The Hobbit House - April 2010

[clebby]

Now, everyone knows that different places have different sheepish traditions. In New Zealand, they enter their sheep into competitions, and it's common knowledge that they shag their sheep in Wales. What's less well known, is that in the Cotswolds they build their sheep oversized, win-filled Tolkein-esque mansions.



Well, Colin did anyway. Colin Stokes was a local eccentric artist who began building a barn for his sheep in the 1980s. It started out as a single storey shed, but within a decade it had spread upwards and outwards into a hocus-pocus tangle of towers, turrets and arches.



It was originally small enough not to need planning permission, but the council eventually told him he had to stop. However by this point he had hidden it from them for ten years, and it had grown so massive it's basically as large as a house.



This was in the 1990s. Colin moved to Scotland soon after, and since then, the "shed" (if you can call it that, it's certainly the best shed I've ever seen!) has been left empty and open to all weathers. But it's remote location, and the fact that Colin put a lot of effort into making sure it was built to last means it is unusually intact.

It's also well known in the local area, but it's location is very secret and it's by no means easy to find. It's not visible on Google Earth, and barely visible from the distant road. I first heard of the Hobbit House when neill posted it on DerP, but he wasn't the first to visit either - it's been in the folly "scene" for years. That said, there's very little on it on the interweb, and it's only by my super-awesome detective skills that I managed to secure it's location. (In reality, I spent 20 minutes poring over a map of the general area looking for local landmarks! )

But f00k me, it's the coolest thing in the history of ever!



It doesn't just stop there! Inside has some funky features too, like tiled floors:



And loads of stained glass.





The stained glass was my favourite bit. It was incredibly peaceful and tranquil inside, and pleasantly cool like a church.



There were loads of different Cotswold scenes as the centrepiece of the windows. Remember, they were all hand painted by one man.





He's even signed it! I was surprised to see the date 1989, it just seemed too intact to be true!





I thought that spider was real at first, but it turns out he painted it on as a little joke.





Loads of awesome plasterwork inside too:





And up the stairs...



...to one of the many turrets, providing great views of the Cotswolds.





Someone's buried here.

Here lie the mortal remains of Mrs. Bethia Barleycorn, goose of this parish - March to December 1989.

Yet more stained glass:



So I guess the question is, when can I move in ?