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Hobbit haven

I have made a hobbit house for my kids almost entirely from recycled materials and left-overs from building a garage. The frame is an old trampoline. It is 3.2 metres wide (this depends on the size of your trampoline ) and 2.3 metres high at the apex. I can stand in it easily. The poles that were for the side of the trampoline had holes at the top so by the time I lashed them all together it was incredibly strong. I made the walls out of an old pallet with a couple of bigger bits of driftwood on top. We mudded the walls with a mix of dirt, grass and a little cement until there were no more holes and then patched as needed. I used all kinds of recycled wood that would fit. We have added more layers as needed or as bits fall off. The walls are probably about 100 mm thick on average but up to 150 mm in places and we have added paper in the middle for extra insulation.

A dad has come up with a backyard haven with a hobbit flavour, all of which began as a bit of amusement
By Craig Cook
Photographs: Rob Tucker

Hobbit House

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” wrote J R R Tolkien on a blank piece of paper while marking student essays, setting off a thought process that led to his book The Hobbit and eventually to his three-volume creation The Lord of the Rings.
So, if you are going to re-create a hobbit home but don’t want to dig like a mole, earth-covered walls might be the next best thing.
Craig Cook has created a backyard haven with a hobbit flavour, all of which began as a bit of amusement. As he writes:
“I have made a hobbit house for my kids, almost entirely from recycled materials and leftovers from building a garage. The frame is an old trampoline. It is 3.2 metres wide (this depends on the size of your trampoline ) and 2.3 metres high at the apex. I can stand in it easily. The poles that were for the side of the trampoline had holes at the top so by the time I lashed them all together it was incredibly strong.

Craig and son Essala discuss...
...mud making
Mudding the walls
Ex-trampoline poles

The walls
I made the walls from an old pallet, with a couple of larger pieces of driftwood on top. We mudded the walls with a mix of dirt, grass and a little cement until there were no more holes and then patched as needed. I used all kinds of recycled wood that would fit. We have added more layers as needed or as bits fall off. The walls are probably about 100 mm thick on average, but up to 150 mm in places, and we have added paper in the middle for extra insulation. 
We just lashed the wood to the trampoline frame with twine. No nails are used; the only screws are in the door to hold the hinges firm and fix the bike tyre to the outside of the door to prevent drafts. The whole structure, bound together with twine, has already withstood several storms.
When I started this, it was just a bit of fun, and I was concerned about poles falling down and hitting someone on the head. It is at a stage now where my son Essala wants it as his bedroom, but don’t tell the council. It’s just a playhouse. 

Working out shelving
This strong twine binding has withstood a decent storm
Driftwood-packed walls
Wooden inlay for concreting the floor

The talk of the town
My son has decided he wants to sleep in it, and he suffers from asthma, so I am in the process of plastering the inside walls. Kids love doing the mudding of the walls, and Essala enjoys the mud fight with the leftovers at the end of the day even more.
The $120 total spend is from $50 on cement and plaster, $50 on the creeper plants beside the outside wall, which will eventually grow up and cover the roof and $20 on extra tape and twine. I had hinges, screws and some tape and twine to start with.
I have now installed a wooden inlay on the ground and will concrete the floor. I will probably have to spend another $150 to finish it with plaster, builder’s mix and cement (this cost would be done away with if it were just kept basic). We may go as far as a small solar system to power two LED lights and enough to run a computer. It’s very ‘kool’ and the talk of the town.”

Only screws used hold hinges and rubber draft-stopper door fringe
Young Essala now wants to use the hut as his bedroom

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