Into the wild
When Kris left school aged 16 he did what was expected – worked hard to achieve a well-paying job as an engineer, then he bought a house and a flat.
With two mortgages totalling nearly $700,000, Kris told the Daily Mail, ‘I had a car, and all the bills – electric, water, internet, TV, insurances. I earned good money, but everything just went.’
Kris got tired of working just to pay the bills and resented not having time to do the things he enjoyed.
So, in May 2015, Kris quit his job in London, sold his properties and bought 18.5 acres of Welsh countryside off eBay.
For the next year, with no house-building experience, Kris hand constructed his ‘hobbit house’.
The eco-home runs on solar and hydro power and has running water from a nearby spring. Most of the windows were saved from a skip, and the rear window is a glass fridge door Kris found in an alleyway.
‘I think the building is made of about 90 per cent of either natural, recycled or found materials,’ he said proudly.
Kris’ girlfriend Dot, who he met mid-build, loves spending time in the turf-roofed hideaway, which cost around $7000 in total.
‘When I first came around I thought it was pretty magical,’ Dot said.
As for Kris, he’s never once regretted his decision to leave the city behind.
‘My life is hundreds of times richer now,’ he said. ‘I feel more fulfilled and happier than I have ever been before. Someone asked me, what age would you go back to if you could go back to any age? And I thought, I probably wouldn’t go back, not even a month. Right now, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.’