A Wizard’s Tiny Home in the Woods | A Lord Of The Rings Inspired Havenstead

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A little bit hard work, I'm not getting any younger, but you know doing the old gatekeeper of Herbswood is a quite difficult thing, but in the summer this year it was absolutely fantastic, so I've had time to create some new pathways. The deer have appreciated that, so it's lovely here. And the place continues to fill up with all your lovely artwork as well. Yeah I've got a few unusual bits and bobs around, you know I've created in another chill area. I was going to say party area, but I don't party here at all. Nobody believes that. Of course. And Radegast the van has had quite an overhaul since we were last here as well. Indeed yes, Radegast is my main home which I've still lived in since 2018. I've completely ripped off the back plates and carved up all the ply on there, created a few more dragons around the bed. Yeah it's lovely. Yeah I think Radegast still remains as one of the absolute greatest van build outs that I've ever seen. Your woodworking in that is absolutely phenomenal. Thank you very much, I do appreciate that. And you're still doing all of your carving and the shows and festivals and selling your artwork as Yes I supply a couple of shops in Glastonbury, Yinyang and Mystic Garden Gallery, things like that and it's nice really because it's giving another outlet for people that never see my stuff. I don't do so many festivals these days, however I was lucky enough to be invited to Fantasy Forest where they let me do a talk about tiny house living. Oh great. And I brought Radegast along and they said do you want to show people around and I said okay like a bit of a show home sort of thing to tell my story and it was through their show, their festival, they come up with this saying and it's called dream with your eyes open and I can't think of a better thing that would match what I do. Yeah the way that you've come onto this woodland block and then you've used the van and now the tiny house to live here as well, it's such a clever way of doing things. It's something that all my friends say I wish I could do that, I say to them everything here is good for the soul but they say I can't afford to do that, I can't afford to do that, it's not for everyone but I know I've influenced a few people and they've done it. Dream with your eyes open, bang on those farmers doors and say I can help you for a couple of days a week if you let me stay on your land and then see what happens, that's just one idea. Who knows what's possible. Exactly. Yeah. The way that you've come onto this woodland block and then you've used the van and now the tiny house to live here as well, it's such a clever way of doing things. Oh absolutely, yeah. I bought this in 2017 and it was a good time to buy after I finished my career in the mainstream. I hadn't even decided to live on it and so when my marriage broke down that was an opportunity and so I built Radegast. I thought let's just try. The government, as you know, it's very difficult, it's full of red tape everywhere. Yeah. They've upped it from 28 days to 60 days now where you can camp on your own land before they start, you know, getting a bit funny about rules being broken but what I tell people, enjoy yourself and then don't sweat the small stuff. Get in there and when you have these barriers that come, the red tape, deal with it then. When what's moral and what's legal are two different things then, you know, the law and the people are at odds with one another and that's problematic, isn't it? Absolutely. I'm not hurting anyone. I'm looking after the land. I've planted about 250 trees since I've been here. I'm doing my bit and enjoying it at the same time and staying fit. Yeah and you've got the owl boxes and stuff up all around here as well so you're also doing a lot of wildlife conservation here on the land. I've got about five owl boxes and they've been shared by all sorts of wildlife. In fact, it started off an owl box that moved in. A tawny owl moved in, then a squirrel moved in, then the jackdaws moved in, in between a battle between the jackdaws and the squirrels and then the bees moved in and they stayed and they've been there for about three years now so that's fantastic. I don't mind. It's hard to win a fight with a bee colony. I don't care how big a squirrel you are. And now you've got this fantastic brand new tiny house here as well. Tell me about this. I had the opportunity of buying this shell. I saw it at Van Life Festival. I must admit I struggled getting it in here because it's a bit of a gentle slope coming up here. It's a tough spot. We got down to the bottom of the car park and we couldn't move it at all and luckily I had this one and a half ton chain block so the kindness of this lovely oak tree behind you, I had it strapped to this tree and I was moving this chain block trying to turn it around and this is as far as I got and so I started living in it and I thought, you know, this is really nice. I sat down and I thought, what should I do to this? What should I call it? I know, Gandalf. So here I am. I've started living in both now. You know, everywhere. You've got Radegast, Gandalf and Glyn, the three wizards of the woodland. Well someone, my brother and my friend call me Glendalf. I think that works. I can see that. And what size is the tiny house? 