A Shropshire couple who put their £500,000 house up for sale in a prize draw in a bid to beat the housing slump have launched a new website to try and sell it within the next two months.

The former Border Cafe near Middletown was on the market for 12 months before its owners Nick and Liz Turner stumbled on the idea of selling it via a raffle in August. But after encountering website problems the couple have had to get a new one running.

They now face a rush against time to sell all 33,333 tickets before the November deadline.

The pair are desperate to start a new life together with their family in Brittany, France, with three of the couple’s six children already living in the country.

Nick, 47, said they had sold about 1,000 tickets so far but had been badly hit by technical problems.

He said: “With the sheer volume of people trying to get on the old site it simply wasn’t capable of dealing with it.”

Financial advisor Nick said his wife Liz, 36, suffered from multiple sclerosis and wanted to move abroad to be closer to family.

He said the seven-bedroomed home, which comes with three bathrooms and seven reception rooms, could prove a bargain for one lucky winner who could snap it up for just £15.

The deadline is November 30, but the couple have an option to extend it by two months. Full terms and conditions and tickets are available by answering a question on the website at www.shropshirehouse.co.uk

By Russell Roberts