Off-Grid Hobbit Home In Wales

By Mandy Burkholder | February 4, 2016

Off-Grid Hobbit Home In Wales

Fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy might have to take a moment after seeing the images of this Hobbit Home in the middle of the Welsh countryside. Yes, it’s 100% real. And yes, you can build one yourself!

The homeowner and builder, Simon Dale, is an ecological woodland manager and forrest gardener who dreamt of creating a home that would reflect the simplistic beauty of nature. And not only was he inspired by nature from a design aesthetic, he also decided to craft the Hobbit Home with as little impact as possible on the surrounding geography of his land.

Dug into the hillside, the idyllic Hobbit Home is a sight to behold. The locale was extremely intentional, as the hill creates a low visual impact and maximum shelter from the elements.

To build his home, Dale sourced local materials to remain as ecologically friendly as possible. He found local stone and mud to create the foundation and retaining walls, inserted straw bales into the floor, walls, and roof for insulation, reclaimed wood for the floors, and used lime plaster on the walls.

Utilizing these local resources allowed Dale to keep his ecological impact as low, while also crafting a functional home to suit the needs of his family.

Not only did he build his Hobbit Home with the utmost respect for the environment, he also powers it with the same thought process. He installed solar panels to convert energy for lighting and computing. He included a composting toilet to save water. He also sources his water from a nearby spring.

There are also hidden environmental perks to building your home into the side of the hill. For example, Dale set up his refrigerator to be cooled exclusively by the temperature of the earth. This alone would save the average homeowner hundreds of dollars on their electricity bills!

And the best part of his whole home project is that it cost him roughly 3000£ to build. You heard right—that’s only around $4,280.

Because of his careful consideration of the materials, his expenses were kept extremely low. Of course, the Hobbit Home isn’t full of luxurious finishings, but Dale decided that wasn’t important to him.

Dale is clearly a compassionate environmentalist. On his website he writes, “Ideally the design of our lives is seamless with integrated relations between all the spaces, activities and things with which we live.”

All things considered, building a home with this much thought for your natural surroundings is a great idea. There are practically no cons, unless you’re someone who can’t live without all the modern conveniences like hour-long hot showers.

But let’s be honest, wouldn’t you give up lengthy showers to live in your own Hobbit Home? We know we would!