Fed up with huge mortgage payments, Simon Dale decided to take matters into his own hands - literally.
Armed with only a chisel, a chainsaw and a hammer, the 32-year-old moved his family to a hillside in Wales and started digging.
The result is a wooden eco-home - constructed in four months and costing just £3,000 - which would look perfectly at ease alongside the Hobbit houses in The Lord Of The Rings.
Mr Dale, who has no experience in carpentry or architecture, created his sustainable family home using scrap wood for floors, materials scavenged from skips and by diverting water from a nearby spring.
And while he was doing the building work, his wife Jasmine Saville and their two toddler children camped in the nearby countryside.
He said: "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.
The family struck lucky searching for a site for their dream project. In return for looking after the area, the owner of the woods gave them their plot for free.
After digging into the hillside, Mr Dale - with the help of his father-in-law, a builder - first constructed the building's timber frame.
The roof, which came next, has a layer of straw bales for insulation and is covered with sheets of plastic to make it waterproof. Finally it is covered with a layer of earth, which ensures the house blends perfectly into its surroundings.
Once the outer shell was complete, the family made an interior wall from straw bales stacked on dry-stone walling and staked together with hazel sticks.
Miss Saville, writing on her husband's website, said: "Some past experience, lots of reading and self-belief gave us the courage of our conviction that we wanted to build our own home in natural surroundings. "
"For us, one choice led to another and each time we took the plunge events conspired to assist us in our mission. There were times of stress and exhaustion, but definitely no regrets ."
As well as being made from sustainable material the Hobbit house, as it is dubbed by locals, has lime plaster on its walls instead of cement, a compost toilet, a fridge cooled by air from beneath the foundations and solar panels for power.
Mr Dale said: "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."
Since building his house, Mr Dale is following the design to construct the first home in the Lammas Village, Wales's first eco-development.



据英国《每日邮报》9月22日报道，英国男子西蒙·戴尔由于厌倦了巨额的按揭付款，决定亲自动手（盖房子）。
仅用凿子，电锯和锤子这些工具，这位32岁的男子举家搬到了位于威尔士的一个山坡，并开始继续挖凿（房子）。

用4个月的时间，耗资仅3000英镑，他们就建成了一个木制的生态家园，像极了电影《指环王》中霍比特人的房屋。

戴尔先生并没有木工或建筑经验，却用废弃的木头制作成地板，还用下脚料为房屋附近流过的泉水改了道。


在他做这些建筑工作时，他的妻子詹斯姆·萨维尔和两个小孩就在附近的乡下中的帐篷中住着。

他说："作为一个自由的建筑师有很多乐趣，这能允许你创造和享受这些属于你自己和这片土地的东西，而不是为了获取最大利润并方便建筑业，而大量建造一些"盒子"。用天然材料盖房子就不会给房产商利润，也和现代建筑特有的致癌物质撇清了关系。



这家人幸运的选好了他们梦想工程的地址，以帮助森林的主人看守这个区域为交换，主人给他们提供免费的土地。

戴尔先生在山坡上挖好（基础）后，在作为建筑工人的岳父的帮助下开始建造房屋的框架。

其次是屋顶，用秸秆捆覆盖，外加塑料板以防水。最后，在建筑物上覆盖了一层泥土，确保其和周边环境完全融合。


房子的外壳一经完成，这家人用秸秆捆和榛枝制作干石墙面的内墙。

维尔小姐在她丈夫的网站上说："一些过去的经验，大量的阅读和自我的信念给了我们勇气和信念去自然环境中建造我们的家。"

"对于我们来说，这一个选择就决定了下一个选择，我们齐心协力地冒险去完成我们的决定，免不了会感到压力和疲惫，但绝对不遗憾。"

它被当地人戏称为"霍比特人的房子"，它本身也像可持续性材料建成的霍比特人的房子一样，因为它的墙壁是由石灰石膏涂成，而非水泥，厕所是可堆肥的，冰箱风冷来自房基之下和太阳能。

戴尔先生说："这种生活，使得我们和自然世界和谐共生，把事情变简单，并使用适当的科技。"


自从房子开建以来，戴尔先生一直想把它设计成威尔士圣彼得村首个生态房屋。

• hammer [´hæmə] n.锤子 v.重击 (初中英语单词)
• hillside [´hilsaid] n.山腰 (初中英语单词)
• wooden [´wudn] a.木制的；呆板的 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt] v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词)
• timber [´timbə] n.木材；木料；横梁 (初中英语单词)
• interior [in´tiəriə] n.&a.内部地(的) (初中英语单词)
• writing [´raitiŋ] n.书写；写作；书法 (初中英语单词)
• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
• conviction [kən´vikʃən] n.定罪；确信，信服 (初中英语单词)
• plunge [plʌndʒ] v.插进 n.投入；冲击 (初中英语单词)
• assist [ə´sist] v.协助；援助；搀扶 (初中英语单词)
• mission [´miʃən] n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)
• stress [stres] n.强调；压力 vt.强调 (初中英语单词)
• definitely [´definitli] ad.明确地；绝对 (初中英语单词)
• harmony [´hɑ:məni] n.调合，协调，和谐 (初中英语单词)
• construct [kən´strʌkt] vt.建造；构(词)；造句 (初中英语单词)
• mortgage [´mɔ:gidʒ] a.&vt.抵押 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
• alongside [əlɔŋ´said] ad.在旁 prep.横靠 (高中英语单词)
• architecture [´ɑ:kitektʃə] n.建筑术；建筑学 (高中英语单词)
• architect [´ɑ:kitekt] n.建筑师 (高中英语单词)
• maximum [´mæksiməm] n.极点 a.最大的 (高中英语单词)
• convenience [kən´vi:niəns] n.方便；适当的机会 (高中英语单词)
• cocktail [´kɔkteil] n.&a.鸡尾酒(的) (高中英语单词)
• builder [´bildə] n.建筑者；创造者 (高中英语单词)
• plaster [´plɑ:stə] n.灰泥 vt.厚厚地涂抹 (高中英语单词)
• cement [si´ment] n.水泥；接合剂 vt.粘结 (高中英语单词)
• toilet [´tɔilit] n.梳妆(台)；卫生间 (高中英语单词)
• appropriate [ə´prəupri-it, ə´prəuprieit] a.适宜的 vt.私占；拨给 (高中英语单词)
• chisel [´tʃizəl] n.凿子 v.凿；欺骗；干涉 (英语四级单词)
• exhaustion [ig´zɔ:stʃən] n.用完；精疲力尽 (英语四级单词)
• waterproof [´wɔ:təpru:f] a.防水的 n.防水物 (英语六级单词)