Scottish great grandfather lives in a real life Hobbit house

IT would not look out of place in The Hobbit but this house predates the Hollywood film trilogy by several decades.


The house was built decades before the Hobbit films were released

And now the fairytale home of Scots great grandfather Stuart Grant has become an internet sensation after his niece posted photos of the house online.

With well over 250,000 views on social media, the former byre in Inverness-shire has attracted fans all over the world.

The 84-year-old said he was initially going to use the junk-filled byre as a temporary shelter while he renovated a nearby cottage but became rather attached to the old animal shed.

He explained: "I had not seen the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit films before I started my project. Those came later. But I'm not aware of them knowing about my house either. It's all coincidental.

"The fact that even my door looks like the Hobbit doors in the films is... well it is very strange, isn't it?

“It's quite funny how it started. I had spent time Down Under but returned home after a failed marriage. I was broken financially, spiritually and physically as I was suffering from ME.


Peter Jackson outside Bilbo Baggins' hobbit house

“This was back in 1984 so everything was happening in slow motion if at all.

“The previous tenant in the byre had been a pig and before the pig it housed a cow, her calf, a donkey and some chickens.

“It was full of other people’s junk, tools, cement mixers and such like. But it had four walls and a better view than the house so I put a new roof on it.

“I was living rough. I had a 100 watt bulb, two wooden stools, a camp bed and a gas ring.”

Slowly but surely his new home took shape and Mr Grant now boasts one of the most unique properties in Scotland. He has not bought any of the fixtures or fittings but used other people’s cast-offs, stones from the beach and fallen trees to create his “heaven on earth”.

The OAP admitted he felt like the "luckiest man in the world" and added: "I live in a stunning part of the world, I have a home that looks like the home I had dreamed about and I get by.


Stuart's house has become an internet sensation

“I am retired so I don’t need to look at the clock or my bank balance to see how I’m doing. Things take for as long as they take and are ready when they are ready.

“Sometimes backpackers drop by and I’m happy to have visitors. Once a French girl was part of a small group and she burst into tears on seeing my house because ‘It is so beautiful’.

"It is a nice compliment to have."

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/80...ant-lord-rings