Sun, Sea and Sandstone

Paige first started playing Minecraft in 2013, and in the six years she's been building, her daughter, Melody – now six herself – has learned to love the game, too. "We talk about it a lot," says Paige. "I use the Minecraft wiki often, and I can list off random facts about most blocks. But, of course, I'm still learning." She admits to mastering redstone only recently. That’s OK! Some of us still haven't...

Unlike real sand castles, which you have to finish quickly thanks to the tide’s strict deadlines, Paige’s sand castle build took a long time to complete – a year and three months! A large part of this was because of what Paige calls "mineblock" – think writer's block, but for Minecraft. Hey, we’ve all been there.

"Sometimes it was hard doing the same patterns while still being creative," she admits. "I can't make the same house over and over again, but I wanted to use the same blocks, and if some things didn't line up right, I would spend a lot of time redoing things too."

That sounds like it could get tedious, but Paige’s efforts have been rewarded with one of the most Villager-friendly builds we’ve ever seen. Seriously, the village is totally Villager safe! There are no tall ledges for them to fall off, all bodies of water have sea cucumbers to stop Drowned spawning, and there’s no way for hostile mobs to get in (or for the Villagers to ever leave – but try not to think about that part). Are the citizens of Paige’s build more prepared for the Village and Pillage update than any other villagers? Possibly!

Just like a real sand castle, Paige is proud of how something that started out as just an idea and a bunch of sand could end up looking so lovely. "My favourite thing is how rough everything starts out," she says. "But when it's finished, it can look like I planned the whole thing from the beginning!"

Leaving her with a fantastic build that will last forever! Or, y’know, until the tide comes in. Ah, it’ll probably be fine...