14 foot by 6 foot 6 but with insulation, it's about that much insulation on the side. When you lay down, it's only for hobbits really. There's no way you're going to lay down in there unless you go diagonally. Great to have all that insulation though, isn't it? Because especially here, it can get so chilly, can't it? Yeah. We've got our own little microclimate in Dartmoor so it's all over the shop but no, you're right. Absolutely. Insulation, one of the key things that I like to talk about when we talk about tiny houses. Yeah, absolutely. Beautiful timber exterior to this home as well. Especially these darker tones and the timber really helps the house to blend into the forest. I shall tell you about the timber because basically it's shiplap wood and it was all flaking into nothing. Oh really? Yeah, yeah. And so I had to get an electric drill and I've got these wire circular brushes and gone through the lot and I've taken the whole surface off this wood. Right. Then I've coated it with Osmo Oil. It needs another coat but when it rains, the water just beads off it and just runs out. Great. And then the rest of it, you've got these metal profiles around which are quite nice. Yeah, beautiful. And so obviously here being a woodland block, you don't have connection to power and water. So what do you do for services here in the house? I've got a big solar panel on the top. Got everything working. Brilliant. So I started adding lights. I started adding a SOG system to my loo which is an air extraction system. Right. I've got a flushing water coming from the water butt. I'd take a shower from the water filtered from the water butt. Beautiful. It's great. It's got more water in there than I have in the van. It's 240. Yeah. Plus a spare there for doing the flowers because I'm experimenting with the wild flowers. Oh, lovely. It's great. And that's for everything else. It's small gas bottles for the cooker, small gas bottle to run the water pump and heater. And then it's lights and fancy stuff from the carving. Yeah. Brilliant. And utility box on the drawbar as well? Yes. This is where I keep the gas and all the gubbins are inside that. It's filled with spray foam insulation. So I understand the previous owner must have had some problems with the ice and the snow. Yeah. Well, it's just so lovely to be back in your beautiful woodland. I love what you're doing with everything here on the land. And I am so excited now to see inside your brand new home. Can we take a look? Come on. Let's go. Mate, this space is absolutely enchanting. I absolutely love what you've created here. Thank you so much. It's like a one trick pony with me. I'm afraid I don't do bland. I think one of the things that just blows me away with your artwork is that you can take this material, plywood, which is just such a utilitarian thing, and you can make it so beautiful with all of these wonderful layering effects that you use in your carvings. With that layering, this is where it's kind of trickery, if you like. You can make it flow. And it's having the right tools in order to have certain directions on flowing. Sometimes over the years, I've learned by happy mistakes, as Bob Ross used to say. The same works in woodwork too. If this is a happy mistake, then it's a very happy mistake. Because what you've created here is just absolutely magical. Walking into this space, it does kind of feel like you're just completely embraced by it. It's one of those places that just feels immediately so cozy to be in. Oh, thank you. I mean, this is what I try to encapsulate. The harsh environment of, let's say, I've been out carving in my workshop. I'm dusty, and it's a really, really messy process. There's nothing glamorous about it whatsoever. But I then come back in here. That environment, with the lights particularly, helps me feel, this is why I'm here. And then I can just sit down, have a cup of tea or whatever, and just look at the wildlife. I've even got lights outside now in the trees so that they glow certain times. I remember sat here just looking outside, and there's a little fox running around. Now there's hedgehogs. I thought I had one Sebastian hedgehog, but now there's about four or five. It's great. So Sebastian's been busy. Sebastian's been busy. Yeah. Yeah, he's having a good time. So I must be doing something right. You're so right about that, because standing in here as well, with all of these additional windows, you are so much more connected to the woodland as well. Radegast was so enclosed compared to this, and being able to have that beautiful picture window looking out onto all of your wonderful woodland paths and the wildflowers, just beautiful. Exactly. Different directions. Up there is looking northeastern. If I'm upstairs, only when I was cleaning it the other day, I thought, oh, I just got a little single mattress up there. I just laid down thinking, look at that. You could just see Dartmoor, and I thought, do you know what? I'm going to turn this into a meditation room. Great idea. I love what you've created here with the living room as well. Very, very cozy space. Again, taking such great advantage of the window. Yeah. Basic use of foam mattresses, cut to size. One side's wider than the other for some reason. So I like sitting on this side. That side's slightly narrower, mainly because of the bed, which sits inside the side of the build there. That piece of oak there is part of what used to be in Radegast. And I found it, and I thought, I wonder if I could use that in Gandalf, because I haven't got a table yet, and I need to sort something out. And it works. I can't believe it. So I've got a table. Beautiful. And then very clever the way that you have done the bed here as well. Because it's such a tiny space, the bed was so easy for it to be put away. You would have to have the quilt or the pillows either put away into storage, or you wouldn't be able to have a really thick quilt on there. I tend to take the pillows off, stick them in a bag, and then shove them upstairs out of the way. I've still managed to close it. I've put some elastic around the bottom end to hold the quilt up while you lift it. It's a heavy old bed. If there was a hobbit, they wouldn't be able to lift the bed. It would have to stay down. Hobbits can sleep on the couch. Exactly. And I absolutely love this wee fire you've got here. This is the cutest little thing I've ever seen. It's absolutely tiny. If you had anything bigger, you would just roast. That lovely little burner is just perfect for mid-winter. So I