The four so-called roundhouses in the park face demolition

Emma Orbach built her eco-friendly home, plastered with mud and horse manure, five years ago on a section of the 165-acre Brithdir Mawr site near Newport in Pembrokeshire.

It is one of four dwellings which Pembrokeshire National Park leaders say will have to go because to give them retrospective planning permission would create an unacceptable precedent.

Mrs Orbach said she is a victim of a Catch-22 situation in that, because she puts the huts up to prove how unobtrusive they are, she is now being penalised for not first obtaining planning permission.

On Wednesday this week, park chiefs reaffirmed their view that the so-called roundhouses, comprised largely of natural materials such as straw bales and timber and with no running water or electricity, could not be justified.

It's not very long ago that people did not have flushing toilets or running water in the house Emma Orbach

But the heated debate offered some hope to those who want to see some form of low-impact, sustainable activity in the area.

One park member did suggest that the National Park Authority look seriously at how it deals with the issue of sustainable development, because it was felt that perhaps it is an issue that is too easily ignored.

'Stresses or strains'

Mrs Orbach said that after four years in her home, she has achieved her ambition of living closer to nature in a more stress-free environment.

She said: "I describe it as luxurious.

"I can light the fire very fast in the morning and get the kettle boiling and get the house warmed up. I have vegetables from the garden.

"It takes a bit of experience getting the hang of it.

"It's not very long ago that people did not have flushing toilets or running water in the house.

"I live very much as people have lived in the country for hundreds of years.

"For me it would be difficult with a car or the stresses or strains when your mobile phone breaks down."

Three of the four huts are lived in by members of the Tir Ysbrydol Trust, who describe themselves as "embryonic community dedicated to developing our relationship with the earth and nature spirits," and the fourth is used as a retreat.

The huts are designed to last for up to about ten years, when they, in effect, 'disappear' back into the woodland they are hidden in.