11 October 2023 , 23:01
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When EuroMillions winner Neil Trotter scooped the £108million jackpot in 2014, he described himself as “a scruffy mechanic who played about with cars”.
He put his money to good use, buying a manor house with 500 acres of land, which he has lovingly restored to undo the effect of intensive farming and bring back wildlife. And that has involved machinery. A lot of machinery.
He said: “I’ve got tractors, diggers, dumper trucks, a road sweeper – in fact anything that requires an engine, I’ve probably got one somewhere on the property. I still play about with machinery, but now my toys are a bit bigger.
“My current favourite piece of kit is the ‘muncher’ on my digger, perfect for clearing the overgrown ground cover in the woodland so that new trees can grow.” His partner Nicky Ottaway, 42, admits she had reservations when Neil suggested buying the estate in southern England, with a Grade II-listed manor house and lake.
Neil Trotter and partner Nicky Ottaway now live in a manor house - poles apart from the three-bed semi they were living in before (PA)She said: “The project was too big, the woodlands were in a poor state, there were so many dead trees everywhere and the house was barely liveable, despite its size.” But Neil, who was living in a three-bedroom semi, went ahead and they have spent the past nine years renovating the house and land.
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Neil, 50, said: “At times it seemed like I had bitten off more than I could chew. I always dreamed of having my own lake, but owning so much land has been a huge challenge and responsibility. I have learned so much about how to manage woods and to reverse the effects of intensive farming. It has been a challenging nine years, but I am immensely proud of what we have achieved and I am never bored.”
Neil says he is proud of what he's achieved so far with the 500-acre estate (PA)One of his proudest achievements is the arboretum he created, planting an example of almost every tree in the British Isles. He said: “It’s a pat on the back after all the hard work to see the wildlife returning to the estate.
“We planted miles of native hedgerows to provide food for the birds in winter, and by clearing what were muddy puddles in the woods and transforming them into wildlife oases we’ve seen the mandarin duck population boom, herons now nest here, we’ve got kestrels, two species of deer and smaller mammals such as stoats.” He has no plans to stop perfecting his estate. He said: “While sitting on a digger in driving rain might not be everyone’s ‘when I win the lottery’ dream, it’s exactly as I had hoped it would be – and more.”