'Lord of the Rings' fans can geek out over this real-life hobbit home
A North Carolina couple has started an incredible project that takes a page straight out of the "Lord of the Rings."
Mike Parrish, a self-described "huge fan" of the fantasy trilogy that was derived from the J.R.R. Tolkien books, showed off his one-of-a-kind home on Leisure Mountain Road in Woodfin to ABC News affiliate WLOS.
"What we want is to just have an area where people can come and bring their kids and just leave with unforgettable experience," Parrish said.
The first line in "The Hobbit," begins "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit," and that's exactly how this property looks.
The 800-square-foot home has one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen and is nearly 90% below ground level.
But the "main attraction," according to Matt Robinson with Black Mountain Builders, who took on the project, is the handmade round mahogany door.
The round doors both inside and out were built by John Fenwick, a local woodworker whose craftsmanship rivals Bilbo Baggins'.
Another key perk of Parrish's property that he hopes to list on Airbnb is the sprawling mountainous view.
"This is definitely a first,” Robinson said. "That’s one of the reasons I took the job."
While the project is expected to be completed by sometime in February, Parrish and his wife hope this will be the rental property "to rule them all."
"We're coming up with what we hope will be the coolest hobbit home on the East Coast," Parrish said.
The couple has yet to determine how much the unique hobbit home will cost per night.
