Simon Dale is a family man in Wales, the western part of Great Britain. His interest in self-sustainability and an ecological awareness led him to dig out and build his own home—one of the loveliest, warmest, most inviting dwellings you could ever imagine. And it cost him only £3,000, about $4,700 American dollars!
Can you imagine a more charming entrance than this? 
Simon gives two reasons for building the home. The first elegant one, from his website, is:
It’s fun. Living your own life, in your own way is rewarding. Following our dreams keeps our souls alive.
His second reason is a plea for sustainability, in which he states that “our supplies are dwindling and our planet is in ecological catastrophe”. You can read the full and passionate statement here.
Simon is also a photographer, and as you can see throughout this article, a talented one.
A beautiful view in another home that Simon is helping build for someone else. (Originally, this was mistakenly identified as a photo of the home he and his family are living in.)
The tools are fairly simple. The main concession to modernity was a chainsaw, which he used to cut down about 30 small trees. No old growth forest fell to his family’s needs. He focused on tools that used his own energy, like shovel, chisel, and hammer. Yet it took him only four months to produce this lovely home.
The home is constructed from wood, stone, straw, and has a sod roof. It’s heated with a wood fireplace and has a solar panel for power. Most materials were scavenged. The effect, though, isn’t of a run-down get-by-with-second-best sort. It’s creative, artistic, elegant, and cozy.Most amazingly, the home didn’t require years of training or experience. Simon had none. He’s not an architect. He’s not an engineer. He’s not a carpenter. He started from scratch in every sense. He told the Daily Mail:
Being your own have-a-go architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass-produced box designed for maximum profit and the convenience of the construction industry.
Building from natural materials does away with producers’ profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.
He was fortunate in obtaining the land for his home. The plot, a bit of a large piece, was given to him in exchange for its caretaking.
Simon Dale, his wife Jasmine Saville, and their two children in front of their completed home just 4 months after starting it! This and all photos on this page are by Simon Dale (http://simondale.net).
The attention to making the home eco-friendly extends to a compost toilet, the use of straw over a plastic layer for insulation, and a refrigerator that’s cooled with air that flows from under the home’s foundation. Cement is a high carbon emitter, so the interior walls are finished with lime plaster instead of cement plaster.
This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a place not only in their own sustainability, but also in their potential to provide affordable housing which allows people access to land and the opportunity to lead more simple, sustainable lives.
I cannot imagine a home more lovely, appealing, and livable than this one. This could be and should be the wave of the future in home building.
For more information about Simon Dale’s home, plans, and more photos, please go to his website, A Low Impact Woodland Home.
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56 RECENT RESPONSES
They choppped down trees to build it!! It uses wood to heat it! This is not sustainable. Cute and hobbit like but not all that eco friendly.
I'm guessing that most of these people oohing and ahing over this would not be nearly so enamored after using the outhouse, washing the clothes in a tub by hand and hanging them out, having no privacy since the kids sleep in the same bed with the adults for a month or so. Having lived this romantic lifestyle, I can tell you, it's not all it's cracked up to be, especially for women.
no laundry area, where's the bathroom and where's the room for the boys? But if they're happy, then they have found ways to make it work... I would want a laundry
It is lovely, but I can't help wondering how safe it will be in anything resembling catastrophic weather. And how will you protect all of that charming untreated wood from termites and the like?
I hate to be a nay-sayer, it just strikes me as reckless to completely disregard the input from two entire professions (Architecture and Civil Engineering) that have evolved over time with the sole purpose of providing better and safer buildings for man-kind.
The good news? Well, with that price tag, even if you have to completely rebuild it every five years or so, it will still be economical.
I applaud your ingenuity and audacity, and wish you nothing but good fortune.
It's worth pointing out that the production of lime plaster is also heavily dependent on massive energy inputs. It's made (like cement) from the heating of limestone until it oxidizes. The per unit difference in emission output between lime plaster and portland cement isn't all that much. Cement does have the advantage of not being highly caustic (pH12) during the application. That being said, the home is gorgeous. You could likely build this in the United States under the adobe house building codes.
One of my dreams is making a home like this one. Making a decision is the hardest part.
Beautiful home but i didn't see a bathroom or a shower in the desugn plans..just wondering how that works out?
land included?
where's the shower / bathroom?
What an Amazing Place!! Something you only fantasize about!! Its Beautiful & So Creative!! What kind of kitchen & bathrooms are you using? I Would love to see every room!!
Blessings to you & your family...Happy Living!!
LIVING THE DREAM!!!
It's just like the house in my dream...
Creative.
