A Real-Life Hobbit House

If you are a fan of R.R. Tolkien's, 'Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings', this house will look familiar to you. However, this is not a house from any movie set, but the actual residence of Simon Dale, his wife and two kids.

Located on a hillside in Wales, the house is entirely 'green' and built by Simon and his friends using just a chainsaw, hammer and a 1-inch chisel. Most of the materials used were also natural or recycled.

To ensure that the house blends in with the surroundings and to get maximum shelter, it was built into a hillside. The mud and stones from digging the hill, were utilized to construct retaining walls and the foundation. The frame of the house and floor were built using dead wood branches from the trees in the forests. The floor, roof and walls were insulated with bales of straw.

While the house uses a wood burner for cooking and heating, it is equipped with solar panels to generate electricity, for modern amenities like lights, computers and music. In short, the entire house is built for the 21st century, except for the toilet - which is described briefly as 'compost toilet'.

Simon says he and his family have chosen this way of living, to help reduce their impact on the resources of the earth and also show people that it can be done quite easily and result in a fairly comfortable way of life. To view more pictures of this amazing house check out http://www.simondale.net

sources: simondale.net