Luxurious houseboat being raffled

A £750,00 luxurious houseboat is being raffled at £5 a ticket.

This is as the owners who are responsible for its outstanding conversion are unable to sell it, Janet Friend reports.

And it really is outstanding as the pictures show, but with an asking price of £750,000.

A big catch

However there is a big catch to the low ticket price of £5 for such an expensive item—the condition is that 200,000 tickets must be sold before a winner can be picked.

The boat was originally a Spitz cargo boat, but was cut down to be able to cruise the canals, though not sure about its height and our low bridges.

From Holland the broad beam made it to the UK, in a journey that Rohan, one of its owners, described as an unexpected adventure because of bad weather and some documents that got lost along the way. As it turned out, this rocky journey would be a harbinger of things to come, it is told:

The 20 months conversion, including the time spent in the yard, was challenging and riddled with delays. Everything from pouring 40 tons of concrete as ballast to putting a 300-kg (661-lb) skylight on the upper deck to create more light in the rooms below was difficult because the ship was on water when work was underway, which meant taking into account the tide and the logistics of transporting the materials onboard.

Inspired

Once construction work was eventually over, Christina started decorating, inspired by Pinterest mood boards and her idea of what a perfect family home should look like.

In the end, the once-decrepit barge became a family home, boasting features you would not find on any other houseboat, For one, the interior is filled with natural light thanks to the skylight and oversize windows throughout. Secondly, it's very spacious, with the modern styling helping to create a welcoming space. This two level houseboat offers a total of 1,621 square feet of total living space, divided between three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a large kitchen, a proper wheelhouse, and superb terrace that can easily host large parties directly in the open air.

The bedrooms are all on the lower deck, together with an entertaining space built around a fireplace, with a drop-down projector screen. Two of the three bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms, and all three feature super-king beds and gorgeous views out on the water. The bathroom in the main bedroom has a jacuzzi and a large porthole window you can look out of as you're soaking.

So much...

The upper deck holds the open-plan kitchen, which features a breakfast bar and panoramic views, and the wheelhouse. One step through bi-folding doors, and you're out on the terrace, designed around the skylight that shines into the living room below.

Because no expense or effort was spared in the conversion of this barge, a Vimar Smart home system allows full remote monitoring and control of the lights and heating.

And so much more, but we really can't see it as managing our canals with its size and being on two levels and of course its draught. Perhaps the Gloucester & Sharpness or some rivers....However, if you want tickets.