COUPLE TO RAFFLE OFF COTTAGE
ACOUPLE are raffling off their luxury two-bed cottage in Snowdonia after spending nearly two years renovating it – and tickets cost just £5.
Ryan Mclean and Katherine Jablonowska bought Cwellyn Cottage in Criccieth in 2018 for £150,000 when they fell in love with its location and decided to follow their dream of renovating a property.
The two-bed cottage on the outskirts of Snowdonia National Park was originally built in the 1800s, but the pair transformed it into an idyllic, peaceful home with stunning views.
But despite spending two years and £25,000 restoring Cwellyn Cottage, Katherine and Ryan never intended to make it their home. Instead, they bought the property, which is now valued at £290,000, with the intention of selling it through a raffle.
Ryan, a former chef from Canada, said: “We did it for the adventure. Both of us had always wanted to renovate a house and while we always thought we would renovate our own home first this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
“We had been working and living in France – I was a chef, and my wife was a hospitality manager – and we moved back to the UK and visited north Wales for a weekend away. We stayed not too far away from the cottage and our jaws dropped when we saw how beautiful it was. We just fell in love. It was our first time in Wales and we just knew that we wanted to buy a house here.
“On the same trip, we ended up looking at this cottage and it took us a couple of weeks to decide to put an offer in, but it was like love at first sight.”
The cottage now boasts a dining area which leads into a bespoke kitchen, two double bedrooms with stunning views and a modern bathroom with a claw-foot bathtub.
“It was very much a labour of love,” said Ryan, 41.
“I’m a trained carpenter so I’ve had some experience with partial renovations but we’ve never done anything on this scale before.
“We both left our jobs to devote all of our time to the project, and we’re glad we did because it ended up being a bigger job than we thought. I thought being a chef was challenging, but this was long, hard days from 9am until about 11pm.
“However, the experience has been incredible and I wouldn’t give the time back for the world.”
The couple might have brought the cottage into the 21st century, but Ryan and Katherine did retain some of the character features they uncovered during the project.
“My wife and I would agree that our favourite part of the house is the very rare, double inglenook fireplace,” said Ryan.
“You don’t come by these very often. We think one side would have been used as a fire, and the other for making tools. We spent so many hours bringing it to life, and it makes an incredibly unique focal point in the living room.
“Then we have the original double beams, and the staircase outside that was once used by the farmworkers. We’ve tried our best to keep its unique charm.”
Ryan and Katherine are selling Cwellyn Cottage through a raffle they’ve named Cwellyn Dream, and hope to raise thousands of pounds for Children’s Society – a charity which helps vulnerable children – in the process.
Ryan said: “We will be incredibly sad to leave the house, but it’s always been someone else’s house to us and it will be incredible to change someone’s life.
“We were a little unsure of what the community would think, but their reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Everybody has been so kind and the best support has been locally.
“We’ve had quite a bit of interest from people in Europe and a few trickles from America and Canada, even a couple from Australia, but the majority are from the UK.
“So many people here are buying tickets and the community is excited that it could be a local winner, which we would love.”
Tickets cost £5 and entrants can earn extra tickets by sharing the competition on their social media pages. The person who shares the most links will also be given a £10,000 cash prize.
Ryan and Katherine are also asking entrants also to donate an extra £1 to the Children’s Society, and have pledged to match all donations if they reach the minimum number of ticket sales needed.
To raffle the house, the couple needs to reach a minimum of 80,000 valid entries. Since launching the competition last month, Ryan and Katherine have sold more than 30,000 tickets.
On the website, the couple said if they do not reach a “minimum threshold of 80,000 valid entries”, they will give the winner a cash prize instead.
Ryan said: “We aren’t doing this to make money – once we’ve taken out all the legal fees and admin costs and donated what will hopefully be £80,000 to charity, we will be left with roughly the same amount as its market value.
“For us, it’s just a fun and exciting way to sell the property while also raising money for charity and hopefully helping someone get on the property ladder.”
He added: “This prize competition is 100% legal. While still rare, prize competitions to win a property are legal in the UK, if conducted correctly. We have worked very hard to ensure our competition adheres to all current guidelines of the Gambling Commission and Advertising Standards Authority.”
The couple have promised they will also cover all the costs associated with buying a house such as stamp duty, and the property comes with appliances and furniture.