Britain's biggest lottery winners have eye on £7.25m Cotswolds mansion

Britain’s biggest lottery winners have their eyes on £7.25m Cotswolds mansion near Jeremy Clarkson’s farm after scooping £184m EuroMillions jackpot

Joe Thwaite, 49, and wife Jess, 44, are Britain’s biggest EuroMillions winners
Couple won record-breaking £184,262,899 jackpot with Lucky Dip ticket May 10
Pair are eyeing £7.25million Cotswold mansion in Oddington, Moreton-In-Marsh
Seven-bedroom property is stone’s throw away from Jeremy Clarkson’s farm

A couple who recently became Britain’s biggest ever EuroMillions winners after landing a £184million jackpot are eyeing up a £7.25million Cotswolds mansion near Jeremy Clarkson’s farm.

Joe Thwaite, 49, and wife Jess, 44, are hoping to snap up the seven-bedroom mansion set within the sprawling 6.2 acres of Oddington in Moreton-In-Marsh, Gloucestershire – named a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The luxury property features landscaped formal gardens, a tennis court, swimming pool, stables, garden stores, standalone secondary accommodation and a gym.

Plus, it is just a 13 minute drive to Diddly Squat farm owned by ‘The Grand Tour’ host Clarkson.

The couple, who have been married for 11 years, won the record-breaking £184,262,899 jackpot with a Lucky Dip ticket on May 10.

The Thwaites, who live just outside Gloucester, are looking at the property – named Oddington Lodge – as their ‘perfect forever hideaway’.

A source told The Sun: ‘It’s all still sinking in but they’re looking at new homes already. This house would be the perfect forever hideaway for them and their family.’

Joe Thwaite, 49, (right) and wife Jess, 44, (left) who have been married for 11 years, won the record-breaking £184,262,899 jackpot with a Lucky Dip ticket on May 10

The Thwaites, who live just outside Gloucester, are looking at the property – named Oddington Lodge (pictured) – as the ‘perfect forever hideaway’.

The property is just a 13 minute drive to Diddly Squat farm owned by ‘The Grand Tour’ host Jeremy Clarkson

Diddly Squat Farm (pictured) was famously opened in 2020 by Clarkson following his Amazon series ‘Clarkson’s Farm’

They added: ‘It’s an incredible location and has everything you’d want in a country house. It would certainly live up to everything that Tony wanted.’

Known for it’s A-list neighbours, Gloucestershire is home to David and Victoria Beckham, actor Jamie Dornan, Richard E. Grant, interior design expert Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen – with the Cotswolds being a firm favourite among a number of senior royals.

Oddington Lodge, which is being sold by estate agent Knight Frank, features a master bedroom suite with a dressing room and en suite bathroom, a garden barn with a games and party room, two guest flats alongside a drawing room and reception hall.

Joe is a communications sales engineer at Opus, a Reigate-based computer services company, while Jess manages the business side of a hairdressing salon she runs with her mother Caroline and sister Rebecca in the affluent riverside town of Tewkesbury.

They have eight-year-old twins together, while Mr Thwaite has two children currently at university from a previous marriage.

Only months ago the couple sold their £600,000 home in Gloucester. They said their priority had been ‘DIY’ jobs around their former property.

Their former home features four bedrooms, a kitchen and breakfast room and lounge area fitted with a fireplace with oak beam mantle and a log burning stove that leads to the garden.

The Thwaites, who live just outside Gloucester, are looking at the property – named Oddington Lodge – as their ‘perfect forever hideaway’. Pictured: The property’s stables

The large open plan stairway is situated next to the property’s fireplace, which features a marble surround

The home features a gym that is kitted out with the latest technology and it’s own set of changing rooms

The property has been given a sleek and modern design with a freestanding bath separated from the toilet by frosted glass

As well as the Grade I listed church there are two renowned public houses and the village is also well positioned for the other nearby towns

At a press conference with television presenter Dermot O’Leary on Thursday, the couple said their financial situation is ‘not horrendous’, but the cost of living crisis has ‘affected our lives’, adding that they own a lot of animals such as ponies, geckos, chickens and dogs.

