No place like home for Wirral lottery winners

8:00am Wednesday 26th September 2007

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A PRENTON woman who scooped over £200,000 on the National Lottery has proved that there's no place like home as she prepares to ditch her life abroad and head back to Wirral.

Julie Anne Granger, 47 struck lucky two years ago by matching five main numbers and the bonus ball in the Lotto draw.

"Malta is beautiful but I’ve found it very difficult to adapt to life here."

Julie Anne Granger

She won £203,568 and pledged to fulfil her dream to move to Malta with her husband Stephen.

But the couple struggled to settle in to their new life abroad and after test-driving their ambition, decided to return home to Wirral. Julie, whose two adult children live in the borough said: "Malta is beautiful but I've found it very difficult to adapt to life here.

"I've struggled to get a job, which has been hard for me as I like to be busy, and I really miss my family."

She added: "It's been great having the opportunity to try out our dream of living abroad, but the reality of being so far away from my kids and granddaughter has been much harder.

"My heart is in Wirral and I can't wait to come home.

"The kids are disappointed they won't have a holiday home to stay in whenever they want, but I think they'll be pleased to have us back at home!"

Julie is currently at hairdressing college and plans to teach the subject when she settles back in the UK. Her and Stephen plan to move back to Prenton, where many of their friends still live.

A National Lottery spokesman said: "Many people like to dream of living abroad and owning a place in the sun if they won the lottery - in fact, 15% of lottery millionaires have bought a property abroad to use as a holiday home.

"However, many winners prefer to retain strong ties with family and friends and don't want to move so far away - 88% stay within 20 miles of where they lived before their win.

"This being the case, it's not surprising Julie has decided to return home, rather than living abroad permanently."