Win a Devon property with fishing - Oldborough Retreat

After failing to sell their home in the conventional way, British couple Brian and Wendy Wilshaw have decided to run a win a house competition to give away their five-bedroom Devon estate, Oldborough Retreat. The couple were interviewed on BBC TV on 26 August 2008, as well as a number of other TV channels and newspapers to provide some background about their house competition and invite players to participate.

In order to sell their £1 million Devon property, which features 11.5 acres of woodland paddock, a two-acre lake and four two-bedroom fishing lodges, the couple are hoping to sell 46,000 tickets at £25 each. Players are asked to answer a simple question on the competition website to be eligible for the prize: What is the price of an adult full season coarse fishing licence for 2008/2009? Although the answer to this question can be found online relatively easily, based on the advice they received the couple are satisfied it conforms to the requirements of the UK Gambling Act 2005.

The house competition, which launched in June 2008, is expected to close on 7 December 2008 or as soon as all the tickets have been sold. It appears it has already gotten off to a great start with the couple stating on TV that one third of tickets (around 14,000) have already been sold so far. If for any reason the targeted number of tickets cannot be sold by December, the winner will be handed a cash prize instead.

Given the challenging conditions in the real estate market in the UK at present, there is no doubt that if this house competition is successful; that others will try to emulate it themselves. We wish the Wilshaws lots of success with their competition and look forward to seeing how it develops in the coming months.