Are you tired of city-living? Why not chuck it all and move to The Shire of Bend, Oregon? In this community they’re building Middle Earth-style cottages instead of the cookie-cutter houses seen in most new developments. Where most suburban landscapes have sewer systems and ditches, here Hobbit holes abound! The whole place looks like Disney — the real Walt, not the insulting mall Disney of today — decided to build a Tolkien village. The web site is pretty incredible; if the real thing is anything like the php version, I think they’ll sell a gaggle of homes.
I like The Swordsmen Cottage (pictured here) the best. There’s even a little Old English “town square” and an outdoor amphitheater that “has been created to facilitate events of merriment, gaiety, and pleasure for all the inhabitants of The Shire.” How cool is that?