From the moment I stepped onto the path leading into the Hobbiton Movie Set, I knew I was in for a treat.
Hobbiton is located on the Alexander farm, just outside of Matamata, New Zealand. When I went there in 2015, the farm had around 13,000 sheep and 300 Angus beef cattle on 1250 acres. I remember the guide telling us Peter Jackson was lucky when he found this farm on an aerial search of New Zealand for filming locations. His scout actually knocked on Mr. Alexander’s door during half-time of an All-Blacks game — and it seems that Mr. Alexander only answered because it was half-time. If that weren’t the case, we may not have the Hobbiton we know today. I, for one, can’t imagine it another way.
When you visit Hobbiton, you’ll start your day at the Shire’s Rest, which is the information centre that doubles as a gift shop and café.
I boarded a special Hobbiton Movie Set bus at The Shire’s Rest, but even as we were driving up to Hobbiton, you couldn’t see much of anything outside the windows. Even where they drop you off at the entrance, Hobbiton is still hidden. Our tour guide gathered us here – her name, funnily enough, was also Jess. She asked us who had seen the movies and then who had read the main books. Her last question was who had read The Silmarillion. I was the only one in the group to raise their hand – something I am still proud of.
Not seeing Hobbiton as we approached on the bus turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. When we turned the corner on the path into Hobbiton, an amazing sight appeared before our eyes. I had gone from the regular world, straight into Middle Earth. Straight into the Shire.
Walking on the paths in Hobbiton was surreal. Everywhere I stepped I was fully immersed in the Shire. Almost everything in the garden and on display in terms of food was actually edible. Our tour guide said that they actually employ full-time gardeners to keep everything in check.
As I progressed through Hobbiton, I could see that where the richer hobbits would have lived, personalities sprung from those hobbit holes. Lumberjacks, bakers…a gardener. Hi Sam Gamgee! Gorgeous, every single one.
When I was there, the Hobbiton Movie Set had about 37 hobbit holes, though I think there are a few more now. You could see the tricks they used throughout Hobbiton, specifically the varying sizes of the hobbit holes, to make actors like Sir Ian McKellen seem taller and the ones playing various hobbits, like Elijah Wood, seem much smaller.
When you are there, you do get the chance to take a photo just inside one of the hobbit holes (the one right before Bad End, known as the Artist’s Home). It only extends a few feet back, a brief reprieve to the façades of the other hobbit holes.
My understanding now, though, is they have 2 furnished hobbit holes on Bagshot Row that you do get to explore during a tour – they refer to this as Venture Beyond the Door on the Hobbiton Movie Set website. I would travel back to New Zealand for this in a heartbeat – in fact, the other types of tours they have and the other Lord of the Rings experiences I didn’t have a chance to do while I was there…all of them would bring me back.
As I approached Bag End, my attention went from the gated entrance to the slightly ajar door of the hobbit hole, and then to the tree sitting above the infamous hobbit hole. That tree, our guide said, is the most expensive prop that they have in Hobbiton. Yes, it’s a prop. This is mostly because they returned to Hobbiton to film The Hobbit after Lord of the Rings — which is also around the time this set became a permanent fixture.
In Tolkien’s world, The Hobbit takes place about 60 years prior to Lord of the Rings. As such, they reconstructed the tree to make sure it appeared younger in the film. Each branch of the tree was bolted together on top of Bag End, and it weighs about 26 tonnes. The crew imported gorgeous and artificial leaves from Taiwan, and wired them individually onto the tree.
Each step that I took through Hobbiton was like walking through the pages of a book or scenes in a movie. The feeling that rushed through me was indescribable. Even the 500+ pictures I took that day couldn’t capture even half of the magic.
At the end of the Hobbiton Movie Set tour, our guide brought us to the Green Dragon. I tried their Sackville Cider—smooth, crisp, delicious.
Outside the Green Dragon Inn, I looked back. The hills of Hobbiton stared back at me.
I stepped out my door, and I knew where I was going. But I didn’t expect it to bring me here.
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