tested it last winter. Just a job. Easy. Yeah. And it's small enough that you could even just have a wee candle burning in there for some ambience, isn't it? Absolutely, yeah. As long as I kept that little window clean, as you can see, I've done a half-hearted job there. It's pretty tricky to keep those clean, though, isn't it? Yeah. And the kitchen. What a nice space again. Again, beautiful use of the timbers in here. I've basically only cleaned up the worktop just a little bit, added a bit of Danish oil on top of there. I would have loved to have put a more of a rustic sink area in there, but I have to try and think to see if I can get something that would fit in there or maybe have another block on top and then see if I can get a nice rounded piece of copper in there like I did in the van. So we'll see. And maybe get a dragon tap of some description. Now you're talking. Oh yes, absolutely. It takes a little bit of time to collect those treasures, though, doesn't it? And sometimes they just have to be added as you go. Absolutely, yes. It is an ongoing metamorphosis of ideas that keep coming to fruition. I absolutely love the way that you have tackled these shelves as well. That just looks so good. The blend of the plywood, the piping. It just looks on point. That cup holder as well is very cool. Thank you so much. I actually like the metalwork at the front. So what I did is I got these inch thick pieces of plywood and carved them up, made them, you know, slightly quirky, whatever. Added the pipe work onto it. I've got six of these little goblets. And I've got the rest of them in the van. And I thought, oh, do you know what? That just might look nice, especially with the lovely mead on display there. Not that I drink a lot or anything, but, you know, it's colourful to have bottles of mead around. Absolutely. Everyone believes you. So you just take the front of that off. And I don't know why I did that, because it's not as if I'm going to be driving and dragging this trailer about all the time. So that will stay in place anyway. But still just a really neat little feature and a great idea, because if you were doing a van or something, that's a brilliant way of doing it. And this dragon mirror that you've created here. What a feature piece. Thank you so much. I felt that I just had to put one of my bigger pieces in there. I thought I'll just go with the nice big dragons. I love doing it. It's my thing. I got a similar piece in the van, you know, and it was a woodland dragon. And I was carving this dragon bursting from this tree. And I was halfway through finishing it. And it was one of my friends that said to me, I need to show you somewhere Bolton's Bench in Lyndhurst. I said, right, OK, what's that about? She told me the legend about the dragon that was slain by Barclay the knight. Barclay killed the dragon because the dragon was pestering all the local villages. And then eventually, the poor knight, he felt terrible and he died. And he dropped his bow. And it was through that hill that the trees started growing. And that was the story. I was halfway through carving this lovely piece. And I've kept it in Radagast thinking, that's amazing. So from that big feature there that was covering a plain blank wall, I thought, let's get something like that in Gandalf. It's beautiful. Thank you. And I love the way that you've done the lighting in here as well, utilizing the copper tubing and then sort of popping through those lights. That just looks really good. I must admit, I stole the idea from some clever guy on YouTube. He was just putting ordinary lights through. And I thought, do you know what? That's a lovely idea. With all these lights, I usually use these little remote controls to set the mood. And it's just lovely. And these, I've used black lights. That was just an experimentation because the bottom of the bed, it was a blank piece of wood. And I thought, hang on a minute. I've got this old quilt cover with this dragon on. That's what I'm going to use. So I whacked that on. I stacked some black light on it and it all jumped out at me. So at night, this whole Gandalf is a different thing altogether. Lights are so important. Really important. Yeah, absolutely. And you've got the little television here as well. I've never had a TV. And so this is a treat. And it's got a DVD inside of it as well. And of course, I bought the Lord of the Rings box set. And it's wonderful because it's above the cooker. But the good thing about it is you can change it to two different levels. Oh, right. You just lift it off and you can just slot it on there. And then it moves to one side. So you can sit on your sofa to watch it. Brilliant. And then you can do the normal cooking here. And nothing's affected. Job's good. And there we are. Yeah, great. Perfect. And it looks like you've tucked quite a bit of storage away in here as well. Yes, I've basically got basic storage. I feel it's very important to live minimalist. You have to. So I've got a small fridge under there. I've got a box where I keep things like basic screwdrivers or whatever I need. And two baskets of food items there as well. Great. And then we've got the bathroom through that door there. Can we have a look at that? Indeed we can. Hey, this is very cool again. The siding that you've used in here looks especially good. There wasn't much I could actually do with such a tiny space. I've replaced all of the shower board. I've added a loo. We didn't have a loo at all before. And I used basically a caravan cassette toilet with a SOG system put in, which is an extraction fan. I've used an existing shower tray, added shelf. Of course, added a dragon and a little painting of Gandalf I did a while ago. And so, yeah, it's kind of nice now. Yeah. And that could possibly be the coolest toilet roll holder I've ever seen. Well, dragons, yeah, it goes hand in hand with any burning sensations. Sorry. You've got a good local curry shop, do you? Yeah, the dragon's more