Eddie McIntosh is facing a prison sentence for not tearing down the rural sustainable retreat he spent years building by hand.
His series of wooden buildings on a rural plot in Powys, Wales, includes a treehouse to live in, a classroom, a compost toilet, some cabins to accommodate guests and a collection of other structures - but he's been ordered to pull down the lot.
He moved there in 2006 after selling up in Gloucester, where he was employed as a social worker, to pursue his dream.
The dream has turned very sour though, and after being pursued through the courts by Powys Council - who spent £62,000 on their enforcement action - he is facing 28 days in jail, a sentence he says he would rather serve than pay the £750 fine as an alternative.
The council says Mr McIntosh has breached planning laws 18 times and, after a four-day criminal trial at Merthyr Crown Court, he has been ordered to stop living at the site in Llandegley, Llandrindod Wells.
The Welsh retreat was a labour of love for Mr McIntosh, 52, who spent years developing it after selling his flat in Gloucester for £250,000.
But he never secured the correct planning permission for the buildings.
Mr McIntosh refused to demolish the home he has lived in for 12 years. He says he has raised a family there, meeting his wife Kim who had been a visitor to the retreat in 2011, and who he now has a daughter with.
Mr McIntosh has refused to pay the £750 fine handed to him by the court and now faces a prison sentence by default.
He said: “There is no way I can pay a fine for a crime that does not exist.
“I cannot accept that these things are unlawful,” says Mr McIntosh in reference to the facilities that he has built on the plot.
“It’s not development in the open countryside, it’s clearly a restoration project.”
The legal battles ultimately ripped the developer’s family apart, he said. His wife left him and now he is living alone in a caravan, near his land on the side of the A44.
“I didn’t have as much money as the council but I had huge amount of energy and determination and I just felt righteous,” he said.
He was social worker at Marlowe Child & Family Services Ltd in Gloucester for 10 years and says that he loves helping people and that he looks forward to the chance of helping people in prison. The short sentence would be a “holistic retreat” for him.
“I’ll do 14 days in prison. I play chess online for Wales, I love chess. I like people, I’m really good with paper work," he said.
"I’ll be sitting down with pen and paper and helping as many people as I possibly can to fill in whatever application they need. It’s an offer of a retreat, it’s a holistic retreat for me. I’d love it, it’s a walk in the park for me.”
Councillor Martin Weale, cabinet member for planning and regeneration at Powys Council, told Wales Online: "I hope that is prosecution sends a clear message that breaches of planning will not be tolerated and legal action will be taken wherever necessary to prevent unauthorised developments taking place across the county.
“In this case, the defendant had sufficient time to remove the wooden structures and the motor home but completely disregarded the enforcement notices and the ruling from the independent planning inspector.
“I would strongly urge residents who wish to develop on their land to fully research planning regulations first and to make sure that whatever they build benefits from all the necessary consents.
"Failure to do so is likely to cause unnecessary expense and hassle that is far in excess of just doing the job properly in the first place.”
