Terry George and Michael Rothwell's Carr Hall Castle is the winner of Channel 5's I Own Britain's Best Home 2008 series, beating 27 other houses all vying for the coveted title and the £25,000 prize. The prize money was donated to Cancer Research and the online memorial website www.gonetoosoon.co.uk.

Over the course of 8 heats, architectural designer Charlie Luxton, interiors consultant Melissa Porter and developer Russell Harris put 24 dream houses through their paces as live-in house guests. They task was to interview owners who were passionate about their homes and had toiled over the design and decor to leave their personal stamp on the buildings.

It's all a far cry from the first home that Terry and Michael owned, a back-to-back in Leeds that cost them £7,500 in 1988. Michael, who grew up in a Salford council flat said "To go through five years of living on a building site, with all the mess and rubble, and working through the night on many occasions to get the house to the standard we wanted was hard work. To finally sit back and enjoy the delights of the property, then to be told that we own Britain's best home is beyond belief. I think the reason why people chose our house and voted for us is beacuse there is a real British dream for many people who want to live in a castle, and they could see us as two ordinary people who actually do live there."

Terry who grew up on a Leeds council estate and went without electricity for 2 years when his mother couldn't afford to pay for it adds, "just to be asked to take part in the competition was an achievement in itself. We never expected to get through to the final, let alone win the title. To us it's everything we love about a home and to have other people voting for it as their favourite is a huge accolade. It is grand from the outside, but once you step inside any of the rooms it has a cosy, intimate feel."

The producers of I Own Britain's Best Home estimate that winning the title had added a cool £1 million to the property's value.

Visit www.carrhallcastle.com

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