Fed up with high mortgage prices in the countryside, a man decided to build his very own eco-friendly hobbit house in a woodland.

Simon Dale, a freelance photographer, spent only £3,000 on the hillside home in Wales, and built it in less than four months, using little more than a chainsaw, a hammer and a one-inch chisel.

The home - which resembles those occupied by hobbits in JRR Tolkien's much-loved books The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - is designed to be ecologically sustainable; heat is generated by a wood-burner and electricity comes from solar panels on the roof. Water is collected from a nearby spring and there’s a compost toilet.

Simon lives in the house with his writer and gardener wife and two children, and insists that building an eco-home from scratch is a doddle: "This kind of building is accessible to anyone. My main relevant skills were being able bodied, having self belief and perseverance and a mate or two to give a lift now and again."

Take a closer look at Simon's hobbit house in the pictures above and below.

ABOVE: The complex oak frame is made using materials from the local woodland

ABOVE: Natural light floods through one of the house's windows

ABOVE: The building's entrance

ABOVE: The interior of the house lit by candlelight. During the day, a skylight allows natural light to flood the building.

ABOVE: Simon and his family outside their home

Picture credits: www.SimonDale.net