A COUPLE who want to make a fresh start after a family tragedy are offering their house as a competition prize for £10 a ticket.

Robert and Avril Smith bought the family home in Grosmont in 1977 and raised their two children there, Matthew and Rachel.

Tragically, Rachel died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome in 2015 aged just 39.

The Smiths now want to move closer to their son and their two grandchildren in Harrogate and anyone can be in with the chance of winning their home by buying a £10 ticket and answering a question.

The house is valued at £500,000 and is set in the North York Moors National Park.

It was built circa 1875 and boasts many period features.

It has four double bedrooms, an orangery room, open-air heated swimming pool, hot tub and separate log cabin.

Mrs Smith said it is a lovely home in beautiful surroundings but it is now too big for the couple.

She said they also need to start a new chapter following Rachel’s shocking death.

Mrs Smith said: “We took it off the market because houses are just sticking at the moment and this was my son’s idea really.

“We mulled it over for a few months and we thought we would go for it as it is a genuine story and we just want a new start.”

Mrs Smith said that Rachel’s death was all the more tragic as she had just moved to Spain with her partner and they were planning to buy a boat to live on.

And despite the Grosmont home featuring some “wonderful memories” for the couple, Mrs Smith said it is time for a new family to take it on.

Anybody over the age of 18 and resident in England, Scotland and Wales can enter the competition.

The winner will receive the full freehold title of the property and the competition’s promoter will pay any stamp duty together with legal costs in connection with the transfer.

A total of 60,000 tickets must be sold for the house to be won and ten per cent of the money raised will go to Cancer Research UK.

If not enough tickets are not sold, alternative prizes of a percentage of the ticket money will be awarded.

The competition closes on midnight on January 2, 2019 and the winning entrant will be chosen from a random number generating algorithm at noon on January 3, 2019.

For more details and to enter, visit wayh.co.uk