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New OMAZE Norfolk house What do we think?

152 replies

ShyMaryEllen · 16/01/2025 18:09

https://omaze.co.uk/pages/norfolk-ii?utm_content=show_me_button&utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HO_NOR2H35_Launch_PaidSubs&utm_id=01JHNKCWCZH0115H3H4GXCYNBS&content=uk_test&term=house&_kx=5E_oZ0CxbPdqteKXGk0MCHyV2H5uhnOpCDFn4US1prSJuX_QwnRF7X4muKsKz-bn.NAdKub

Worth £6million, apparently. The prizes are getting more and more valuable.

I haven't had a chance to have a good look yet, but will be back with my thoughts when I've done so.

What's the verdict, Omazers?

Your Chance to Win a House in Norfolk  | £6 Million House | Omaze UK

Want the chance to win a house in Bath? Enter the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Bath, and this Elegant House worth over £4 million could be yours.

https://omaze.co.uk/pages/norfolk-ii?_kx=5E_oZ0CxbPdqteKXGk0MCHyV2H5uhnOpCDFn4US1prSJuX_QwnRF7X4muKsKz-bn.NAdKub&content=uk_test&term=house

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
9GreenBottles · 17/01/2025 21:21

IMHO, it was much more effectively laid out as it was originally designed rather than what was built 😢 I may keep this floor plan for when I build my mega mansion…

New OMAZE Norfolk house   What do we think?
New OMAZE Norfolk house   What do we think?
CheshireSmiley · 18/01/2025 07:48

For a tenner, I'll take it, and change the family room into a study room followed by a bedroom, and extend the toilet into a full ensuite. It would be a great annexe for parents/teens/guests.

ThisOldThang · 18/01/2025 08:41

9GreenBottles · 17/01/2025 21:21

IMHO, it was much more effectively laid out as it was originally designed rather than what was built 😢 I may keep this floor plan for when I build my mega mansion…

That is a much better layout. Converting the entertainment room into two bedrooms would be fairly cheap, which would give five bedrooms.

Converting the garages into a self-contained home would allow for great multigenerational living.

tanstaafl · 18/01/2025 09:00

You do get £250k along with the house so that’ll cover converting rooms.

fluffyblanky · 18/01/2025 09:25

What are the rules with these competitions? I heard that if you win you still have to meet certain criteria to get the house?

Stowickthevast · 18/01/2025 10:07

@MrsMoastyToasty I know where the Batheaston house is. It's high enough the hill so that it won't get flooded when the river floods. The bottom of the garden might but then it all subsides.

But I think that one was on the market for agree too. We were speculating on what must be wrong with it for it not to have shifted.

I think it's a lovely area, near enough to Bath but in gorgeous countryside.

HawkinsTigers · 18/01/2025 10:11

It’s like the beginning of Great Expectations. I reckon Magwitch is out there somewhere.

TragicTess · 18/01/2025 10:21

I absolutely love North Norfolk & would very happily live in this house (once I had made a couple of extra bedrooms..!)

Madcats · 18/01/2025 10:22

Stowickthevast, there seem to be a few "big" houses in Bath that get stripped down to basics and then massively over-spec'd to a personal taste. Then the developer struggles to sell them.

Cleveland House (across the canal in Bathwick) failed to sell and was rented out for years.

Understandably, people with £multi-million houses prefer not to have public footpaths or easy river access if they don't want hefty security budgets.

Good luck to everybody waiting for the Batheaston draw.

Mirabai · 18/01/2025 11:43

Stowickthevast · 18/01/2025 10:07

@MrsMoastyToasty I know where the Batheaston house is. It's high enough the hill so that it won't get flooded when the river floods. The bottom of the garden might but then it all subsides.

But I think that one was on the market for agree too. We were speculating on what must be wrong with it for it not to have shifted.

I think it's a lovely area, near enough to Bath but in gorgeous countryside.

The garden might flood a bit, it’s on a main road, but I care not a jot as it’s drop dead beautiful.

TheWeeDonkeyFella · 18/01/2025 12:08

Where is the public footpath at the Bath house, it it the bottom of the garden between the riverside?

@fluffyblanky I believe they can refuse to award the prize if the winner has a criminal record. Not sure if there's a list of what is 'acceptable'. There are additional rules too, on each draw page there's a Rules tab with details. I was looking last night but gave up trying to follow which additional prize was applicable to each type of entry, although the houses themselves are open to all entrants.

