Enthusiasts build Hobbit-style village in Ukraine’s Carpathians

Top left: Co-founder of Hobbithill Andrii Boiechko poses for a photograph at the construction site of this village near the town of Verkhovyna in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Bottom left: The village will have houses set into hillsides to resemble the “hobbit-holes” in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” fantasy novels.
Top and bottom right: A village with hobbit-style houses already exists at a place called Hobbiton in New Zealand, the movie set of the “Lord of the Rings” film adaptation. It attracts tens of thousands of Tolkien fans each year.