by Harcourts Packham

“I’m a geologist and came back to South Australia because it always seemed like home,” he says.

“We lived for a little while in Clare and I used to go on tours around the district looking for something a bit more rural, and as soon as I saw this place I knew it was the one.”

The property had already been partly restored and upgraded when they bought it, with the couple adding a modern upper level to make the most of the property’s stunning views.

85 Skilly Chapel Road, Auburn. Supplied by Harcourts Packham

“The property fell into ruins until the 90s when a woman, Fran Gerard, bought it, and prior to that there’d been a couple of guys who had worked on a cottage here – which was a former manse or the former schoolteacher’s accommodation – so she did some tidy-up work on that and built a function centre around it and completely refurbished the church,” Schiller says.

“She ran it as a business for a while and lots of local weddings were held here, and then when she decided to sell and we bought it, we were very keen to live here.

“We were keen to take in the views of the valley, so we built up and put on some living space upstairs and completely changed the layout of it.

85 Skilly Chapel Road, Auburn. Supplied by Harcourts Packham

“We had some ideas of our own and used a local architect with some input from the heritage people and used a great local builder.

“We are proud of it – our addition is more modern but we tried to make something that showed the separate parts without copying the old style but still blending nicely together.

“In the beginning we were looking at running it as a meeting room – hosting low-key events – and we had a few functions here but in the end decided we were keen to just live here.”

85 Skilly Chapel Road, Auburn. Supplied by Harcourts Packham

The church was built in 1862, Schiller says, with the rest of the property steeped in history too.

“It has a wonderful historic feel – there’s a cemetery nearby with some pioneers there,” Schiller says.

The home sits on a 40.87ha block and features a 1000-tree olive grove, a 750-tree carob grove and two dams. Mr Schiller says it is the ideal spot for a business.

85 Skilly Chapel Road, Auburn. Supplied by Harcourts Packham

“It would be a wonderful cellar door and if people wanted to invest, I always had a dream of putting a couple of those eco pods cabins on the property – the views from the property in every direction are wonderful – you could have a BnB business, or a little olive oil business or a wine–selling business as there’s plenty of room to plant vines,” he says.

“I’d love someone who loves it to take it on, and it would be great for someone who wants to invest and has a project in mind – it has a beautiful basis for a project to take off and there are all kinds of possibilities, there’s no doubt you could make some money if you wanted to put some investment and energy into it.”

85 Skilly Chapel Road, Auburn. Supplied by Harcourts Packham

“It’s a beautiful place – it’s an absolute secret this place.”

The couple are now embarking on a treechange, and are heading for the Adelaide Hills.

“I’m a country boy, I need some trees around me,” Schiller says.