The Hobbiton Movie Set

When travelling to New Zealand most folks immediately ask “are you going to see where the Hobbit movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogies were filmed?” As we were based not far from there for 4 days we popped in for a visit to the Shire.

A photo op arose quickly on our tour. We are standing in what is called a “Hobbit hole”. This is where hobbits live. Each hobbit has a particular job in the shire and we visited all 44 of the holes during our tour.

The movie set was constructed on a 2500 acre working sheep farm. The bus driver taking us to the Shire was a bit impatient with these wandering sheep. He does have a schedule to keep you know.

A view of the Shire as we began our tour. Very lush indeed. They hired over 100 workers to keep the grounds looking this way as well as manage the enormous amount of small details that go into making our experience as real as possible.

These stone steps leading up to Bilbo Baggins hole are the only remaining “props” from the Lord of the Rings movies back in the year 2000. Everything else was dismantled and taken away so the farm could return to normal operation. Then, approached about filming the Hobbit movies, the farmer said okay on the condition that the set was built as a permanent set that would attract tourism in the future. Boy did that work out for all involved!

This oak tree sitting on top of Bilbo’s hobbit hole is actually made of steel and has almost 400,000 fake leaves all painted and attached by hand. A local college provided the labor by “loaning” their art students to the project. The oak tree in the original Lord of the Rings was a real tree, cut down nearby and stuck into the ground in the same spot. The steel tree that appears in the hobbit movies is a bit smaller so as to make the timing of the movies seem more realistic. The Hobbit books were written previous to the Lord of the Rings books.

Just a few shots of three of the hobbit holes set up for our appreciation. The first hole with the round blue door belongs to the Shire’s baker. He set up his loaves of bread for sale outside on his lawn.

The detail on the thatched roofs on the outbuildings of some hobbit holes was fascinating.

This hobbit hole belongs to the Shire’s cheese maker. Although the cheese was not real, you could not tell unless you picked it up…..or tasted it.

Not sure what this hobbit’s job was in the Shire but he was considered the town drunk. Note the bottles, probably empty, of wine on the table.

Notice the hanging laundry flapping in the breeze as well as the sheep that are still on the working farm having nothing to do with the movie set. Many of the hobbit holes also had real fires going on inside sending smoke out their chimneys.

Taking a short rest to give the perspective of how small some of the hobbit holes really are. This smaller type is called a “Gandolf Hole” as he was a wizard of human size and when standing next to it in the films, the scale of Human to Hobbit seemed correct. The larger holes, like the one we stood in earlier were made large so humans playing hobbits looked small.

Bilbo’s pipe on the famous bench used in a number of scenes.

A brand new concept emerged just days before our visit. They actually allowed visitors to tour the inside of one of the hobbit holes. All the other holes are actually empty on the inside. The inside shots in the movies are done in a studio down south in the capital city of Wellington, New Zealand. Once again, the level of detail pertaining to a hobbit’s life inside his hole is amazing.

Laurie and I enjoying a romantic moment in front of the real fire in this hobbit’s living room.

The bathroom in a hobbit hole is surprisingly spacious, notice there is even a newspaper for them to read.

A desk for this hobbit to take care of whatever business needs taken care of. A hobbit hole with lots of windows signifies great wealth.

There is even a working well in this hobbit hole. Pretty cool.

A washing machine to help this hobbit keep himself clean and tidy.

This kitchen has more room than our kitchen back in NY! Only the food was fake as all other props seemed like normal pots and pans or whatever.

Double click on the video above to see Laurie operate the working pump in the kitchen of the hobbit hole. Not too exciting but really cool that it is actually operational.

Double click above to get a short tour of the inside of a hobbit hole. It was cool to have a hobbit docent there to describe things like their scale versus humans etc.

Once our tour was over we were invited for an ale at the Green Dragon Tavern.

We passed the Old Mill on the way to our refreshments.

Relaxing and enjoying a “complimentary” amber ale made just for the Green Dragon on the movie set.