Romanian couple escape city life to build Hobbit-esque castle

If you ever find yourself in Transylvania, be sure to pay a visit to the new Clay Castle of the Valley of Fairies, an eco-friendly fairytale castle.

Clay Castle was built over the course of two years by a Romanian couple, who sold their home near Bucharest and decided to up sticks and move to a village 40 km from the city of Sibiu. The building is entirely made of natural materials, including clay, straw and sand, together with completely wooden pillars. Despite their passion for the project, Razvan and Gabriela Vasile, who are singers by profession, delegated the designing to a professional architect.

The castle’s ten rooms will be heated throughout the winter with traditional wood-burning fires, although it is not clear how Clay Castle stays cool in the summer.

Home design website Casa Mea describes the building as like “something out of the Hobbit” rather than a typical castle, and states that the Vasiles aim to open it up as a hotel. Nevertheless, the building is already enjoying considerable popularity, with 18,000 friends on Facebook and one couple having already hosted their wedding reception there. The couple hope also to open a restaurant using only local organic food at the castle by the end of 2016.

Source: BBC News