Throughout our time in New Zealand, we've been checking out locations where Sir Peter Jackson (everything that mentions him here includes the honorific) filmed parts of The Lord of the Rings films. As we make long drives in the car, we listen to Robert Ingles read the books (we just finished Fellowship of the Ring). As you may have noticed, many of our blog posts make reference to LOTR. The adventure recounted here, though, is one of straight up, gratuitous, nerd-tastic, Lord of the Rings fan geeking out. Yes, we have been to Hobbiton and enjoyed every minute of it. We figure our nerd-cred has gone up many points.
The previous few days had been rainy and cold, so we were afraid our day in Hobbiton would be similar, but thankfully that wasn't the case. While it was a bit windy, the sun was shining, and it was relatively warm. All in all, a good day to explore Hobbiton and Bywater.
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here, but simply offer this brief summary of the experience. Hobbiton was originally built for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy on a sheep farm near Matamata, mostly because of a huge oak tree near a lake on the property, but also because there were rolling hills all around, and no evidence of modernity in sight. The outdoor sets were scheduled to be destroyed shortly after filming, but thanks to weeks of rain and an eventual agreement reached between the farm and New Line Cinemas, most of Hobbiton remained. While the Green Dragon Inn & Pub had been burned for the original movies, New Line returned and rebuilt it for the latest Hobbit movies. After they filmed those movies, the farm made a few improvements, and it is now a working restaurant and pub, complete with an Amber ale, a Stout, a Cider, and a Gingerbeer.
Another bit of interesting trivia concerns the tree at the top of Bag End. For the original movies, they chopped down a live tree and transplanted it to Hobbiton. As you can imagine, that tree eventually died. The new tree atop Hobbiton was constructed with foam, steel, plastic, and other materials and then painted to look like a real tree. Over 250,000 silk leaves were attached by hand. We found a couple of the leaves on the ground and totally walked out with them.
So, our tour consisted of exploring Hobbiton, including the iconic Bag End and 15-20 other Hobbit holes (only the outsides, all the indoor scenes were filmed on a soundstage), a brief walk to Bywater, a free pint of the beverage of our choice at the Green Dragon (Amber for Alan, Stout for Gracyn), and a light meal as well. Alan had beef pie, while Gracyn had a melty, cheesy, bread dish.
The pictures below feature various Hobbit holes and other highlights of the area. When you have a chance to simply look out on the village and block out all the other tourists, it's a pretty magical place. Alan says he'd be glad to officiate any weddings that people might want to hold there.
The previous few days had been rainy and cold, so we were afraid our day in Hobbiton would be similar, but thankfully that wasn't the case. While it was a bit windy, the sun was shining, and it was relatively warm. All in all, a good day to explore Hobbiton and Bywater.
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here, but simply offer this brief summary of the experience. Hobbiton was originally built for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy on a sheep farm near Matamata, mostly because of a huge oak tree near a lake on the property, but also because there were rolling hills all around, and no evidence of modernity in sight. The outdoor sets were scheduled to be destroyed shortly after filming, but thanks to weeks of rain and an eventual agreement reached between the farm and New Line Cinemas, most of Hobbiton remained. While the Green Dragon Inn & Pub had been burned for the original movies, New Line returned and rebuilt it for the latest Hobbit movies. After they filmed those movies, the farm made a few improvements, and it is now a working restaurant and pub, complete with an Amber ale, a Stout, a Cider, and a Gingerbeer.
Another bit of interesting trivia concerns the tree at the top of Bag End. For the original movies, they chopped down a live tree and transplanted it to Hobbiton. As you can imagine, that tree eventually died. The new tree atop Hobbiton was constructed with foam, steel, plastic, and other materials and then painted to look like a real tree. Over 250,000 silk leaves were attached by hand. We found a couple of the leaves on the ground and totally walked out with them.
So, our tour consisted of exploring Hobbiton, including the iconic Bag End and 15-20 other Hobbit holes (only the outsides, all the indoor scenes were filmed on a soundstage), a brief walk to Bywater, a free pint of the beverage of our choice at the Green Dragon (Amber for Alan, Stout for Gracyn), and a light meal as well. Alan had beef pie, while Gracyn had a melty, cheesy, bread dish.
The pictures below feature various Hobbit holes and other highlights of the area. When you have a chance to simply look out on the village and block out all the other tourists, it's a pretty magical place. Alan says he'd be glad to officiate any weddings that people might want to hold there.
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