Looking at Land

When Adam and I want a quick, free date, we go looking at land. (We used to walk around Lowe's. We've upgraded.) He finds a couple of spots in the county that are for sale, and we drive over to take a look. Sometimes they are drive-bys -- lots that are obviously a terrible choice. In our county, many land lots are in floody/marshy areas.
Today we walked over a lot for sale. As we approached the back of the lot, we noticed a boardwalk stretching away.

And what a boardwalk! It must've stretched straight out across the broad marsh for a quarter mile! It seemed fairly new, but was poorly maintained. Bushes and little trees were encroaching on the walkway and growing up between the boards.
But the view!

On both sides ~

Just stunning! I thought, "Wow! I could live at a place that had a daily walk like this!" I will add that the property had a "for sale" sign, and did NOT have a "no trespassing" sign.
The boardwalk finally ended in a creek with a boat dock (and another "for sale" sign, in case anybody on a boat was interested). We turned to walk back, and I took this shot of Adam. The boardwalk stretches all the way to the trees far in the distance.

Here's the dock and the creek. I imagine there's lovely bird life out here.

We realized later we had looked at the wrong piece of property, and this one was certainly not in our price range, or anywhere close to it! But what fun it was to discover such a place.  I can't say we are really shopping. At some point we may decide to buy a small lot. We dream of building a cob house someday. Have you ever heard of a cob house? It's one of our oldest building types -- earthen houses. In Europe there are many. In recent years, cob houses have become popular again because they are inexpensive and can be built by the home-owners. They're also very labor-intensive and take lots of time. But if you have energy and patience, you can have an interesting, unique home without a mortgage. That's worth considering. Here are a few examples, although our cob house would be simpler than these.

 You can make a two-story cob house, but we only want one story.

 Thatch is popular, but we don't want that either. Adam says a traditional roof is probably best in our situation. Cob houses must meet code, and they certainly can.

 Many cob houses display plenty of whimsy! The cob, which is a soft clay/sand/straw combination, can be formed artistically before it dries and hardens. This allows fun things to be done with the clay -- glass inserted, small shelves formed, small niches, and art, as you see above.

 This one has a grass roof.
And most cob houses have a warm, welcoming feel. The thick clay walls hold heat in winter and keep the house cooler in summer. Seating, bed frames, windows or mantles can all be formed in the cob as you build up.

Will this dream materialize? I don't know. Adam is enthusiastic, and we have been thinking about it for about a year. The process probably would not start for a few more years. What do you think about cob houses?