Frodo Lives

There are places from fiction that I’m hoping might actually exist – a backless wardrobe leading to a forest by a lamppost, or a Fire Swamp with R.O.U.S.es. While I wouldn’t want to build a summer home at that last place, one fictional location that I could probably live quite happily is the Shire, Tolkien’s land of the Hobbits. In case you haven’t guessed, this is Seth, here to complete my trilogy of posts on New Zealand’s North Island with HOBBITON.

Ready for the Hobbiton!

Director Peter Jackson brought the Shire to life perfectly (in my opinion) for the Lord of the Rings movies. The bucolic hills filled with hobbit holes were all facades, and were torn down after production wrapped. Luckily, when the Hobbit trilogy was made, the Shire was rebuilt on the same location, this time with permanent materials Hobbiton could become a “tourism farm” for people to visit.

The entrance to the Shire

At the start of the tour, we walked through “Gandalf’s Cut Through” and were introduced to the Shire just as you are in the Fellowship. The grassy hills filled with hobbit holes were instantly recognizable. Except instead of little hobbits busying themselves, there were human tourists walking around everywhere. We were free to walk around and even step through a couple of the circular doors (there wasn’t anything to see inside). Each Hobbit hole was built at 60% or 90% scale to either make the hobbit actors look short or the human actors look tall.

A blue one

A yellow one

A yellow door

Think anyone’s home?

Jessica helps out with the chores

Bilbo’s house!

The bread even smells fresher in the Shire

Who’s there?

Come on in!

The childhood home of Frodo’s sidekick

A moth on the flowers

A view over Hobbiton

A view over Hobbiton

We got to walk right past Old Bilbo’s house, which looks exactly like in the movies and is totally awesome. We couldn’t go inside through because it was getting damaged too much from visitors.

Read the sign!

Bag end

The hobbit hole of hobbit holes

Absolutely no admittance!

A final look at Bag End

Then we walked down to the large field where Bilbo had his eleventy-first birthday party and made his vanishing act. I tried it too.

Here we go…

Poof!

Jessica waits patiently for me to reappear

A pub across the pond

Next we crossed over the pond to the Green Dragon Tavern where we were offered a pint of the finest brew in the Southfarthing (brewed at a local brewery just for Hobbiton). Jessica got a cider (quite popular in NZ) and I got a stout and after toasting to the hobbits we mixed them up for a delicious drink we’ll call the Shire Snakebite.

Southfarthing’s finest

A day well spent!

The Green Dragon Tavern

A fine way to end the tour

Cheers

All and all, it was amazing to walk through the magic world of the hobbits. We were ready to stay longer, but like every courageous hobbit, we had to leave the shire and seek adventures elsewhere.

Flash forward a couple weeks and I got to visit the Weta Workship in Wellington, where the artists behind the films’ look practice their craft.

Nasty trolls!