The 600-Second Decision

It’s a question that we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another; “What would I do if I won the lottery?” It probably depends upon how much money you actually won, but there’s a good chance that most people would say things like ‘go on holiday’, ‘buy a new car’, or ‘buy a house’.

The last response tends to be a very popular choice as home is where the heart is. It’s the place where we spend most of our time so why wouldn’t you want to treat yourself to somewhere lavish? And that’s exactly what a couple from Ayrshire did last month, Colin and Christine Weir, when they scooped £161million on the Euromillions two-and-a-half years ago, the largest-ever jackpot win in the UK, after paying £3.5million to buy the Frognal estate in Troon. Here’s the best bit, they made their decision to purchase the property from hotel and restaurant magnate Bill Costley after viewing it for just 10 minutes! So impressed were they that they even bought all the furniture and fittings that came with it. This was after they rejected the chance to buy another mansion nearby due to the five acres of land not being expansive enough to their tastes. Frognal in comparison offers 32-acres. Before being bought by its previous incumbents, Frognal was operated as a nursing home, then transformed into a luxury hotel and most recently utilised as a conventional residence. In 2004, it even hosted Tiger Woods who stayed at the property during The Open Championship, held at nearby Troon golf course. The house includes four-bedrooms, a billiard room, a 36,000-piece chandelier, fountains, a greenhouse and a market garden. The Weirs already own an £850,000 home 25-miles away from the Frognal estate which they have no intention of selling. Would you spend £3.5million on a home that you’d only looked at for 10 minutes? With £161million to play with who can blame them! If you have a little bit of spare cash to hand, don’t worry it doesn’t have to be £161million, then how about investing in some home improvements at Mitchell Glass.