A LANDOWNER has spoken of his upset after one of his ‘hobbit huts’ was torched by vandals.

Tony Edwards, who runs and owns Troed-Y-Rhiw farm in Wattsville, owns around eight to 10 acres of woodland which is open to the public.

Mr Edwards works alongside the probation service to bring ex-offenders on to his land as part of their rehabilitation project. The offenders then help him build the hobbit huts and look after the woodland so members of the public can enjoy it.

However, the largest one of the three huts was set alight around two weeks ago, which has caused a lot of upset for the 73-year-old – who also runs The Woodlands log cabin and tipi holidays.

“I opened up these woodlands for the public and work alongside people from the probation service and the long term unemployed to look after it,” he said.

“The hobbit huts were built by them and they are a lot of hard work. A lot of people have worked particularly hard to get it (the woodland) where it is today.”

Mr Edwards said the hut was set on fire just before he went on holiday around two weeks ago.

However, he said he didn’t realise the hut was on fire and it was one of the holidaymakers who was staying in his log cabin who spotted the blaze.

He said: “We didn’t even know it was on fire. It was someone from the log cabin who spotted it and called the fire service. It’s got to have been deliberately set on fire as how else would it have started?

“It’s just really depressing as so much work has gone into making it. Yeah, these people may have offended but they’re going back into the community and working hard to give something back. It’s awful to see their hard work gone to waste.”

Mr Edwards said he hasn’t told the police as he believes it isn’t an urgent matter, but is wanting whoever committed the act to own up. He is also looking or more people to help develop his woodland. For more information, contact Mr Edwards on 0777 8110 829.