Breathtaking photos of a man's cave house

Angelo Mastropietro spent £160,000 turning this 250-million-year-old cave into his dream house.

From the outside this rocky dwelling looks pretty normal, but inside it has all the furnishings of a regular house.

Angelo, 38, spent 1,000 back-breaking hours transforming the historic cave in Wyre Forest, Worcestershire.

The real-life Fred Flintstone was living a high-flying life as the head of a successful recruitment company in Australia when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007.

The condition led to him being temporarily paralysed - and inspired him to seek a simpler lifestyle.

"My life before I became a caveman was really quite different, like most people I had aspirations to work in a corporate world," he said.

"I had a lapse that left me essentially paralysed, which was a catalyst to review where I was, where I was going and my lifestyle."

Seeking solace in nature, Angelo spent weeks cutting and burrowing rock and getting rid of 80 tons of rubble by hand.

The project gave him something to focus on and now he has one of the most unique homes in the world.

"I love a challenge. Coincidentally my surname actually means Master of the Stones, so maybe it's in my blood," he said.

"The rock house came along and without a shadow of a doubt I was as passionate about that as I was about setting up my company."

The sandstone cliffs were his cosy home is located are said to have inspired JRR Tolkien when he was writing Lord of the Rings.

Inside his cave abode features running water, wifi and underground heating.

The rock house, which was featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs in September, is currently being rented as a holiday home.

"I think when you're actually here and you see it in person, you get a feel for the place," said Angelo.

"People have literally been in tears, so I feel incredibly happy, very proud, very honoured - it's been a very inspiring chapter I think."