appropriate, definitely. But seriously, I did buy online. It was this horrible orange and green color. And so I just put a charcoal gray color over it afterwards. And it looked a lot better. Adds a lot of character to the bathroom. It does. I like it. And so how long have you been living here now? Yeah, on and off, though. Because I've been going in between Radegast and here. Plus, I've had friends come and stay as well. And how is this place working out for you? I absolutely love it. Because at one thought, when I first got it, I thought maybe I should sell it and then use the capital to make something else. But the more I did, the more I fell in love with it. And I thought, do you know, I'm definitely going to keep it now. It's such a lovely lifestyle that you've created for yourself here as well. Because having this woodland gives you this wonderful home base. But you're not technically allowed to live on a woodland full time. So being able to retreat here, being able to do your artwork, and then leave and travel and work your festivals and sell your artwork and everything, and then have this place always to come back to. This is just such a beautiful blend of both of those worlds. In a way, it's a perfect world. And I've experienced it now since 2018. It hasn't been a pretty picture all the way. It's been really hard work. But you learn all the time. It's a very physical thing in winter, for sure. I'm starting to feel my body is changing slightly. My hands are hurting a bit more when I'm carving. But would I be able to do it forever? I'll do it for as long as I can, maybe. But I would advise people to come and try what I'm doing and see how they like it. And so far, people that have stayed here have absolutely loved it. There are possibilities out there. I do highly advise it. I say it again, dream with your eyes open. What are the biggest challenges to living this way of life? The weather takes a hit. Because living in a woodland, like in the van, I slept there last night. And you have acorns dropping this time of year. And it sounds like bombs are hitting. It's unreal. It's so loud. We recently had a storm here. And the side of the van was moving. And it felt like the inside of a ship after a while. Everything else is an adventure. Cooking. Do you know what my main thing I don't like about living here is winter is the mud. You could wear clean clothes going from the van down to the car park. And you'd be covered. And the muddy water just squirts up. And so that has enabled me to get an idea with regard to building a pathway next year. That's mainly it. Yeah, that'll be a good addition. It will. First word that comes to my head when it comes to what does it mean to me when I live here in these woods is freedom. It's something I hear all the time now when I'm doing my little talks and stuff on this. The freedom. The money saving. You know, you take the good with the bad. There's more good on that. And when you look at the negativity of anything that you come across, really, it's the good overrides everything. And can we talk about the cost that was involved in building this beautiful home? Yes, I think all in all, twenty thousand. Wow. That is well done. If you want to add my artwork on top of that, just for people that are interested out there, it might be a lot more. Fifty thousand pounds, a hundred thousand pounds. Well, if you want to buy it, Bryce, no problem. And for people who are really interested in doing what you've done and taking over a woodland block in the UK and being a woodland custodian, what's involved in that? Estate agents tend to have woodland every now and again. This particular one was a woodland company and they just specialise in it. And I bought just under four acres. There are other woodland owners living next door of all various different sizes. So what would a ballpark figure be for what a woodland like yours would cost today? I think a reasonable cost now would be between fifteen and twenty thousand pounds an acre. Yeah. And for somebody that looks at what you've created here and wants to just jump in and do this, what would your biggest advice to them be? There's a couple of things. Make sure it's freehold. Make sure you have mineral rights. That means you own everything underneath. Make sure there's no public rights of way going through your woodland. Check your neighbours. Check your roads. I've got a small road here. Water. Look for gentle sloping so that you have relatively good drainage and get a good mix of woodland. And now you have so beautifully set up your home here, what does the future hold for you? What's next for you? Good question. I'm not getting any younger. For instance, the fire area, I want to extend and just make it more of a place so that I can watch films, you know, on a projector out there with a sheltered area so that if it's raining, we can still watch it. That kind of thing. The pathways, the wildflowers and what's next. A lot of that depends on my health. Looking after my mum, that's my priority at the moment. So everything else is off the table. I want to say, oh, I'm going to maybe last another five years and then I'll set it up as a thing and then just go off into the wilderness and do something. I don't know. Lots of options. Yeah. Could be anything. It could be anything. Well, Glenn, you are a true wizard and it was an absolute pleasure once again to witness the magic that you've created here. Thank you so much for sharing your home with me one more time. Thank you, Bryce. It's impossible not to be absolutely charmed by Glenn and everything that he creates here. His woodland is an absolute wonder. This place that he loves so deeply and cares for so deeply and these incredible homes that he builds that surround him with his artwork and allow him to live so intentionally here, I think is so inspiring. Glenn says to dream with your eyes open and I absolutely love that sentiment. Imagine what the world might be like if we all did that.