DON'T worry, this isn't the solution to York's housing crisis - though if homes continue to soar in price the way they are doing, it may be one day.

You could actually do far worse. This Mongolian yurt can sleep a family of six or more in (relative) comfort, it can be taken down and loaded onto the back of your two camels in just an hour if you feel the need to seek out pastures new - and it cost just £1,960 to build.

What's more, it has probably got a lifetime longer than many modern 'throw 'em up' houses.

"They say if you spend 25 days building a yurt, it will last 25 years," says St Nicholas Fields' volunteer Belinda Noda, who organised the community project to build York's yurt.

"This took two days to build, but we hope it will last longer than two years! It will last a lifetime if we look after it!"

The yurt is the traditional home of nomadic Mongolian and Kirgiz tribesmen - and you'd normally expect to find them dotted across the rolling Mongolian grasslands rather than sitting in the middle of St Nicholas Fields.

There aren't many nomadic tribesmen in York, of course, so this one won't be used as a home.

Instead it is going to be put to use as a kind of mobile exhibition and education centre, and will also be available for hire by local community groups who want something a little different to the standard marquee for staging outdoor events.

Funded by the York and North Yorkshire Community Foundation, and working under the supervision of Lakelander Walter Lloyd, an expert in yurt construction whose son Tom actually lives in a yurt, a small army of 160 volunteers from across York and North Yorkshire - many of them children - turned out at the weekend to build the yurt, following a traditional design.

The walls are made of a lattice or trellis of 90 interwoven ash and birch poles, each pole permanently bent in a steam box over a fire to just the right curve.

The roof is made of 40 more poles, which bend at the base then meet at the top, leaving a small 'smoke hole'.

The volunteers spent the entire weekend putting the yurt together - first stripping the bark off the ash and birch poles provided free of charge by Thirsk land agents Tilhill, then steam bending them and drilling 864 holes to allow them to be lashed together.

In Mongolia, the yurt's covering would normally be made from sheep hides - but the York volunteers decided on a canvas covering instead.

"It would need 80 to 100 sheep to provide the fleece for the cover of one yurt!" admits Belinda. Besides which, she concedes, because of the damp climate, sheepskin wouldn't be very practical here.

That apart, however, the yurt is authentic in almost every detail, Belinda insists.

The poles which make up the trellis walls are linked at the joints by lengths of twine threaded through holes. OK, so maybe Mongolian nomads don't have much twine and would perhaps use strips of hide instead - but the principal is the same.

And the whole thing is designed to be dismantled in an hour. "It would all fit on the back of two camels," Belinda says. "But we think we will have to make do with getting it all on the back of one transit van."

One of the volunteers who gave up her weekend was 38-year-old Wendy Charlesworth from Huntington.

It was a fantastic experience, she said - and a real thrill when, on Sunday, the yurt began to take shape.

But would she want to live in it?

"I'd give up my house and move in any day!"

York Housing Association take note.

- There will be training days next week when volunteers will learn how to put up and dismantle the yurt. To find out more, or to inquire about hiring the yurt, ring Belinda Noda on 01653 696698.

Updated: 10:59 Thursday, April 25, 2002