By Lauren Beavis
A photographer who built an adorable mouse village with over 150k social media followers has added – a pub, a book shop and Hobbit homes.
Simon Dell, 50, began making the ‘mini shire’ when he spotted a wild mouse in his back garden.
Since then, he has attracted more mice to the luxury mouse town – which he has constructed from recycled wood, materials and repurposed trash.
Simon documents daily village activities across his social media channels (George the Mouse in a log pile house) with an impressive following of over 152k.
He said: “Without photography and the fun of making little things for little things, I could soon sink back in to deep depression.
“Photography gave me a reason to get up and out again and the mouse village gave me back my smile.
“I hope it gives others the same joy it gives me.”
Back in 2018, Simon recalls sitting in his garden in South Yorkshire when he “could see cats sitting just feet away from this little mouse at the other side of a fence.”
He said: “I piled some small logs around a box as a home for the mouse and covered it with moss and straw to give him a little shelter.
“I then put some wire fencing around the fence so there was no way the cats could get to the mouse.
“We decided to name him George.”
After saving the mouse, Simon began to add more homes next door.
Within days, more mice had moved in, looking for creature comforts.
The wildlife photographer began adding more to the tiny houses, fashioning detailed dining tables, washing lines, motorbikes and even a weights set for the adorable rodents.
Now six years on, Simon says there are at least 20 mice – with possibly two family groups of mice around eight to 10 in each group.
He explained: “Since 2018 when I started the concept of a mouse village a lot has changed and the village has grown – lots of new houses have come and gone.
“The only limit is my own imagination and skills at making the new buildings – as everything is made by hand from recycled bits of wood old logs or just about anything I can find in skips or the trash that could be given a new life.
The wildlife sanctuary and village now has a Pub ‘the Log Pile Inn’, as well as a book store, village hardware store, a large town house and new hobbit homes at ground level and above those.
He said: “They have two of my old boots converted in to mouse homes and lots of other types of homes scattered around the village.
“In fact they have just about everything you would find in a village or even a town!”
He has plans to add a train station, cafe and a theater or cinema.
Simon, who is based in Yorkshire, expresses how the mouse village has given him – and all of his followers – immense joy amidst personal struggles.
He said: “As I have always suffered with depression -insomnia and anxiety they are always there to support me in good or bad times and many find my photos and videos help make them smile daily and lift their moods.
“That has always been my goal to make others smile along with keeping my mind and body active.”
You can follow the mouse village across Facebook, Youtube and Tiktok: https://www.facebook.com/Georgethemouseinalogpilehouse
https://www.youtube.com/@GeorgetheMouseinalogpilehouse/videos
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