90-Year-old Woodcutter Built his Own Hobbit House Where He Lives Off-Grid in Charming Comfort

[nightwing1240]

A woodcutter who built his own Hobbit house revealed he has never watched Lord of the Rings, but nevertheless lives in it almost off-grid despite being nearly 90.

Great-grandad Stuart Grant moved into the cottage he bought as a wreck with no roof and no doors in 1984 while he was renovating a house, but found it was so satisfying doing DIY on the quirky building which dated back 200 years, that he decided to make it his home.

snip

The old house had doorways, but no doors; window frames, but no windows, and there was no roof either. Outside there were only cows, chickens, and a donkey as neighbors. Building everything by hand, he described as working in “slow motion,” while living in a shed near to the cabin.

“I was always a glutton for scenic beauty, beautiful houses, and thatched cottages in England,” said Grant. “I cut the wood myself from fallen trees and collected stones from the river for the stonework. I put the stairs in. It took quite a few years, I never counted it. I just enjoyed doing it so much—I was getting such a buzz out of doing it.”

Link - https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/90-year-old-woodcutter-built-his-own-hobbit-house-where-he-lives-off-grid-in-charming-comfort-look/
----------------------
I found this really cool. What a wonderful story and great job by this gentleman!

[Emile]

1. Pretty cool

[Cha]

46. TY.. I love seeing what it's like in

Scotland!

[3auld6phart]

54. Love hi Capbadge

The Gordon Highlanders.

[Celerity]

2. pics

[calimary]

8. How cool is that?

Charming! Whimsical and wonderful!

[NJCher]

10. Love the pics

Thank you for posting them.

Great find, nightwing.

[nightwing1240]

23. Thank you :)

It certainly is a day brightener

[obamanut2012]

18. What a wonderful place for second breakfast!

[yardwork]

58. Say-cond brake fast!

[nightwing1240]

21. Holy Cow! I love these, thank you!

I had seen these but was not sure how to add them. Thank you so much! Simply amazing!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

57. would make a very popular AirNB

[Joinfortmill]

3. So cool

[SheilaAnn]

5. Humans, especially the older ones, never cease to amaze me. Lovely home, just the way he likes it.

[Ziggysmom]

4. His landscaping is awesome, too. He has many talents, I really enjoyed listening

to his story. The house looks so warm and cozy, much more inviting than a big, modern mcmansion like we see here in the US.

[Liberal In Texas]

6. Pretty amazing.

In the video he swings a computer and monitor out of a cubby hole. LOL

I'm not sure it would be a comfortable place to live, but it's very cool.

[JHB]

40. I figure anybody who puts that much work into their home will make it...

...comfortable enough to suit themselves.

Yeah, it might not be the place for me either, but I'd love a place that pulls a whole lot of ideas from there.

[Easterncedar]

7. What a day brightener

Thanks for posting that. Gorgeous place, lovely man

[scarletlib]

9. I would love to live in that house.

[2naSalit]

24. Me too!

That or one of those earthships are my idea of a dream home.

[SergeStorms]

11. What a talented and kind man.

All the money people donate to take a tour of his "Hobbit" house he donates to charities.

The 200 £ they gave him for making this short film he donated to the Red Cross.

It's nice to know there are still some good people on this planet. All we read or hear about are the world's shitheels. What a wonderful human being.

[Raine]

12. WOW so cool!!!! I absolutely love it ♥️

it would be such a fun place to live and have beautiful amazing dreams!

[onethatcares]

13. wouldn't take long

for code enforcement to bulldoze that one here in the states.

[3Hotdogs]

14. --and I the video, he's cutting wood with a chain saw and

NO SAFETY GLASSES.

[Emile]

15. Guilty of doing that too. .

[Farmer-Rick]

19. Oh crap,

People need to be very careful with those machines. You can get safety' glasses today that are as comfortable as regular glasses.

Safety should always be First.

[3Hotdogs]

22. I volunteer at an outdoor environmental center in N.J. We build boardwalks over streams and such.

When I started last year, some of the other volunteers didn't use hearing protection or glasses when sawing or drilling.

Now we all do.

I recited a safety slogan at the O.S.H.A. certification course I took. "If it looks stupid, it is."

[Farmer-Rick]

25. That's great

Every builder should take their tools very seriously. My uncle use to say that by ignoring safety you're treating your tools like toys.

But I like your reminder to be safe much better.

More farmers get injured or die from failing to take common sense safety precautions, even with their own livestock.

[2naSalit]

26. I love that!

"If it looks stupid, it is."

[druidity33]

48. A battery operated chainsaw! nt.

[3Hotdogs]

52. We have one at our environmental refuge.

Battery weed wackers and edge trimmer for large brush.

[Farmer-Rick]

16. Wow what a beautiful home he made

I love my old farmhouse but I certainly didn't build it myself like he did. What an amazing talent.

I'm proud of myself for just building a giant doghouse by hand. I could never do a whole house. But some people are born builders and artists.

Just imagine the beautiful things we could create if we didn't have to spend most our lives earning money to just survive.

I bet most of us, if born to wealth, could do so much more beautiful things than what our filthy rich oligarchs create with their wealth.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

29. I built my own, but it's a boring, conventional "stick" frame house.

That one is a collection of art work!

