THAT well-known Corvedale figure Claude Bodenham and his wife Wendy are to appear in one of the country's most popular TV series Property Ladder.

They will be shown grappling with the problems of converting a 160-year-old chapel, on their land at Stoke St Milborough, into a holiday cottage with two double bedrooms.

The Bodenhams became involved after they followed up an advertisement and contacted Property Ladder researcher Louise Penez.

"She was not terribly interested at first as we had already started work but, as soon as we said it was a chapel, she said they were filming one in Norfolk and this would make an interesting contrast," explained Mr Bodenham. "She came down to see us and said: 'It's a gem'."

Once the cameras started to roll, there were two lengthy days of filming of the cottage, the village church, the surrounding countryside and Ludlow, seven miles away.

So far the programme's presenter Sarah Beeny has yet to put in an appearance but the Bodenhams look forward to seeing her for the final filming when the project is finished. It is now called St Milburga's Chapel, after the village's own saint.

Property Ladder's normal formula is to find novice would-be property developers with only a vague idea of their budget and follow them through all the perils and pitfalls.

The Bodenhams carefully costed the work on the listed former Primitive Methodist chapel, which closed in 1972.

They used a local architect and craftsmen and won a £10,000 South Shropshire tourism grant, funded by Advantage West Midlands and the EU.