Jess said: ‘We have too many things, we’re too busy. We just want to create that kind of lifestyle for our children.

‘We’re right at the bottom because we’ve pushed everything to get this house, and to have our ponies at home and that’s been our dream.’

She added: ‘I’m not saying that it’s horrendous, we love our life, this is what we’ve chosen.’

Jess was born in South Africa to English parents, but her father Anthony died around seven years ago. Her mother Caroline and sister now both live close to her in Gloucestershire.

She also revealed how her mother believed she was about to inform her she was pregnant when they met up in a car park to inform her of the lottery win.

But she instead told her mother: ‘It’s better than being pregnant!’

The property features standalone secondary accommodation, which is an attractive feature for many buyers

The property listing states ‘permission is granted to extend the house, indoor pool and outdoor dining’

The seven-bedroom mansion is set within the sprawling 6.2 acres of Oddington in Moreton-In-Marsh, Gloucestershire – named a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Oddington Lodge features landscaped formal and lawned gardens, a tennis court, swimming pool, stables and garden stores

Jess, 44, said earlier this week: ‘She just literally screamed in the car park and burst into tears because even though it’s wonderful and exciting. It’s also a massive relief for everybody that’s been struggling with all their bills and all their things for all this time.’

The couple said they wanted to go public and they did not want to put the ‘burden’ of keeping the secret on others.

Mr Thwaite added that it would be impossible to take someone on an ‘amazing holiday’ without disclosing where they got the money from.

The jackpot record was previously held by an anonymous ticket-holder who banked £170 million in October 2019.

The new record-breakers mark the second EuroMillions jackpot won in the UK this year, with the £109 million jackpot from the draw on February 4 claimed a few days later.

Jess said the inspiration behind their win is her late father – who always played before he passed away.

She added: ‘My dad played the Lottery when we were growing up and he played the same numbers every single week.

Until recently the couple lived in this £600,000 house in Gloucester which they sold to live in a rented property just months before their big win

‘He died about seven years ago and kind of Joe took on the baton as the one who did the Lottery for our family.

‘So he started off using those numbers, but he’d forget them or get them wrong or something, so we then went to Lucky Dip, so that it was luck.

‘But yeah it’s unbelievable because that’s what my dad dreamed of all his life, and used to say to us frequently ‘Imagine if you won the Lottery, think about if you won the Lottery’.’

Last Tuesday’s win makes the couple richer than Sir Tom Jones or Harry Kane.

Mrs Thwaite added: ‘The win gives us time to dream which we haven’t had before.

‘We’ve had one week to think about this and we now have time to share lots of experiences and go on adventures with our family and friends.’

Asked how they celebrated the win, she continued: ‘We’ve had a family meal, we went and had a family meal so we could share with our family.

‘To tell the truth, we bought bedroom furniture. We bought a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. Other than that we haven’t done anything.’

Joe bought the ticket at around 4pm on the day of the draw via the National Lottery app.

Death, divorce and giving away millions to charity: What happened to UK’s previous biggest lottery winners

Joe and Jess Thwaite were confirmed as the winners of Britain’s biggest-ever lottery jackpot – a huge £184m.

An anonymous ticket-holder held the previous record, taking £170million to the bank in October 2019 – one of only 14 players to have ever won a jackpot of more than £100million.

It is the second time lucky numbers came up in a EuroMillions jackpot for a UK winner this year, with £109million claimed a few days after a big win on February 4.

UK lottery winners have the option of revealing their identity or staying annoymous.

From the UK National Lottery’s rich list, only three winners out of the ten chose have previously chosen to reveal themselves.

August 2012: Adrian and Gillian Bayford

Jackpot: £148m

Adrian Bayford and then wife Gillian, from Haverhill, Suffolk, pictured in August 2021 after it was announced they had won a jackpot of just over £148 million

In August 2012, Mr and Mrs Bayford won 190 million euro in a EuroMillions draw, which amounted to just over £148 million.

