A mum who was saving for a deposit to get onto the housing ladder has gone from renting to owning an enormous £3 million countryside home. Sarah Stocks, 43, scooped a £100,000 prize alongside the huge house in the Cotswolds.
She is the the latest Omaze Million Pound House Draw winner and has to make a decision; either move into the house, rent it out or sell it and cash in on its multi-million pound value.
Sarah won the mortgage free property as part of a prize draw which raised £3m for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity) that helps support seriously ill children from across the UK.
Should Sarah decide to rent it out, local estate agents estimate the property could achieve a long-term rental value between £5,000 to £7,000 per month.
HR worker Sarah, whose winning entry came from her monthly £10 Omaze subscription, lives in a rented four-bedroom house in Essex with her two children, her partner Brett and his two children.
When Omaze contacted Sarah to tell her she’d scooped a prize, she was convinced her friends were playing a trick on her.
She said: “My first reaction was that my friends were playing an elaborate practical joke on me. I didn’t think for one second I’d actually won anything, but the next thing I knew the Omaze team were on my front lawn telling me I’d won a £3m house in the Cotswolds. It was crazy.
“I still couldn’t believe it even when I got to the house. I kept expecting one of my friends to jump out of a wardrobe and shout gotcha.”
Sarah explained how before the win she and Brett had planned to save as much as possible to one day buy a bungalow when the kids had left home.
She said: “I can’t believe we now own a five-bedroom house that you could fit five bungalows in! I work from home so it’s safe to say my office has just had a big upgrade.
“Whatever we decide to do with the house long-term, this win is truly transformational for my family’s future – it’s changed our lives forever.”
Sarah’s new home is a 4,700 sq ft Cotswolds property set in a third of an acre of landscaped gardens. It is located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, near Charlbury.
The Cotswold stone house offers wonderful views overlooking rolling fields and idyllic countryside.
Sarah added: “The house is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. The kitchen and dining area is probably bigger than our current house. It’s just unbelievable.
“I love being surrounded by so much picturesque countryside – the Cotswolds is such a beautiful part of the world. The village seems idyllic and most importantly there is a lovely pub two minutes down the road. What more could you ask for? “
She added: “As a mother I’m obviously delighted that the draw raised so much money for GOSH Charity. I entered Omaze draws as I fell in love with the dream of winning one of the stunning houses, but always thought if I didn’t win, I’m supporting a worthy cause which is a nice feeling.”
Inside the house boasts an open plan bespoke kitchen with an island, solid stone worktops, oak interiors, French door refrigerator with ice and filtered water and Gaggenau appliances throughout.
The ground floor has two bedrooms with bathrooms, a walk-in larder, a cosy study, cloakroom, laundry room with solid oak worktop, Miele washing machine and dryer as well as a spacious vaulted double reception room. There is underfloor heating throughout the property.
Upstairs there are three large bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, featuring Studio Ore bronze brassware and fixtures from Water Monopoly and Lefroy Brooks. There is an annex building with a double garage, home office and gym complete with shower room.
The landscaped garden has an outdoor entertaining area with the same custom installation Bowers & Wilkins speakers that are also found in the reception room and kitchen.
As well as making Sarah a multi-millionaire, the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Cotswolds, raised an incredible £3m for GOSH Charity, the first contribution towards Omaze’s £10 million pledge over the next five years to help build the new, world-leading Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
Omaze is one of the Founder Partners of the transformational project and aims to achieve the £10m donation through its first ever multi-year partnership, which will see it support GOSH Charity through multiple house draws to raise the vital funds.
Every day, around 750 children and young people from across the UK are seen at GOSH for life-changing treatment and care. The hospital has always depended on charitable support to give seriously ill children the best chance to fulfil their potential.
GOSH Charity provides funding beyond what the NHS covers to help provide world-leading care, expertise and facilities. This includes the Charity’s biggest ever fundraising appeal to help a state-of-the-art new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH, to drive transformation in children’s cancer care and save more lives.
Liz Tait, GOSH Charity’s Director of Fundraising, said: “We are completely blown away that the Omaze Million Pound House Draw in the Cotswolds has raised an incredible £3m for GOSH Charity in just six weeks.
“This donation will be invaluable in helping us to build a world-leading new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital, helping to save more children’s lives and beat childhood cancer once and for all. We’re thrilled to have partnered with Omaze for the second time, and look forward to continuing our amazing partnership over the next five years.
“We’d also like to wish Sarah a huge congratulations on being the winner of this stunning house in the Cotswolds and thank everyone who entered the prize draw – their support for seriously ill children is amazing and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
This is the second time the charity has teamed up with Omaze. The first partnership, in 2021, raised £500,000, which helped GOSH Charity support the hospital’s most urgent needs.
James Oakes, Chief International Officer at Omaze, said:”Everyone at Omaze is delighted that Sarah and her family have won this beautiful house in the Cotswolds, whilst also contributing to the incredible first instalment of £3m towards our £10m pledge to help build the new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
“Omaze gives people the chance to win amazing houses, like this lovely house in the Cotswolds, whilst also introducing charities to vast new audiences that would otherwise be out of reach – it’s a real win-win for both charities and entrants. We’re incredibly proud that the Omaze community has raised over £34m for good causes in the UK.”
Draw entries for the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Cornwall, are available now at omaze.co.uk. The draw closes on Sunday, March 31 for online entries and Tuesday, April 2 for postal entries.
Entrants can also choose to subscribe to Omaze to be automatically entered into every Grand Prize and Early Bird Prize, each month.
Omaze subscribers receive double the amount of entries compared to non-subscribers and can cancel their subscription at any time. When Omaze has two draws running simultaneously, subscribers are entered into both, with a £10 subscription providing 30 entries into both house draws – meaning 60 entries in total for just £10.
For full terms and conditions visit omaze.co.uk. No purchase necessary to enter. Over 18s and UK residents only.
