Although Elder Rooks has never read The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings book trilogy, or seen any of the six movies, he knew I would regret leaving New Zealand without visiting the Hobbiton movie set in Matamata, an hour north of Rotorua. So one crisp, clear and sunny day, we set out on Highway 5 north and east.
Hobbits are a fictional race of small human-like creatures who inhabit Middle Earth, the mythological world created by J.R.R. Tolkien, a philologist and fellow at Oxford University in England who wrote not only the book series, but many other books related to the language and culture of Middle Earth. His stories are considered the equivalent of Norse mythology and Old English works of literature.
Sir Peter Jackson, who read and loved Tolkien's books, always believed that the real setting of Middle Earth could be found in New Zealand. His sets are detailed and accurate and lovingly made, attracting a wide and appreciative audience. These sets were built for a total of seven minutes of film time in the first trilogy and seven minutes in the second, according to our tour guide, Tracey.
Bag End, prime real estate at the top of the hill where the prominent Bagginses live, including Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo.
The tree growing out of the top of the hobbit hole is not a real tree. Each leaf was hand painted and attached to the trunk and branches.
We arrived at Shire's Rest car park. Here Elder Rooks, at the bottom of the cafe stairs in front of the gift shop, is talking to a church member who recognized his missionary badge.
We got on the bus with our tour guide Tracey. The roads here are very narrow. (No surprise, by now.) You can see a diesel truck (they are always making improvements here) parked at the top of the hill until the tour bus goes by, since there isn't enough room to drive by each other on the road.
The Alexander working sheep farm, 12,500 acres inhabited by 13,000 sheep. The locations were scouted from the air, and this farm had everything--the party tree, the ponds, the streams, the green hills. You are asked to not leave any gates open for sheep to get out.
For the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the sets were built and then torn down, but not all. Locals pieced together that the Kaimai Mountain Range, which you can spot in the back of this photo under the clouds, was near Matamata, and soon the Alexander farm had lots of visitors who were willing to pay money to see ruined sets.
So when the three Hobbit movies were filmed ten years later, Hobbiton was rebuilt permanently. It is now one of the top tourist attractions in New Zealand, with up to 600,000 visitors annually.
The pictures for this post are all outdoor set shots. It has only been since early this year (2024) that the inside of a hobbit hole was open for tourists to view.
We will see those pictures in next week's blog post.
Elder Rooks, who as I said was prepared to be bored, found the general cabinetmaking and the different trade tools of great interest. Here he is inspecting a vintage wood plane in front of the hobbit carpenter's hole.
I liked this particular entrance, with its sign "Mimosa's Medicinals Herbal Remedies," with herbs growing in the yard. I especially like the ceramic tile inset in the door and have since found similar tiles on Etsy. Hobbiton could make a killing selling ceramics like this, among other things.
The attention to detail is striking. The gardens were lovely.
Vegetable gardens growing real vegetables. The whole effect was charming and peaceful, just like Hobbiton should be
Sign for West Farthing and Tuckborough
Another herbalist's garden, this time growing culinary kitchen herbs
Some of the hobbit holes had 90% size doors and others were at 60% size, in order to make the Big Folk look bigger
A loaf of freshly baked bread and lunch sitting ready to eat
Hobbits are gardeners, so every hobbit hole was planted and growing
Hobbit chimneys. I was trying to get a picture along the path without including the two pretty blonde young women taking glamour shots of each other, but they wouldn't go away, so I Photoshopped them out.
Another pretty yard with picket fence and rocking chair
Garden trellises. Our tour guide Tracey is in the back in front of one of the trees, but I didn't Photoshop her out. She was a lot of fun.
The pond with a fisherman's tackle ready to use
The baker's yard, with a wheelbarrow full of bags of flour
Guess who lives here? Elder Rooks is a little too tall for this hobbit hole, but it is just right for me. My children, who have long thought I was a hobbit, are now certain of it.
Bagshot Row, the home of Sam and Rosie Gamgee
Gourds and pumpkins ripening in the gardens
There are 44 hobbit holes in Hobbiton, some of which have never been seen in any of the movies
You can see some of the hobbit chimneys have smoke coming out of them.
Next week I will have pictures of the inside of the hobbit hole.