[Farmer-Rick]

31. I admire your dedication and hardwork

Building a stick house is a lot more work than people realize.

It's never too late to add some art to your house, if you are so inclined. I painted a compass rose on my giant doghouse and a double distlelfink on my chicken coop. I just like to paint murals and when I lived in Pennsylvania dutch country, it gave me ideas.

[brooklynite]

17. Its cute but its not a hobbit house...

Hobbit HOLES are dug into the sides of the sloping hill. (I've been to Hobbiton in New Zealand).

[Silver Gaia]

32. Agree. It's very cool but not a hobbit house.

I've stayed in a real hobbit house built into the side of a hill. My ex- built it for one of our best friends on her horse farm.

[Emile]

33. I would have called it a fairy tale house.

[Silver Gaia]

34. Yeah, that works!

[ShazzieB]

43. I had the thought!

I was a bit disappointed when I saw it was a free-standing house.

Yes, it IS awesome, but let's not call it something it isn't.

[NullTuples]

51. Not all Hobbitses lives in holes!

From “Concerning Hobbits”, Chapter 1 of The Hobbit, by J R R Tolkien:

"All Hobbits had originally lived in holes in the ground, or so they believed, and in such dwellings they still felt most at home; but in the course of time they had been obliged to adopt other forms of abode. Actually in the Shire in Bilbo's days it was, as a rule, only the richest and the poorest Hobbits that maintained the old custom. The poorest went on living in burrows of the most primitive kind, mere holes indeed, with only one window or none; while the well-to-do still constructed more luxurious versions of the simple diggings of old. But suitable sites for these large and ramifying tunnels (or smicils as they called them) were not everywhere to be found; and in the flats and the low-lying districts the Hobbits, as they multiplied, began to build above ground. Indeed, even in the hilly regions and the older villages, such as Hobbiton or Tuckborough, or in the chief township of the Shire, Michel Delving on the White Downs, there were now many houses of wood, brick, or stone. These were specially favoured by millers, smiths, ropers, and Cartwrights, and others of that sort; for even when they had holes to live in. Hobbits had long been accustomed to build sheds and workshops.

The habit of building farmhouses and barns was said to have begun among the inhabitants of the Marish down by the Brandywine. The Hobbits of that quarter, the Eastfarthing, were rather large and heavy-legged, and they wore dwarf-boots in muddy weather. But they were well known to be Stoors in a large part of their blood, as indeed was shown by the down that many grew on their chins. No Harfoot or Fallohide had any trace of a beard. Indeed, the folk of the Marish, and of Buckland, east of the River, which they afterwards occupied, came for the most part later into the Shire up from south-away; and they still had many peculiar names and strange words not found"

[Vinca]

20. I love the house and I love the bits of furniture he's crafted.

Wonder where, exactly, this is located since he's obviously Scottish.

[ucralum]

37. In another article...

…it said the house is located in Tomich, near Inverness.

[Vinca]

42. Thanks. I would love to see this place someday.

[highplainsdem]

27. What an amazing house! So much creativity and love went into it, and

that shows.

[Delphinus]

35. Indeed.

So glad I saw this article!

[machoneman]

28. Wow, the interior is fabulous as is the outside!

[llmart]

30. I thoroughly enjoyed this article and the pictures! Wow.

I'd kill to have that garden of his.

He's the original "tiny house" proponent, only his is so much nicer than the ones I've seen in the States.

[niyad]

36. LOVE IT!!!!! Absolutely amazing. Should be declared a national treasure, or at

least given some kind of protected status.

[DinahMoeHum]

39. . . .maybe a museum, when he passes on. . .

. . .and the donations should go to his favorite charities.

[Doc Sportello]

38. Stuart Grant is just as amazing as the house he built

What a kind and lovely man. Highly recommend watching the video interview and tour. Gives any money away to charities that help refugees. And you gotta love that Scottish accent. Not that I understood every word.

Thanks for posting his Hobbit house.

[Blue Owl]

41. Hobbit-henge, where the grand-dads live, and they do live well

[SergeStorms]

45. Spinal Tap!

One of the funniest parts of the movie, as far as I'm concerned.

[Blue Owl]

59. Same here -- that line makes me laugh every time

Stonehenge... where the banshees live, and they do live well...

[msdogi]

44. Love this story

Just charming, so many details that are magical. The beam end in waterside shot is great

[Ray Bruns]

47. "Excuse me sir, you wouldn't have found a ring lying about, would you?"

[Warpy]

49. I've often puzzled about how to build a "real" one

and realized the megalith tomb builders had the right idea: use the strongest building material available (boulders) and build the hill on top of them. In some place, most notably Ireland, the hills have eroded away, leaving only the boulders, some of which are stable and the way they were placed thousands of years ago.

We have different building materials to do the job now, but the bare bones left after long abandonment wouldn't be nearly as crazy.



Even the tombs like Mine Howe, which looks like it was dug into a hillside and lined with rock, has been found to have been excavated out, the rock structures built, and the hill backfilled onto the structure.

[GeoWilliam750]

50. Absolutely beautiful

You would really be amazed at what a good sawmiller can do!

[malaise]

53. Lovely

Thanks

[yardwork]

55. I like this!

[republianmushroom]

56. love it thank you

[democrank]

60. I love this place

Years ago I wrote a poem about a tree house I wanted to build, but this place is really something.