Recycling with Rik

Couple's interest in Old West leads to Bobville, a full-scale backyard town

Rik Nelson   /  Correspondent

Linda Ashcraft at the mill in Bobville. (Courtesy of Linda and Bob Ashcroft)

Of a summer evening in Bobville, you could climb the stairs behind the mercantile to a cozy balcony above the attorney's office and, with a loved one, watch the sun set across the mill pond. Bobville, Pop. 2, is all about that kind of contentment, and love, and passion.

Specifically, Bobville is the passion of Linda and Bob Ashcraft. It's a full-scale recreation in their North Idaho backyard of an Old West town. As of today, their passion has spawned a working barn and stable, forge, mill, attorney Sam Ashcraft's office, Bea's Mercantile, a church, Winter's Boardinghouse, Ruby's Saloon, and the U.S. Marshall's office (next to the horseshoe pit). Most of the buildings are named for the Ashcraft's grandchildren and Ruby is Linda's Red Hat name.

As extensive as Bobville is, Linda Ashcraft makes it very clear that, "It's not a public thing at all."

It simply began with a close call from a firestorm that prompted removing the pine trees from the Ashcraft backyard.

"Then the backyard was blank. It needed something," Linda Ashcraft says. Her husband built two ponds, a flagstone patio and firepit, but the adjacent horse lot was still an eyesore. The Ashcrafts decided they needed a fence.

"We wanted a unique fence," Linda Ashcraft says. "We saw one in Hayden, with old-fashioned scenes on it and liked that."

Bob Ashcraft had always been fond of Old West lore and Linda had grown up loving Knott's Berry Farm, so they decided their fence would feature a series of facades with a Western theme.

"I took pictures of the backyard and put them on the computer in PhotoShop," Linda Ashcraft says. "Then I drew in buildings so Bob could see what I had in mind."

Her husband began by building a church facade, the visual anchor, at the far corner of the yard. He constructed it flat then winched it into place. It rose up 25 feet.

"It's still a fence," Linda Ashcraft insists, "just a taller fence." She says her job is to design and paint the buildings and her husband, a civil engineer, builds them.

"But he's gotten really good at not being just an engineer," she says. "Bobville is helping him develop the right side of his brain, the intuitive, holistic side."

Yet both Ashcrafts are committed left-brainers (in a sense that being a left-brainer means being logical and rational) when it comes to procuring building materials.

Their barn was made from lumber originally used to build a bridge over the Snake River in the '70s. Bea's Mercantile was built with lumber from an old garage they were given permission to take down in Rathdrum. Also, the Habitat Store is an Ashcraft favorite for other building materials like roofing, windows, doors, hinges, lattice, shutters, lights, and "lots of paint."

The Ashcrafts characterize themselves as "pretty conservative," saying they don't like to see building materials thrown away, if they can be reused. They even say the studs and beams they use are rescued from commercial building sites before they're hauled to the dump.

"It's all good stuff," Linda Ashcraft says. "Maybe a 2-by-4 has a nail in it, but you can pull that out."

While about half the buildings are merely facades, the other half are fully "liveable" and make great playhouses for the grandchildren, as well as fantastic party haunts for the grownups.

The full-on buildings need furniture, fixtures, accoutrements and for the Ashcrafts that means St. Vincent's.

"We should probably name the church St. Vincent's," Linda Ashcraft says. "We've gotten so much there – a waterbed headboard for the backbar at Ruby's, naugahyde to cover the couches at Bea's, even antique stained glass windows for the church."

When will Bobville be done?

"Well, we're building a log cabin now," Linda Ashcraft says. "It's not attached to the 'fence,' so technically it's out of town. But we don't have a school yet, so there's that to do – and we just purchased another half acre next door. We still have lots of room."

The Ashcrafts tell guests that Bobville's town motto is "Just Because." It doesn't take too long a visit with the Ashcrafts to discover it's just because they love each other, their kids, their grandkids and this world, that they created the extra-special world of Bobville.