Foundry worker from Walsall wins £3 million clifftop home in Devon in £25 prize draw
A foundry worker has won a £3 million dream home in Devon and £20,000 after buying a £25 ticket in a charity prize draw.
Glen Elmy, aged 54 and from Walsall, won the house which features five double bedrooms and six bathrooms in the fourth Omaze Million Pound House Draw.
The property, situated on the North Devon coast, boasts an infinity pool and "stunning" panoramic views of the ocean from its clifftop location.
Glen, an operations director at Castings PLC in Walsall, found out about the win in the prize draw while he was painting his elderly parents' house and got the news months after losing his father-in-law and one week after his son was made redundant.
WATCH the moment Glen got the news here:
He said: "I’m totally gobsmacked, the only thing we’ve ever won before was three pounds at a Bingo night on holiday. We absolutely love the house - if I could have designed one from scratch, it would look just like this - it’s like something from a Bond film!
"We will be keeping it as there’s no other house like it in the country – so why would we want to sell it!?
"My wife Debbie lost her father to Covid this year and our youngest son was made redundant last week, so winning this house is just what the family needed, it’s life-changing for all of us.
"This house is so spectacular we’re going to enjoy our first family holiday for two years right here. I don’t think we’d find a better place anywhere else in the world."
Glen, originally from Suffolk, and Debbie currently live with dog Bailey in their four-bedroom house in Clayhanger, where they’ve been for the past 26 years.
The dream home is situated within the picturesque Exmoor National Park, just 11 miles from the thriving markets and country pubs of Barnstaple.
All stamp duty and legal fees have been covered and the winner has also been handed £20,000 in cash to help with the running costs.
He is free to either live in the house, rent it – with rental prices hitting more than £10,000 a week in summer – or sell it, but Glen has already confirmed he's keeping the property.
Glen, who has worked at the foundry since he started as an apprentice 33 years ago, has celebrated the win with wife Debbie, aged 60, and their five adult children Laura, Chris, Shelly, Sam and Luke.
The couple also have three grandchildren, with a fourth on the way from son Sam, who followed in his father's footsteps and has worked alongside him for the past six years, and his fiancé Emily.
Glen purchased a £25 ticket bundle in August after seeing the Omaze Million Pound House Draw on TV, with the prize draw being launched in aid of NSPCC's Childline.
He said: “I think the partnership between Omaze and Childline is a brilliant idea as it’s raising money to help the charity keep doing the incredible work they do to help children when they need it the most.”
The draw has also raised crucial funds for the NSPCC's Childline, with a donation of £1 million to help the charity provide 33 days of 24-hour round-the-clock counselling support for children who often have nowhere else to turn.
The free and confidential helpline for children receives an average of more than one million calls, emails and online messages each year, and its service has helped play a "key role" during the pandemic.
On average, a child contacts Childline every 25 seconds – but currently, Childline can only answer two out of every three calls it receives.
Childline founder and president Dame Esther Rantzen said: "We are extremely grateful to Omaze and all those who have taken part for their fantastic support. Childline saves and transforms the lives of children who desperately need us – and this stunning total will be crucial in ensuring that we can continue to reach out to the young people who rely upon us."
Glen's win marked the fourth house Omaze has given away since it started in the UK last year, raising almost £3 million for good causes in the process – including to the British Heart Foundation, The Prince's Trust and others.
And online entries for the fifth and sixth Omaze Million Pound House Draws have already launched, with an offer for a £3.5 million London house in Wimbledon on offer in aid of the Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. Entries close on November 21.
The other draw is for a £3.5 million property near Ascot racecourse in aid of Cancer Research UK. Entries close at midnight on January 22.
Los Angeles-based Omaze has already raised more than £100 million that has gone to support more than 350 charities around the world.
