サイモン・デールは、グレートブリテン西部のウェールズに住む家族思いの男性です。自給自足と環境意識への関心から、彼は自らの家を掘り起こし、建てました。想像を絶するほど美しく、温かく、居心地の良い住まいの一つです。しかも、かかった費用はたったの3,000ポンド、アメリカドルで約4,700ドル！
これ以上に魅力的な入り口を想像できますか? 
サイモンはこの家を建てた理由を2つ挙げています。 彼のウェブサイトに掲載されている、1つ目のエレガントな理由は次のとおりです。
楽しいよ。自分らしく、自分らしく生きることは、やりがいがある。夢を追いかけることで、魂は生き続ける。
2つ目の理由は持続可能性への訴えであり、「私たちの供給は枯渇し、地球は生態学的大惨事に陥っている」と述べています。彼の情熱的な声明全文はこちらでご覧いただけます。
サイモンは写真家でもあり、この記事全体を通してわかるように才能のある写真家です。
サイモンが誰かのために建築を手伝っている別の家の美しい景色。（当初、これは彼と彼の家族が住んでいる家の写真だと誤って認識されていました。）
道具は至ってシンプルです。現代化のために使ったのはチェーンソーだけで、これを使って約30本の小木を切り倒しました。原生林は家族のニーズを満たすには到底足りません。彼はシャベル、ノミ、ハンマーといった、自分の力で動ける道具に重点を置きました。しかし、この素敵な家を完成させるのにかかった時間はわずか4ヶ月でした。
この家は木、石、藁で造られ、芝生の屋根が特徴だ。暖房は薪ストーブで、電力はソーラーパネルで賄われている。ほとんどの資材は拾い集めたものだが、古びて、二番煎じのような家ではない。創造的で芸術的、そして優雅で、居心地の良い家だ。そして何より驚くべきは、この家は長年の訓練や経験を必要としなかったことだ。サイモンには何の資格もなかった。彼は建築家でも、エンジニアでも、大工でもない。あらゆる意味でゼロからスタートしたのだ。彼はデイリー・メール紙にこう語った。
自分で建築家になることはとても楽しいことであり、最悪の場合、利益の最大化と建設業界の利便性のために設計された大量生産の箱ではなく、自分自身と土地の一部となる何かを創造し、楽しむことができます。
天然素材で建物を建てれば、生産者の利益がなくなり、ほとんどの現代の建物に充満している発がん性毒素の混合物もなくなる。
彼は幸運にも家を建てる土地を手に入れました。少し大きめのその土地は、その管理と引き換えに彼に与えられました。
サイモン・デールさんと奥さんのジャスミン・サヴィルさん、そして2人の子供たち。着工からわずか4ヶ月で完成した家の前で。このページの写真はすべてサイモン・デールさん（http://simondale.net）によるものです。
環境に配慮した住宅づくりへの配慮は、コンポストトイレ、断熱材としてプラスチック層の上に藁を敷き詰めたもの、そして基礎下から吹き込む空気で冷却する冷蔵庫などにも及んでいます。セメントは二酸化炭素排出量が多いため、内壁はセメントプラスターではなく石灰プラスターで仕上げられています。
この建物は、環境負荷の少ない、あるいはパーマカルチャー的な暮らし方の一つです。こうした暮らし方とは、自然界と私たち自身との調和を保ち、物事をシンプルに、適切なレベルの技術を用いて生きることです。こうした低コストで自然な建築物は、それ自体の持続可能性という点だけでなく、人々が土地にアクセスし、よりシンプルで持続可能な生活を送る機会を提供する、手頃な価格の住宅を提供する可能性も秘めています。
これほど美しく、魅力的で、住みやすい家は想像できません。これは住宅建築の未来の潮流となる可能性があり、そうなるべきです。
Simon Dale 氏の家、計画、その他の写真に関する詳しい情報については、彼の Web サイト「A Low Impact Woodland Home」をご覧ください。
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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!