‘Gandalf’ spent 32 years living in forest with no electricity or running water

A hermit who has been dubbed a ‘real life Gandalf’ has stubbornly spent the last 32 years living in a forest with no running water or electricity – and insists he’ll never change.

Living in a mud hut in a forest in Longkamp, West Germany, 56-year old Friedmunt Sonnemann’s life has been anything but ordinary.

Known for his distinctive Tolkien-esque long grey beard, Friedmunt has become something of a local celebrity in the area and is often seen crouching in the woods.

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Living completely off the grid has its disadvantages, however during the unprecedented energy crisis he has remained bullish about the benefits.

Bragging to local media, Friedmunt said: "I lack nothing. This is the only way I want to live."

Every day he gets his drinking water from a nearby spring and catches rainwater for cooking and washing.

Equipped with just a dry compost toilet and heating himself with wood fires, he cares for about 100 rare plant species on the four hectares of land that he owns.

In order to make cash, Friedmunt sells their seeds, saying: "There are also plants from my great-grandmother's times that would otherwise have disappeared."

And amazingly he doesn’t lack for company as as he is currently hosting roommates to help around his rare plant farm from places as far away as Taiwan and Mexico.

He explained: "There are eight of us at the moment."

"We don't live in a separate world here. But the impact of what is happening in the world is comparatively small."

With a steady and balanced diet of herbs, fruits and vegetables, Friedmunt said there are still some things that he buys from the outside world. He said: "We also buy rice or noodles."

Explaining his lifestyle, he said: "I don't live alone and I didn't leave the world, I got here. I'm not doing it all by myself, just for myself."

Friedmunt is accepted by the local community, with Longkamp Mayor Horst Gorges saying: "The work he does is accepted here."

A recent addition to his farm, where he has lived for the last 32 years, has been a solar panel set up on a barn so that he can run a washing machine and charge his cordless screwdriver.

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