I sold my house to live in a ‘hobbit tent’ – I only pay £300 a month in expenses
A MOTHER-OF-TWO who left home to live a nomadic life now lives in a handmade tent in the British countryside, with solar power, home-grown food and expenses of just £300 a month.
Jessica Rost, a 55-year-old artist, first embraced full-time nomadic living in 2019 when she moved into a converted Ford Transit van.
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Jessica initially kept her two-bedroom family home in Milton Keynes because her two children, now aged 25 and 27, whom she declined to name, lived there “on and off” between studying and starting their jobs.
In 2021, she began making bender tents – shelters made of woven branches or metal bent into a dome shape – as part of her work as an artist, but later decided to make one for herself to live in as well.
In 2021 she moved into her first tent in Blackburn and since 2022 she has lived in a 23ft by 16ft tent in the Cheshire countryside with five windows, a gas cooker, carpeting, a fridge in the shape of a flower pot, Wi-Fi and even a bath on wheels.
Jessica keeps her monthly expenses to around £300 by growing her own food and sharing her home with the occasional spider, shrew, snail or toad, which she sees as “just part of life”.
Later this year, she will temporarily move to a two-bedroom terraced house she bought in Lancaster, where she will live with her partner, an environmentalist, and his son, whom she will not name. She hopes to one day house them all in a treehouse or van. She doubts whether she will ever be able to fully return to a conventional lifestyle.
Jessica told PA Real Life: “Everyone loves seeing my crazy little hobbit house. It has everything you need, it’s like a mini house.
“One year I had about eight people here on Christmas Day.”
In 2019, Jessica ditched her traditional home life and went full-time nomadic living in her van.
“I took to it (off-grid living) very easily because I’ve always lived an outdoor life,” she said.
“It’s very close to the outdoors, but not outdoors – you hear the owls and you hear the rain, you hear everything and you see all the seasons.
“Even if I’m in a house with a garden… after a few days I start to feel very claustrophobic.”
During this time Jessica was busy making bender tents and mazes for people to walk through and contemplate life. In 2021 she decided to build one of her own to live in in Blackburn.
Since 2022, she has been living in a tent in a field in Cheshire.
The 7m x 5m tent cost Jessica around £1,500 to build and was completed in a few days.
“It’s made from hazel branches bent into a dome shape, it’s got five windows, a door, a small boot, a gas stove, a good strong groundsheet, a few layers of carpet, lots of insulation and some tarpaulin over the top,” Jessica explained.
“Outside I see lots of hedges, a walnut tree and a small fire.”
Her loved ones, including her two children, “love to come visit,” and when she decided to live off-grid, Jessica says they “weren’t really surprised.”
The rise of tiny houses
By Jonathan Rolande
Real estate expert Jonathan Rolande told Fabulous: The reason we’re seeing more creative ways to find a home: extremely high house prices and rents. Younger people are staying in their parents’ homes longer to avoid paying high prices and to save for a down payment. With increasingly busy lives, it makes sense to stay within a larger family group, where chores like gardening and housework can be shared.
Garages are rarely used for their intended purpose, as cars are much more reliable and less likely to rust, and can therefore be left outside. On the other hand, the amount of available space per person has decreased – converting a garage can be very useful.
Things to consider. (the boring stuff)
This is usually easier than building it from scratch, but there is still a lot that needs to be done to convert a garage into a living space.
Check if planning is required (this is more likely if the garage is detached).
Building codes dictate many things to make homes safe and secure. Think about
Walls, are they cavity walls?
Roof height
Windows
How do you connect the pipes, electricity and drainage?
Insulation – It’s getting cold!
Fire safety
Moisture protection
Also consider whether you are adding or subtracting value from your primary residence by remodeling. Garages can add value in busy urban areas where parking is limited.
Jessica uses a solar panel to charge her phone and access the internet, mainly to sell her artwork and sculptures.
She also built a bath on wheels, which runs on a battery and a gas cylinder and heats up in just 15 minutes, so she can “take a bath whether she is on a mountain or in a field”.
Jessica, who doesn’t eat cheese or meat and believes that most foods don’t need to be refrigerated, grows and gathers her own fruits and vegetables, storing them in a flower pot in the ground to keep them cool.
She cooks with a gas oven, with gas from a local supplier or she cooks with wood on a fire.
£300 to cover monthly bills
Her monthly bills are therefore minimal: around £300 for her wifi, phone bill, groceries and the rent of her workshop.
However, because she lives permanently in a tent, she often has to deal with unexpected visitors. Usually there are spiders, shrews, snails and toads in the tent.
She said, “I do sweep the cobwebs away, but there are plenty of nice places for spiders to live, and even if I sweep the cobwebs away, they just keep growing.
“Some of the spiders are probably three or four years old.
“I think it’s part of it: once you accept that you’re just part of the ecosystem, it’s much better than fighting it.
“I don’t worry about spiders when I sleep, but I don’t like little bugs running and running, so I have a cat.
“I have to seal all my food properly, put it in containers, keep everything very clean and not leave any crumbs anywhere.”
Stay somewhere cozy during the winter
Jessica plans to stay in her tent until the end of the fall, and then move to Lancaster for the winter to live in a house with her partner.
“It won’t last long; I don’t think I can last long in a house,” Jessica added.
“I don’t think I’ll ever live in a house permanently again.
“He stayed with me a lot and was a tree protester, so he lived in tree houses and vans.
“We hope to live together in a tree house or a tent.”
When she moves, she will not take down her tent, instead she will let others stay in it to prevent it from deteriorating.
In the future she hopes to help more people make bender tents and she would like to continue giving workshops on how to make them yourself.
She added: “Off-grid living is supposed to be a solution to many problems, including the cost of living crisis, but it’s not really legal or easy to get away with.
“Nomadic life is not encouraged and there are many prejudices.
“It definitely makes you realize that you don’t need that much stuff.”
