A HOBBIT-style turf shelter lovingly built by young people with learning difficulties was burned down by vandals.

As care home owner Tony Edwards surveyed the wreckage yesterday he spoke bitterly of the "scum" who destroyed the work of vulnerable people. "The turf shelter was built with love and pride," he said. "Some of the youngsters were in tears this morning. I was filling up myself with rage and frustration.

"It is almost certainly the same gang who at the same time set fire to a large patch of forestry higher up the mountain."

The turf shelter at Ty Hafod Tudor near Wattsville is on land owned by Mr Edwards who was born in the nearby village. Ten years ago Mr Edwards introduced a scheme by which young people with learning difficulties were accommodated in a custom-built hostel and introduced to country living.

"The turf shelter was a beautiful thing which looked a bit like the Hobbit homes in Lord of the Rings," said Mr Edwards.

"We had just replaced some of the main beams and put in new membranes to conform with new health and safety standards. "There is a little stream running by and the area is heavily wooded. Working amid all this nature is like paradise for the young people who come to stay with us.

"They get a strong sense of involvement by helping to build things like the turf shelter. Now all that has been destroyed. "Cans of cider thrown into the stream make it pretty clear that yobs were responsible. It seems likely that they also started a fire further up the mountain."

A spokeswoman for South Wales Fire Service said firefighters from Risca were called to the scene at 7.21pm on Tuesday.

Firefighters using one hose reel and beaters spent more than two and a half hours extinguishing the blazes that spread across two acres of mountainside in Wattsville.

l Just under three years ago, Ty Hafod Tudor was evacuated during a huge forest fire that was also started deliberately. The fire, in April 2003, saw dozens of people evacuated from houses in the village.