Despite the intense snowstorms in my city and the chilly weather, we occasionally experience bursts of summer brightness. Right now, as I gaze out the window, all I see is a wall of snow and ice. The only thing providing me comfort at this moment is Minecraft. At least there, I can bask in the scorching sun and relax on the beach.
Paige Hughes is an ambitious builder known for her castles, which happen to be one of her favorite types of constructions. While I have nothing against castles—I love them too—today’s subject stands out as an exception. I would never agree to live in it because it’s made entirely of sand! It looks stunning, far from what I had anticipated. I expected to see a small pile of sand like those we built as kids by the sea or river. The beautiful, delicate details make the castle resemble a sandy cathedral, complete with a bustling town at its base, while light pink stripes both inside and outside breathe life into the structure.
Inside!
Outside!
And again inside!
“I wanted the castle to be spacious and majestic while remaining functional,” Paige explains. The idea for the castle came to her while reading one of the books about Minecraft Bedrock.
“My previous castles ended up being quite cluttered and disorganized,” she admits. Fortunately, she didn’t embark on the journey to create this massive castle alone. “I focused on one room at a time, and my friend Kelsey was a huge help; without her advice, it would have been much harder for me.”
For the first time, Paige entered Minecraft Pocket Edition in 2013. Over these six years, she not only honed her building skills but also instilled a love for the game in her daughter, Melody, who is currently just six years old. “We talk about it a lot,” Paige shares. “I often visit Minecraft Wiki, open any page, and read something interesting about the game, frequently coming across facts about blocks or similar topics. But even though I’ve started teaching my daughter, I’m still pushing myself to learn more.” She confessed that she recently mastered redstone. And that’s perfectly fine! There are even some who still struggle… okay, let’s not dwell on the negatives.
Unlike childhood sandcastles that needed to be built quickly before the incoming waves washed them away, Paige’s castle took significantly longer to construct—over a year and three months! Much of this was due to what Paige refers to as a “miniblog”—a writer’s blog, but for Minecraft.
“It’s often very challenging to build the same thing repeatedly while staying creative,” she acknowledges. “I don’t want to construct the same castle over and over with identical details and parts. However, this time I aimed to primarily use one type of block, and if something didn’t turn out right or looked different than planned, I could spend a lot of time reworking it.”
This may sound exhausting, but all of Paige’s efforts were not in vain. The village within the castle has become one of the safest and most suitable places for villagers. Seriously, there’s almost nothing that could harm anyone there. The village lacks high ledges to prevent injuries from falls, and every water body has lifeguards ensuring no one drowns. But that’s not even the coolest part! Imagine, no hostile creatures can breach the territory! How fantastic is that? (There is a minor issue: villagers can’t leave the boundaries either, but let’s not worry about that.) Paige prepared her residents for the “Village and Pillage” update better than anyone else!
The sandcastle and the sandy village are entirely constructed from sand (which is quite obvious), yet Paige managed to incorporate splashes of color that enliven the area. “I love the color pink,” Paige states. “Every castle I’ve ever built features plenty of pink!”
The construction began in a desert biome, which meant an abundance of sandstone, quartz, and concrete. Additionally, numerous plants surround the castle’s perimeter. Paige created hedges to beautify the inner space, and there’s even a waterfall inside. Pretty cool, right?
Paige shared that she takes pride in her work because the simple concept of a pile of sand can look so charming. “What I enjoy most is the beginning when the idea starts to take shape; there’s no specific plan, but you already sense what the end result will be,” she reveals. “And after finishing, it feels like I had everything meticulously planned out beforehand, but I really didn’t!”
Let’s leave her with this fantastic creation that will last forever! Well, at least until the next tide comes in. We sincerely hope that doesn’t happen!
