These homes come straight from Middle Earth

BEND, Ore. — Ron Meyers isn’t given to long discourses on Hobbits, elves or any other inhabitants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination.

In fact, the man building The Shire — a new subdivision in Bend, Ore., recalling the mythical home of Tolkien’s most famous characters — hasn’t read the author’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, though he does own the movie DVDs.

It was a friend who came up with the name for the development. “He is the one that’s the Tolkien freak,” said Meyers, The Shire’s sire. “Not me.”

Still, he’ll play along when prospective home buyers or the merely curious stop by to see his plans for recreating an 18th-century English village featuring homes with names such as Swordsman’s Lodge and Butterfly Cottage.

The houses — going for $550,000 to $850,000 — will feature gabled roofs with faux-straw thatch made from thin strands of PVC that promotional literature says “is essentially windproof, rainproof, fireproof and guaranteed not to discolor.”

Meyers has taken the liberty of renaming an irrigation canal next to The Shire as Brandywine Brook. He’s happy to show off two Hobbit holes otherwise known as storage sheds.

“If you look inside there right now,” said Meyers, pointing to one, “you’ll find a lawn mower.”

When built out at 6.5 acres, The Shire will have 15 cottages and 16 townhouses encircling a central gathering place called the sanctuary. The first properties will go on sale this winter.

But for now the spot is overrun — not by orcs but by backhoes, dump trucks and surveyors. You have to overlook the Caterpillar equipment and the mobile home park next door to grasp The Shire’s magic.

The parts of The Shire that are complete — the small amphitheater, paved pathways, flowery gardens — have an undeniable Middle Earth quality.

Meyers said he hasn’t been flooded by Tolkien groupies eager to live in a re-creation of the fanciful Hobbiton, though his Web site has gotten a lot of hits originating from LOTR fan sites.

“I’m not selling ‘Lord of the Rings,”’ Meyers said. “I’m selling finely crafted homes with a European flair.”

Most potential buyers of The Shire appear to be ordinary people seeking an out-of-the-ordinary neighborhood, Meyers said.

Patti Freese, a Bend retiree, has reserved The Shire’s only finished structures, a model home and accompanying guest house. “I love it because it’s out-of-the-box thinking,” she said. “This is a vision.”

Hobbits and dragons don’t particularly interest her, but the development’s green building principles and quality craftsmanship do.

“I think the community will end up being one of like-minded people,” she said, “looking for a place of harmony.”