BuyingButterAndSatinSandals · 18/01/2025 12:29

Edited to say TLDR: I've given this a lot of thought!

The Bath house is lovely but living in that busy location in Batheaston and the Bath area as a whole wouldn't work for us as a family. We'd have a little holiday in it but would then have to sell it. I wouldn't keep it to rent out or holiday let as that would be too much risk and potential hassle for me. Having these as neighbours possibly visiting the garden would make it more tempting and certainly one of my DCs would be using a lot of pester power:
Otter sightings on the rise in the centre of Bath - BBC News

This Norfolk house though is more of a possibility for us. I wouldn't say no to winning either of them from a financial point of view, obviously, but if I had to pick one of the two to win it would definitely be the Norfolk one. I'd have to spend quite a chunk of the cash part of the prize on building a glasshouse over the pool so it could be used year-round, planting screening for privacy from the overlooking neighbours and putting up deer-fencing or similar to keep the dogs in, especially with the close proximity of the busy and fast coast road. One thing that puts me off is the traffic noise and pollution from the coast road in the peak holiday times.

We love Norfolk and have spent quite a bit of time there over the years in all seasons. We've visited Blakeney a couple of times and have walked to Blakeney Point in wild windy winter weather to see the seals. I'd recommend going on a boat trip to see them instead in better weather! We've stayed nearby in Cley (rhymes with spy) and Salthouse, up the coast in Brancaster Staithe and down the coast in Happisburgh (Haze-bruh) and Mundesley.

Some places and the roads do get busy at peak holiday times of course but Norfolk is the kind of place where you can usually get away from the crowds. I can understand some pps saying the location of the Norfolk house looks desolate from the photos. It can be of course when it's blowing a gale, grey or tipping down with rain, but it's a National Trust National Nature Reserve. Those creeks and marshes are teeming with birds and other wildlife. They are fantastic places for walking and dog walks. The nearby sandy beaches at Wells and Holkham are lovely and there are some good market towns in the area, like Holt. There are plenty of good independent shops around and the supermarkets deliver. It takes about an hour to get to the very nice city of Norwich.

I agree with pps that it almost certainly isn't worth Omaze's £6m valuation but I think we could live in that house very happily with a few tweaks. I'd like to win it anyway and try an extended stay to see if we could make it work. One DC, who is a young adult now, might take a bit of convincing, not on the house but on the location as it's about twice as far to a city than we are now. Fingers crossed here anyway! As it would be for most people, it would be completely lifechanging to win whether we lived in the house or not.

Madcats · 18/01/2025 17:11

There have been otters in/around central Bath for a good decade - they and the cormorants like that part of the river because there is a hot water outlet from the Roman Baths just below Pulteney Weir. They venture up onto the canal too.

The Batheaston House is more likely to be bothered by beavers.

commonground · 18/01/2025 17:32

The thing that puts me off (apart from the odds being stacked against!) is this...

"We intend to announce the Winning Entry Code for the Norfolk House Draw on BBC’s Red Nose Day 2025 TV programme (as well as on our website), on Friday 21st March, with the Grand Prize Winner possibly featuring on the show."

Er, no thanks!

Also, kind of seems crass that the prize winner appears on a charity show. I mean, I know Omaze is a (for profit) charity draw, but ...you win that house, you're a millionaire, and then you flash it all on Comic Relief (but don't give any back. Meanies!) But... looks like a great ad for Omaze.

Verbena17 · 18/01/2025 17:59

Seems a bit dodge for £6m.
3 bed?
how much land?
Norfolk generally has much lower house prices and being in the middle of nowhere at Blakeney, next to the salt marsh makes me think someone has built it and can’t get rid of it (although pretty sure all Omaze houses are chosen for similar reasons aren’t they?).

ShyMaryEllen · 18/01/2025 18:02

commonground · 18/01/2025 17:32

The thing that puts me off (apart from the odds being stacked against!) is this...

"We intend to announce the Winning Entry Code for the Norfolk House Draw on BBC’s Red Nose Day 2025 TV programme (as well as on our website), on Friday 21st March, with the Grand Prize Winner possibly featuring on the show."

Er, no thanks!

Also, kind of seems crass that the prize winner appears on a charity show. I mean, I know Omaze is a (for profit) charity draw, but ...you win that house, you're a millionaire, and then you flash it all on Comic Relief (but don't give any back. Meanies!) But... looks like a great ad for Omaze.

