Punter who won £850k manor house in £2 raffle doesn’t want to live there… now it’s rented out for £1,500 a month
Marie Segar, 50, thought it was a 'wind up' when told she had won the six-bedroom Grade II listed pad in a raffle last year
AN OFFICE worker who picked up a £845,000 country mansion for just £2 never moved in - and now it's being rented out.
Marie Segar, 50, thought it was a 'wind up' when told she had won the six-bedroom Grade II listed pad in a raffle last year.
But Marie, of Warrington, Greater Manchester,never moved into the luxury 18th Century pad, which also boasts a cinema room, after she was handed the keys last August.
The unfurnished property was added to housing websites last Sunday and a new tenant snapped it up within three days.
Rightmove said: "This fabulous six bedroom family home is something very special.
"It's not hard to fall in love with the property as soon as you enter with its high ceilings, decorative coving and large sash windows with views overlooking the grounds."
Speaking about her win, Ms Segar, who bought £40-worth of tickets, said: "I'm just in shock. I can't believe it, I just can't. I've only ever won £9 on the lottery."
She joked that she would be changing the name on her bank card to 'Lady' Marie.
She won the title of Lady Melling, donated by charity St John's Hospice, who previously owned the title, after Mr Low donated £30,000 of the raffle money to the charity.
Former owner Dunston Low, 37, sold 440,000 tickets for £2 each after struggling to find a buyer for Melling Manor and raised more than £900,000 with interest from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and the US.
He flogged the manor in a last-ditch attempt to to avoid repossession.
Ms Segar's ticket was chosen using a random number generator as the winner.
Dunston bought the dream house in 2011 for £435,000 for him, his wife Natasha and their sons Dylan, 16, and Ozzy, five, to live in.
Three years later the couple put the house up for sale for £800,000 but didn't attract a single offer in six months and rented it out.
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In December 2016, he tried to sell the house again for £845,000 but there was little interest so dropped the price to £500,000.
The Georgian manor is in leafy Melling, the same village where legendary Bullseye host Jim Bowen lives with his wife Phyllis.
Outside there are gardens to the front, side and rear with parking for around six cars on a horseshoe driveway surrounded by trees.
Dunston, of Bolton, Greater Manchester, also donated £10,000 from the proceeds of the raffle to the National Youth Advocacy (NYAS), which supports vulnerable children in society.
Several other homeowners have raffled off their homes.
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