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The £25 house

Catherine Deshayes

Channel 4's Grand Designs is a feast of epic proportions, with fearless homebuilders converting windmills and tumbledown castles into family homes. Now, one of the totally unique properties is up for grabs, for just £25...

The ‘Underground House,' as it became known on Grand Designs, was one of the most striking and unusual properties of the last series.

A contemporary townhouse with an eco-friendly design, the property lies on Oxford Walk in the heart of Cheltenham, one of the UK's most picturesque Georgian spa towns.

A triumph of low-maintenance design, the home's main living area is located below ground, but is filled with reflected natural sunlight from clever design ideas.

As well as being fully insulated, it is heated by a ground source heat pump making it economical to run and low maintenance. The house boasts what is one of the best HIPs ratings for energy efficiency in Cheltenham, which is well known for its architecture.

Tim and Zoe Bawtree built the house, a culmination of years of saving and planning. They lived in it with their two children for a mere six months before being forced to put it on the market.

"As Grand Designs viewers will know, my wife Zoe and I used to live in a lovely regency townhouse but decided to build the Underground house and sell the other one in order to live mortgage-free, says Mr Bawtree.

"Unfortunately, we've ended up in worse case scenario of owning two houses and paying two mortgages."

"The bank has given us a period of time to sell one of the houses so, whilst we are sad to see it go, we've decided to release our house through this competition and, in the future, we will build again," added Mr Bawtree.

After being unable to sell it for three months, the couple decided to try another approach and have chosen to raffle the property.

Thus, the £845,000 eco-home is up for grabs for just £25 for a ticket. Mr Bawtree said, "We put the house on the market for three months and while we had interest from potential buyers it did not sell.

"Times are tough with a slump in the market so we looked into how we could do it differently.

"Some of our friends and family thought we were crazy when we told them, but whereas with a lesser-known house people might think it was a scam, this property is very well recognised, because of Grand Designs," he added. 

The three bedroom house was built using a highly-insulated polystyrene and concrete construction and is illuminated with a Rako wireless mood lighting system.

The bathroom has invisible jets, light therapy and a rain shower, while the kitchen has three ovens, a built-in coffee machine and drawers and cupboards that open electronically at a touch.

There is also off-street parking, cinema room, a decked patio area and terraced gardens.

Tickets are on sale for £25 each and the draw will only go ahead if enough sales are made to cover the £1million asking price, which includes the three-bedroom house, stamp duty, Pay Pal fees, furnishings and a donation to Cancer Research of £2.50 per ticket sold.

To enter, contestants must name the horse which won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham this year. The draw will take place on January the 1st 2009.

There have only been 8756 entries as of today, October 17^th 2008 and the target of selling over 40,000 tickets is still a long way off.

There are also 2nd and 3rd prizes so that, even if participants fail to win the actual house, they still have the chance of winning other prizes.

Second prize is an Aga cooker of the prize winners' choice of colour, valued at £4,200 and fitted free of charge within the UK and third prize is a series of Eleco Grand Designs 3D home design software for all budding home designers.

The competition giveaway has attracted widespread interest and media attention due to the couple's unique attempt to achieve the market value of their house despite property market conditions.

Tickets are on sale now. Visit www.winthecheltenhamhouse.com to find out more.