The couple used their winnings to buy a Grade-II listed estate in Cambridgeshire, complete with cinema and billiards room.

But within a year their marriage ended and Gillian moved back to Scotland with her half share of the winnings, where she launched a property company.

She has since remarried and had her third child with her second husband.

Bayford remained in the Grade 2 listed property but after a series of relationships failed he put it up for sale and moved north to be closer to his children.

January 2019: Patrick and Frances Connolly

Jackpot: £115m

EuroMillions lottery winners, Frances and Patrick Connolly pose during a photocall at the Culloden Hotel near Belfast, on January 4, 2019

Former social worker and teacher Frances Connolly and her husband Patrick won almost £115 million on New Year’s Day in 2019.

She has already given away £60million to charity, as well as sharing her winnings with her friends and family, saying she is addicted to helping others.

Mrs Connolly, 55, from Northern Ireland, has already busted the charity budget she agreed for this year with husband Paddy – and has given away what they would have donated up to 2032.

She said helping others, whether with money or by volunteering her time, lifted people’s spirits during lockdown.

The lottery winner has set up two charitable foundations, one named after her late mother Kathleen Graham in their native Northern Ireland, and the PFC Trust in Hartlepool, where the couple have lived for 30 years.

The couple, who have three daughters – Catrina and twins Fiona and Natalie – are not extravagant with their wealth and Mrs Connolly has no desire to buy a yacht.

Their biggest expenditure after their win was a six-bedroom house in County Durham with seven acres of land, while Mr Connolly drives a second-hand Aston Martin, but Mrs Connolly scoffed at the idea of spending £13,000 on a console table.

When she saw a TV show where someone in Monaco spent £25,000 on a bottle of champagne, she immediately thought that could have put a young person on the property ladder.

July 2011: Colin and Chris Weir

Jackpot: £161.6m

Chris and Colin Weir, who were later divorced, celebrate after winning jackpot of £161.6million in July 2011 – the then record for a lottery haul

Colin and Chris Weir, from North Ayrshire, bagged a jackpot of £161.6million in July 2011 – the then record for a lottery haul.

Mr Weir sadly died aged 71 in 2019, eight years after he won the jackpot.

Mr and Mrs Weir, 62, were granted a divorce during the summer after 38 years of marriage. It is understood that they had been living apart for nearly a year prior to his death.

They had two children together, Carly and Jamie.

Mr Weir was known for his support for the SNP and his love of Partick Thistle Football Club.

He secured a majority stake in the Glasgow club in a seven-figure deal – and promised to give the 55 per cent shareholding to a fans group.

Mr Weir also helped the Jags to set up the Thistle Weir Youth Academy and a section of the club’s Firhill Stadium was named the Colin Weir Stand in his honour.

A former STV cameraman, he also made a donation to a community football club in his home town of Largs after setting up the Weir Charitable Trust in 2013 with his wife.

They had both been forced to give up work early and nursed each other through years of ill health before they became the 22nd richest people in Scotland after their £161,653,000 win.

Overnight, they entered the Sunday Times Rich List above Beatle Ringo Starr and singer Sir Tom Jones but shunned the lavish lifestyle decided to go on holiday to Brighton following.

One of the first items Mr Weir purchased following the amazing jackpot win was a checked sports jacket similar to the one worn by Scotsport legend Arthur Montford.

The couple ended up buying a number of homes, including for their son Jamie, who was working in a call centre, and daughter Carly, who was studying photography. They also bought homes for their close friends.

Soon after the life-changing windfall, they moved out of their own three-bedroom home into Knock House – a mansion set in 23 acres of gardens and woods in the hills above Largs, complete with cinema, pool and stables.

They bought it for £850,000 before selling it in 2016 to an overseas trust in a £1.4million deal.

They also went on to replaced their humble Suzuki for a £160,000 fleet of cars for the couple, their family and friends.

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