The Sustainable Hobbit Hole

By Brian Merchant
Brooklyn, NY, USA | Wed Mar 18 22:00:00 EDT 2009


"To the Shire!

Sorry, just got a little excited there. It is after all, a rather rare occurrence when a beloved fantasy story begets very real environmentalism. What the hell am I talking about, you ask?

I'm talking about this Woodland home, a real life hobbit hole built by Simon Dale in Wales. That's right—working with his father and his bare hands, over the course of 4 months, he built his home right into a hillside, a la Bilbo Baggins. He estimates that the whole thing cost him less than $6,000. And it's a fascinating, strangely beautiful home (view more pictures at the Simon Dale website) that surely turns its fair share of heads."