Location: Hobbiton Movie Set, Waikato region
North Island, New Zealand
Gandalf: I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.Bilbo: I should think so—in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!
Home is now behind you, the world is ahead! – Gandalf
The set was originally constructed with the help of the New Zealand Army, as heavy equipment needed to be brought in to construct 1.5km of road, as well as the facades of 37 hobbit holes and surrounding landscape. It wasn’t all manual labor for the army however, most of them were cast as extras in the movies, to be forever immortalized on film. Their role? The orc army! The set, however, was not make to live forever. The original agreement with the farm owner was for everything to be taken down after filming, so that the land could be returned to farm land. The set was constructed out of untreated timber & polystyrene and was ultimately set ablaze to film a scene in the movie.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.
Hobbit holes! 44 of them were built into the hills. While the interiors aren’t real (they’re empty), everything else is real: there are 8 full-time gardeners who tend to the gardens, even growing limited crops!
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
The most famous hobbit hole of them all: Bag End, otherwise known as Bilbo & Frodo’s home. Interestingly, while everything else on the movie set is real, the enormous tree above Bag End isn’t. When the set was constructed for the first movies, a real tree stood. The producers had found a tree they liked in nearby Matamata and had it cut into pieces, numbered and then re-assembled in position above the hobbit’s home. However, it was destroyed shortly after when the set was torn down. Years later, they required an identical tree. Instead of trying to find one, they built one! And to keep the movie magic alive, they made it slightly smaller than the original as the Hobbit movies take place 60 years before the LOTR trilogy.
“I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!”
Another interesting tree related movie magic fact: J.R.R. Tolkien is known for being quite descriptive. He wrote extensively about the plum-tree orchard in The Shire. NZ plum trees were deemed to be too big for the set and filmmakers instead used apple and pear trees, as they were the right scale. However, a few days before filming that decision still wasn’t sitting well with Peter Jackson, notorious perfectionist, and he ordered the fruit and leaves removed and artificial plums and leaves installed on the trees. It took 3 days of non stop work for someone to complete. The result? The scene showing the trees were cut from the original movie! They finally had their big screen moment in the extended version release, showing up for a good 3 seconds.
🎶 You can drink your fancy ales, You can drink them by the flagon, But the only brew for the brave and true…
Comes from the Green Dragon! 🎶
Another well-recognized landmark of the film is the Green Dragon Inn. Where Frodo, Sam, Pipin and Merri enjoy a pint with the rest of their little hobbit friends. The song is so catchy, you probably are singing it in your head right now….
Luckily, the Green Dragon Inn on set is not fully functional, serving their very own brew: Southfarthing beer!
Sadly, dancing on the table is frowned upon here, unless you have sufficiently hairy feet that it!
The world is not in your books and maps, it’s out there – Gandalf
Ultimately, the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour likely falls into the ‘tourist trap’ category. However, for LOTR of Hobbit fans, it’s Mecca! I had seen the movies prior to arriving in NZ and had quite enjoyed them, although I wouldn’t consider myself a die-hard fan. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the tour, and surprisingly, even more than I expected!
I think what hooked me was all the behind-the-scenes info on what went on to create the set and the movies. It’s no wonder this was an expensive movie to create: all the people involved, the years of preparation and the last-minute changes, it all adds up!
One thing is for sure though, I’m sure glad Peter Jackson isn’t my boss!
I’m going on an adventure – Bilbo (and Julie)
Dear uncomfortable traveller: Can you help me out? Seems I lost my favourite ring on my last journey to MiddleEarth. Do you mind having a gander for it over at Gandalf’s? I also spent time with Sauron and Gollum (a couple of local miscreants but really quite harmless). The ring is not worth much but is of great sentimental value. I would dearly love to have it returned. . .I MUST have it returned. . .GIVE ME MY RING. . .IT IS MINE!!!
On the subject of New Zealand entertainment, here are two of my favourites:
Eagle vs Shark, a quirky, funny, touching rom-com movie and Flight of the Condors, equally funny and quirky tv series. NZ actor/musician/comic Jemaine Clement stars in both. Very NZ funny!