City permit bureaucrats, would never let this be built due to " codes"
Too much government oversight stifles creativity in US.
what a great place for children to grow up in. they'll have a magical childhood. anyone sent this to ' grand designs ' ? !
Stunning. Gorgeous. Lovely. So helpful to see...I learn from this type of thing.
The rooms appear to be hobbit sized but the man himself looks to be about 6 feet tall. I would not mind but does have trouble navigating the shorter ceilings? Did he consider geothermal power? I am fascinated beyond belief and entranced with his photography. What a lovely way to live within the Earth.
Beautiful, creative and inspiring ! Unfortunately here in the US it would probably be impossible to receive the proper building permits resulting in hefty fines then it's untimely demolition. Imagine creating communities like this alongside permiculture instruction - This type of housing would certainly pose a huge threat to power and profits !
Whoa! You guys are my heroes today!
I wanted to do this 40 years ago but was told I was nutz....
This is too cool for words. LOVE!
Wow! Such beautiful houses built with care and love become homes, which is what we require.
There is a non profit in the UK that helps promote these types of buildings!
http://www.thepoosh.org/
Divine I want it..
I adore this, absolutely adore this. I wish I had any kind of building skills at all; I'd be doing something like this. Wow, just wow.
I love the fact that there are no flat walls and no 90 degree angles. Everything is curvy.
Finish
every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some
blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you
can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
My dream home. Where's the chooks?
napenda hii ajabu,,,,ilove it so much
Yes! Someone needs to start Habitat for Hobbits!
How gorgeous! It is so beautiful and quaint never mind magical. They look like a very happy family! xxx
cliche has it that the real home resides in the heart... our physical house is a concrete manifestation of that heart... simon's is one of cozy, green, and welcoming... and he built what he is inside... his 'hobbit home' :)
my love to simon, his wife, and the kids... the world is blest with people like you... ur an inspiration, in words and in deeds... godblessalways... roseencabo707@yahoo.com
Its n0t easy being green
so marvelous!! quite impressive!
amazing house.....good bless
Why is it better to kill baby trees instead of old ones near the end of their lives? It's not ok to kill a baby seal, so why is it ok to kill a baby tree?
I love it! It looks like a dream come true. I hope you and your family live happily ever after.
WoW<3 ! So NeaT...VeRy CReaTiVe....Is iT ToRNADo PRoOF ? Ya, ...I LiVe iN KANSAS~^j^~<3 !
Some people have a vision and realisation which has to be truly appreciated .........simple beautiful n artistic n brilliant !!
LOVE IT!!
I am SOOOO creatively inspired to see this...Ii can close my eyes and feel myself inside this beautiful home......I can smell the fire.....so inviting.......thank you for holding your vision for the rest of us to enjoy and expand with.......
Bless You !!!!
Deborah Galler
I see this as my next home......
Simon is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! What imagination, determination, and 'elbow-grease'! ...and Jasmine and boys make for a great-looking family. Congratulations!!
The house I have always dreamed of living in... GREAT inspiration for me. Nature at its finest as a home and your photography is awesome. I recogized the Yosemite scenes, especially the meadows. I live in Modesto, California.... just west of Yosemite, a very magical place. Thank you for inspiring me and others who have the same fondness for Shire/Hobbit home. Anna (photographer/visionary.)
This place is wonderful! You would be assured of living your life in creativity, you are surrounded by creativity and can breathe it in, and feel it always. You are taking very little to have your home, and you're not in an extraodinary over large space that you hardly use, and all space is used well.
Thank you for being so creative.
Billie Slade
THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE! FANTASTIC! CARRY ON SIMON!
The Hobbitses will be angry my Precious!!!
very cool, but I noticed the bathroom is missing??? No way I would have two small children without a shower or toilet. Could you imagine potty training in the winter? " Here son, just take this shovel and dig a little hole in that snow mound over there."
Truly amazing, thank you for the inspiration.
how lovely. Thanks for sharing this.
Sorry, my Welsh spelling is atrocious!
Fabulous, Simon and Jasmine. Dioch xx
dude lives in the shire!!!
maybe the coolest thing i've ever seen. inspiring. moving. absolutely fantastic.
How wonderful! I just love the fact that our visions can be realised! It is so uplifting to hear stories of individuals roling their sleeves and getting on to create something that makes them haappy. I magine if we all had the courage to be happy and self sufficient in a creative yet practical way!!
beautiful home and vision, thank you Simon and Jasmine for adding more to the world than trying to take. This is the future we can look forward too!
This is wonderful! The home looks very cosy and inviting. I'd love to see Habitat for Humanity embody some of these design principles. They could build so many more homes! I look forward to checking out the web site and moving myself toward a more sustainable living environment. What an inspiration!