How one craftsman built a hobbit hole in his yard (21 photos)

In 2013, Ashley Yates embarked on an unusual project: inspired by the famous novels of J. R. R. Tolkien, he decided to build in his garden a real hobbit hole. Turned out amazingly comfortable. a place where you can relax, read a book and enjoy the sound of rain - take note!





Here's what the final version of the burrow house that Yeats built in his backyard looked like.



As Yeats himself admits in an interview with Bored Panda, ten years later, the main inspiration for the project for him was ... boredom.

“I had to remove a small old tree that dropped branches there, and I planned to just replace it with a new one, but after after I dug up the tree, a rather impressive hole, and like any other relatively reasonable person, I thought: “It will be much more fun just to keep digging…” and then I blinked, and decently so cubic meters have already come out of the earth. After that I have several ideas began to peck at once, and in the end I settled on hobbit hole. It seems that then either the film just came out, or something else".

The first step was to dig a hole large enough to accommodate the intended interior.





The next stage is the construction of a solid internal wooden frame.






Everything went according to plan, until somewhere halfway to the goal, the hole was flooded.



Yates called the unexpected flood the most memorable moment for the entire duration of the project: “Perhaps pumping gallons of water from the hole I dug for this project was quite memorable event, and it certainly should have served as a warning to I did not forget what I was dealing with, but it seems that I just brushed it off with the attitude of "happiness in ignorance" and continued to work. But in the end In the end, I did learn my lesson."



This definitely slowed things down, but in the end, Yeats was successful in repairing the water damage.



Taught by a bitter lesson, Yeats attended to additional waterproofing.



And after that he took up the sod roof.



Now it's time to decorate the entrance to the dwelling and add some decorative touches.








The next step was interior design and ventilation, which is vital for things to stay underground.






The perfect shelf for Tolkien's books, don't you think?






Finishing touches to give the burrow its charm.



Great view, and the chief inspector is pleased.



Alas, 10 years later, the hole is no more - but what memories she left behind!



“Unfortunately, mother nature has regained her hobbit hole,” Yates confessed. When the groundwater level rose in winter, it was impossible to stop the flooding, and the structureotlolo. I knew, that it is inevitable, already halfway when faced with a flood, but I continued anyway, because it was more important for me to get a finished project, and not create something permanent. I ended up letting the hole collapse and leveled the ground above it - I wish I could be a fly on the wall when someone will be excavating this place in the distant future..!"



Yeats admitted that now, from the height of his experience, even ashamed of this work - there were so many mistakes in it. But the project is much taught him and allowed him to take the first step on the path from DIY enthusiast to a professional in his field. Isn't that the main thing!