A tiny cobwood cottage in Hungary...

  
   
       
 
 
 

Leen and Wouter built their tiny cottage together in a little under 3 months with the occasional help of a few friends. The cottage is a half-roundwood timber frame with a roundwood reciprocal roof and an infill of cords of wood with cob (clay, sand and straw) mortar. You can see the construction stages on their Facebook page Hegy tanyak Hungary.
   
       
   
       
 

The tiny cottage is on their small scale ecological farm on the edge of Hungary's Orseg National Park. Their farmstead is completely off the grid with water from their well, electricity from solar panels, compost-toilet and a wood fired shower. At the farm they produce all their own vegetables, dairy products, mushrooms and much more including foraging in the surrounding woodlands where they pick elderflowers for their own elder syrup.
 

 
   
 
   
   
       

Try their elderflower syrup...

Using 20 to 25 elderflower florets per litre of water. Remove the flowers from their stalks and put them in a large bowl. Cover the flowers with water and add 2 sliced lemons per litre of water. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave it for 24 hours. The next day remove all the elderflowers and lemon and boil the elder water. For every litre of water add 500g to 700g of sugar. Pour the liquid into clean jars or bottles when It's still hot and close them quickly to create a vacuum as the liquid cools. The syrup will keep for a year.

Take your next holiday in a natural home

Leen's cobwood cottage and other natural homes that are available for holiday rents are listed in our natural building group in Facebook.