I won a £4,000,000 Omaze mansion in Surrey — I grew up down the road

When 33-year-old Alistair Walker entered the Omaze draw for a bougieSurrey Hills smart home worth more than £4 million, he thought he’d take his chances in splashing £25 on a ticket. He never expected to win.

So, when the team knocked on the NHS worker’s door and told him he’d soon be taking home the keys, plus a £250,000 cash prize, he was ‘completely floored.’

Now faced with the decision to either move in, sell up, or rent it out, estate agents estimate that Alistair and his wife Naomi, who met while working as a paramedic and an A&E nurse, could take home £15,000 monthly for the Farley Green property if they opted for the latter.

Alistair is originally from Surrey, but moved up north to Darlington five years ago to be closer to Naomi’s family, with the couple subsequently welcoming two daughters, now five years and four months.

Finding out the life-changing news on Halloween, when Alistair first heard the doorbell go, he assumed he’d be greeted by trick-or-treaters.

Reflecting on the win, Alastair says: ‘As a paramedic, I’m pretty good at keeping calm in high-pressure situations – but finding out I’d just won a £4 million mansion completely floored me.

‘It was just me at home as the girls had gone out trick-or-treating with my wife, so I didn’t have anyone there to double-check I wasn’t just imagining the whole thing – to say it was surreal would be a massive understatement.’

Now, he’s faced with the possibility of a nostalgic move back to where he grew up – inside a home complete with £160,000 worth of furnishings.

Plus, the villages of Shere and Shamley Green are a mere few miles away, both of which featured in cult classics The Holiday and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

He says: ‘I’m originally from Surrey, so I know the area well and have really fond memories of growing up there. Surrey is such a lovely area – and this is such an amazing house.

‘I met my wife for the first time just up the road in Guildford when we were working together – the synchronicity of this win is crazy – it feels like it must be fate.’

Decorated in a fresh, modern style, Alistair’s new digs are inundated with space, complete with an open-plan kitchen, dining and living space, as well as four generously-sized bedrooms, three of which are ensuite.

That’s not all, either, as there’s a home gym, a family bathroom, a study, a utility room, and even a lift, on top of the state-of-the-art smart features, including ground source heat pumps, solar panels, a Tesla Powerwall battery, and a smartphone-operated home automation system.

Still in complete disbelief, Alistair is overjoyed with the ‘incredible’ feeling that his daughters’ futures have already been secured. For now, the couple are just telling them that it’s a holiday home, noting that they can still ‘barely comprehend it’ themselves.

‘We don’t know what we’ll do long term yet, but we’ll definitely be taking the girls down there to enjoy some family time. Our daughters can even learn to swim in their very own pool,’ he shares.

All in all, the monumental win completely ‘takes the pressure’ off Alistair and Naomi, who have both spent years working long hours in the NHS.

‘You don’t do it for the money, you do it because you care. You just never expect anything like this to happen to people like us – it’s unbelievable,’ he adds.

‘We can really relax and enjoy spending time together as a young family – it’s so exciting. We’ve got so many transformational choices now – whatever we decide to do, it will change our lives forever.

‘I’ve never really won anything before – my wife’s grandma used to win on the bingo a lot, so maybe some of that luck has rubbed off on us.’

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