'With the grand prizewinner possibly appearing on the show' doesn't suggest that there's any compulsion to do so.

I certainly wouldn't.

I don't know who does Omaze's PR, but they are really poor. Every time there's a new house someone says that they screen out entrants who don't fit their profile, someone else says the houses are all impossible to sell and someone says they are all a scam. There is also a persistent rumour that you have to take part in publicity. I don't think that's true, but it's not really clear from the T&Cs.

I don't know why they don't do something to clear these things up, as the rumours persist.

OP posts:
BuyingButterAndSatinSandals · 18/01/2025 18:22

This comes from the Norfolk rules on the Omaze website:

8. Winner Announced: Winners will be announced by Omaze on or after the Friday following the relevant Draw Date specified in Section 4, above, or after a Winner is confirmed, whichever occurs later. Omaze will announce the Grand-Prize Prize Draw Winner live on BBC’s Red Nose Day 2025 TV programme, scheduled to air on Friday 21st of March. By entering the Grand-Prize Prize Draw, entrants acknowledge and agree that, if selected as the Winner, they may be featured in this TV programme.

BuyingButterAndSatinSandals · 18/01/2025 18:39

And this comes from the general Omaze Official Rules:

13 PUBLICITY: Omaze reserves the right to publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place for each of the Prize Draws – for example, the surname and country and county of residence of the Winner. Affected Winners have the right to object to all or part of this information being published or made available – in such event they should inform Omaze in writing. In such circumstances, entrants acknowledge that Omaze must nevertheless still provide the information and winning entry to the ASA or equivalent regulator on request.
Omaze will also require that winners participate in any reasonable publicity required by Omaze.

As far as I'm aware, only Jon from Berkshire who won the Scotland house has remained anonymous.

ChanelBoucle · 18/01/2025 18:49

BuyingButterAndSatinSandals · 18/01/2025 18:22

This comes from the Norfolk rules on the Omaze website:

8. Winner Announced: Winners will be announced by Omaze on or after the Friday following the relevant Draw Date specified in Section 4, above, or after a Winner is confirmed, whichever occurs later. Omaze will announce the Grand-Prize Prize Draw Winner live on BBC’s Red Nose Day 2025 TV programme, scheduled to air on Friday 21st of March. By entering the Grand-Prize Prize Draw, entrants acknowledge and agree that, if selected as the Winner, they may be featured in this TV programme.

That’s the final nail for me 🤣

RE the Batheaston house, I think it was put on the market in July last year so couldn’t have been on for long before Omaze bought it.

ShyMaryEllen · 18/01/2025 21:42

I might cancel my subscription for the Norfolk one then. I don't like it much, and there would be no way I'd be showing my face on TV to say I'd won it.

Having said that - 'featured in' is not the same as 'appear on', is it? They could just announce that it was won by Mary Ellen of Mumsnet, without me scowling at the presenters.

OP posts:
Waffle19 · 18/01/2025 21:51

Do Omaze fit the house out with furnishings? Just thinking surely people don’t up and give their house to a charity draw including all their furniture?! Sorry new to this but love north Norfolk so I’ve bought a few tickets and now just curious.

Arlanymor · 18/01/2025 22:41

Waffle19 · 18/01/2025 21:51

Do Omaze fit the house out with furnishings? Just thinking surely people don’t up and give their house to a charity draw including all their furniture?! Sorry new to this but love north Norfolk so I’ve bought a few tickets and now just curious.

The furnishings are ones that Omaze has done to dress the house and they are included. No one will be living there now, they have bought the house and gussied it up.

BeAzureAnt · 18/01/2025 22:41

Not keen… it reminds me of the mansion Southfork on Dallas in the 80s. Keep expecting JR Ewing to stroll out. But the founders are the firm are two Americans, so this might be expected.

Waffle19 · 18/01/2025 22:55

Arlanymor · 18/01/2025 22:41

The furnishings are ones that Omaze has done to dress the house and they are included. No one will be living there now, they have bought the house and gussied it up.

Thank you, that’s interesting to know! I didn’t realise they bought the house, I assumed they raffled it off on behalf of the owners.

Rea19 · 18/01/2025 23:18

If you find the original listing it was £7m for two houses... No idea how the one house is apparently £6 mil.
It's also just down the road from the last Norfolk house!

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