$10 cottage raffle offers escape route for Americans fed up with Trump's US

On the edge of a Buckinghamshire village, autumn leaves fall around a quaint Victorian cottage nestled among ancient trees, while horses graze in a nearby paddock. It is a quintessentially English scene, but one its owner hopes will appeal to liberal Americans desperate to escape Donald Trump’s America - for the cost of a $10 (£7.50) raffle ticket.

- Alexandra Topping

After struggling to sell the £850,000 property he bought three years ago, Tristram Biggs took the unusual decision to raffle his home this summer, deciding to market it to Americans who are increasingly uneasy about the political temperature at home.

“My cousin sent me an article from the New York Times about a house that was being raffled in Ireland and I immediately thought that I might be able to do a similar thing,” said Biggs, who is selling tickets for the property on the website Raffall.

“I’m aiming it mainly at Americans, because I think that there are millions out there who are terrified about how the political situation is developing, and would be delighted to spend $10 on the ticket to what would effectively be a life-raft plan B.”

There may well be a market. The UK is seeing an unprecedented rise in immigration from the US, as a growing number of American citizens - including high-profile figures such as Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi - seek to move out of Trump’s orbit.