On Tuesday 19th June 2012, I did some publicity work for the National Lottery at Bardills Garden Centre in Stapleford. The purpose of the event was to publicise a new scratch card which offers a top prize of £4,000,000, but which costs £10 per ticket.
The theme of the event was a millionaire’s garden and Camelot had organised a trailer done up like a garden, complete with hot tub, artificial grass, a bar, beer fridge and plants. They had two ladies and a gent dressed as gardeners who were giving away money plants.
The Nottingham Evening Post were there and they did an interview with me which appeared in the paper the following day. Camelot’s photographer, Steve, took photos of me at the garden centre and also in my garden.
The text of the Evening Post article was as follows:
Selston lottery winner spent £110,000 on his garden
A LOTTERY winner has spent a significant chunk of his fortune creating an idyllic garden at his new home.
Alan Rowley scooped £1.9 million in August 2008.
He splashed out on holidays abroad, spent £500,000 on a new home in Selston, with an additional £15,000 on his driveway and £110,000 on his garden.
Mr Rowley said: “The guy who previously owned the house had done it up inside, but there were weeds about 2ft high around the garden so I wanted to sort it out.
“I am a keen gardener anyway so having something looking like that wasn’t good.”
Mr Rowley has six acres of land at his five-bedroom property, two-thirds of which is taken up by grazing land for his Shetland ponies.
There are also two large lawns and a wildflower meadow which includes 30 recently-planted trees and a weather station used by Mr Rowley for his weather-related website.
He said: “I’m really interested in the weather so I wanted to have that installed as part of the garden.
“I also wanted to encourage more birds and wildlife with the meadow. Without winning the lottery, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this.
“I love living here and spending time in my garden. It will take ten years before it is all fully developed.”
In spite of becoming a millionaire, Mr Rowley insists he still tries to live as normal a life as possible.
He goes to his local pub and watches local cricket, another of his hobbies.
One thing he does confess to changing is the holidays he and his wife Sandra enjoy.
He said: “I had never been abroad on holiday before winning the Lottery but now I have been to a few places.
“I had been to the East Coast and North Wales but now have been to Norway and Kenya. The first place I went was China as I wanted to see an eclipse and that was the place to go.
“But I like to think I am still pretty much the same person I was before.
“It has certainly helped me do something I wouldn’t have before, but it hasn’t really changed me.”
Mr Rowley is encouraging more people to have a go at the National Lottery.
He said: “There have been a few winners from around the county recently, so you never know when it could be your turn.”
Alan and Kim Elliott, of Aspley, Jim and Maureen Emerton, Matt Topham and Cassey Carrington, and Gareth and Catherine Bull have all scooped big wins in the National Lottery or Euromillions since the turn of the year.
View the article on This Is Nottingham website | Millionaire’s Garden Photo Gallery