New Zealand part 3: Hobbiton

We went to see Hobbiton! I'll have you know I'm not a Lord of the Rings fanatic. I have never read the books, and only seen the movies once or twice years ago, but the little village was so charming in the movies that I really wanted to see it. Besides, when in Middle Earth...

And I have to admit it was one of my favorite places! The Hobbiton village was built in the middle of nowhere on a massive sheep farm. And New Zealand sheep farms are nothing like American ones! This place was a vast wonderland of rolling green hills! Absolutely breathtaking! Here's a good view of the landscape with a few hobbit homes.



I won't bore you with the bazillion pictures that I took of round doors. But here are a few good ones. Bilbo's house...


There aren't actually interiors behind the doors. Bilbo's does have a bit of wall inside that you can see, but the indoor shots in the movie are on a studio set. This is also why I liked this tour so much, because I'm a nerd for behind the scenes movie secrets. For example, in the Fellowship movie when Gandalf hits his head on a beam in Bilbo's house, that was a total accident! See, I'm such a nerd!


Also, there were two hobbit homes built for the important ones. A big one, like above, so the Hobbit actors could look small, and a small one like this...


So Gandalf could stand in front of it and look big! Clever!

The details of the town were so neat! There were clothes lines with hobbit clothes (upper right) and bee hives!


There was even a real garden! With cabbages and strawberries and tomatoes!


There were plum trees and apple trees and wildflowers everywhere! It was just beautiful!


Here we are on a bridge in front of the water mill.


At the close of the tour we each got a refreshing glass of ginger beer inside the Hobbiton pub, the Green Dragon.





What a fun place!