A woodcutter who built his own Hobbit House has revealed he has never watched Lord of the Rings.
Great-grandad Stuart Grant, 89, moved into the cottage he bought as a wreck with no roof and no doors in 1984, while he was renovating a house.
But he found it so satisfying doing DIY on the quirky outbuilding which dated back 200 years, that he decided to make it his home.
Dad-of-two Stuart trained as a joiner but suffered from ME for 46 years so said he worked “in slow motion” on the three-bedroom rustic pad.
He has been inundated with visitors to his home in Tomich, near Inverness after his house was posted on a French tourist board's recommendations for north Scotland.
He doesn't have a mobile phone or use the internet and no longer drives due to his age, but he loves getting out and meeting people.
Stuart said: “I haven’t watched Lord of the Rings. It’s just a coincidence that my front door is almost the same shape and same kind of wood, oak.
“I didn't know about them and they didn't know about me.
“Before me there were cows, calves and chickens living in here, and a donkey. It was a shoemakers' cottage and a croft.
“I was always a glutton for scenic beauty, beautiful houses, and thatched cottages in England.”
He added: “I moved in in 1984 but it wasn’t done up, I was living with concrete mixers then went out to Australia for a year.
“I was just doing it in slow-motion. I was getting such a buzz out of doing it.
“I don’t know how much it cost. I cut the wood myself from fallen trees and collected stones from the river for the stonework. I put the stairs in.
“It took quite a few years, I never counted it. I just enjoyed doing it so much. I got carried away."
He said that doing creative projects has kept him young.
Stuart said: “You get a real buzz out of doing interesting stuff. I’ll be 90 in less than two weeks but I feel like a teenager.
“I’ve travelled the world, it is all just a great adventure.”
