Hobbiton, Waikato, New Zealand
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Welcome to Middle Earth
and to the shires where Hobbiton sits nestled between the rolling hills hidden from the outside world.
WOW!
That was a WOW? how much to get in? type of WOW.
$75 each or £38.
This had better be good....!
We were shepherded onto a green bus where an over zealous driver told us all about how the farm started and how the location came to be used
The Shires
. Rather than typing it all in longhand ourselves, here is an excerpt from their website. Or you can go to their website and read more about it here
http://www.hobbitontours.com
The Alexanders moved to the 1250 acre (500 hectare) property, in 1978. Since then it has been farmed as a traditional New Zealand sheep and beef farm. It is still farmed the same today and is run by the brothers and their father.
The property runs approximately 13,000 sheep and 300 Angus beef cattle hence the major sources of income are mutton, wool and beef. The brothers shear all the sheep on the property themselves, approximately every eight months.
When Peter Jackson spotted the Alexander Farm during an aerial search of the North Island for the best possible locations to film The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, he immediately thought it was perfect for Hobbiton. Nevertheless, a lot of work was still needed to be completed before it was up to the director’s high standards.
Site construction started in March 1999 and filming commenced in December that year, continuing for three months
Bag-End come on in
- The New Zealand Army was contracted to build 1.5 km of road into the site and the initial set development. They brought diggers, bulldozers, loaders, trucks, rollers, graders and other heavy machinery to the site.
- The original set built for Lord Of the Rings was just plywood and polystyrene and was torn down at the end of filming
- The set was rebuilt in 2011 for the feature films "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again".
- Farmer Alexander was shrewd enough to insist that to use the site again, it must be rebuilt as permanent structures and the hobbit holes and pub are now certified buildings.
- It is now a permanent attraction complete with hobbit holes, gardens, bridge, Mill and The Green Dragon™ Inn.
- Barberry hedges and trees were brought in and gardens were nurtured throughout winter.
- Thirty-seven hobbit holes were created with untreated timber, ply and polystyrene.
- The Mill and double arch bridge were built out of scaffolding, ply and polystyrene, then glued and painted.
- Thatch on the pub and mill roofs was cut from rushes around the Alexander farm.
- The oak tree overlooking Bag End was cut down and brought in from near Matamata. Each branch was numbered and chopped, then transported and bolted together on top of Bag End (weighing 26 tonne).
- Artificial leaves were imported from Taiwan and individually wired onto the dead oak tree by hand
our house
- The plum trees you see in the film are actually apple & pear trees. Peter Jackson had all the leaves removed and plum leaves and plums tied on by hand. When you visit now, the apples and pears are back.
- Generators were brought in to run the base camp and filming equipment. Logistics of power, water and sewerage all had to be considered.
- Catering was organised for up to 400 people a day, with three 2-course meals required for all of the cast and crew.
- All in all, a mini city sprung up on the farm for the months that filming was in progress and about 200 people lived on site
Our Guide Belinda was very knowledgable and could quote a lot of lines from many of the films.
She could also give us an insight into some of the camera tricks used to make Gandalf look 7 foot tall and the hobbits look so small!
There was one hobbit hole we were allowed to go into but with all of them the attention to detail and the tiny details about them made them so enchanting.
There was the hobbit cheese maker, the fisherman, the bee keeper, all staged perfectly with the tools and wares of their individual trades.
Of course everyone wanted to see Bag End. The most famous hobbit hole of them all. It actually made Jody catch her breath when she saw it as it became so real. The whole set is so real you could actually imagine hobbits living there!
The whole set is such a lovely place that actually Jody very much wanted to live there herself - it was idyllic
Hobbit honey
.
The tour wound around the village and Belinda explained that all the vegetables grown on the set vegetable garden and the fruit from the trees were used in the cafe or sold at the market. Everywhere we went there were hobbit sized wheelbarrows of fresh vegetables just waiting to be taken home by the hobbits.
We were shown the party ground and the party tree and nearby Samwise Gamgee's house stood. Apparently in the film, the two children of Sam and his screen wife were played by their real children so it was a proper family hobbit home!
We had a great couple of hours with the highlight of the afternoon being a cup of cider and ale and a cheese scone in the Green Dragon Pub!
A very fitting end to the tour.
If you are ever in New Zealand, then this is a really good day out (expensive!) but worth it for hobbit fans everywhere!
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