Meet Angelo Mastropietro, a corporate honcho from Australia who decided to give up his career and become a caveman. You would be amazed at how he did it though; he spent $230,848 to carry out renovation of a 250 million years old cave in England and transformed it into something that complimented his tastes.
Angelo is 38 years old and was tempted to make this drastic change in his life following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis back in 2007. The condition rendered him paralyzed temporarily and he made use of that time for reflecting upon things that really mattered to him.
The former recruitment boss said, “My life before I became a caveman was really quite different. Like most people I had aspirations to work in the corporate world. I had a lapse that left me essentially paralyzed, which was a catalyst to review where I was, where I was going with my lifestyle. I wanted to be in a place where I had a happier and healthier life.”
The opportunity presented itself during his trip to England back in 2010. He came across a listing of property; a cave in Worcestershire’s Wyre Forest. The cave had been used as a four-bedroom house for about 300 years before being abandoned in the late 1940s.
Upon realizing that this is the same cave that he had taken refuge in during a rainy day in 1999, he decided to take the leap and purchased it for £62,000 and began working on it to transform it into his dream house. With a budget of £100,000, he decided to do most of the work himself. He spent a total of 1,000 hours cutting and burrowing through 70-80 tons of rock. He also managed to drill into the hillside for creating his own 80-meter deep bore that now supplies water to the house.
Angelo said, “I love a challenge. Coincidentally my surname actually means Master of the Stones, so maybe it’s in my blood. The rock house came along and without a shadow of doubt I was as passionate about that as I was setting up my company.”
The finished house has been equipped with a number of modern conveniences such as running water, Wi-Fi, underfloor heating and plush interiors. It also features a huge terrace, glass doors, white walls and oak-framed windows for brightening up the interior. Angelo further added, “I want to celebrate that it is a cave dwelling, but I want to add modern day luxuries. It definitely has a modern feel but hopefully retains some cave charm.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-R6xnrWOlA