Hobbiton!

For those of you who are fans of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, you probably already know that those movies were filmed in various locations throughout New Zealand.  Along the way on the cruise, there were excursions to see those various locations. We held off on taking those excursions, and waited until we could see this location, the movie set of the town where Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, Sam, and all the other little hobbits called home, Hobbiton.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but we were delighted beyond words with our visit there!

The movie set was left exactly how it was for the filming of the movies, and one of the first things we saw was this sign, telling weary travelers that we had arrived at the home of the hobbits!

We were amazed that the set today still looks so realistic, if you pardon my flight of fancy!  The charming little hobbit homes built into the hillside looked like a hobbit could walk out any minute and greet us.

Often, the expertise of the hobbit that resided in the house was evident by what one could see in their front yard.  These homes belong to a fisherman, gardener (florist), and a handyman.

Throughout the entire village of Hobbiton, there were charming scenes of the produce that the hobbits grew in the areas surrounding the town.  

It was amazing how “real” this movie set still looked.  After the filming was completed, the decision was made to keep the set “as is” and set up a tourist attraction.  An agreement was reached between the film company, who owns all of the actual set and the owner of the land upon which it sits, to keep Hobbiton exactly as it was during filming.  It’s been several years, and everything still looks as well kept and pristine as it first did.

The effects created with the set are very interesting.  Most of the fences and gates looked as if there was some moss growing on them, Jeff touched it and verified that it is truly fake and the “wooden” fences and gates are not made of wood, but certainly look like it.  Also, the view of the landscape shown here, complete with a couple of hobbit homes, was built over a span of a couple of weeks.  When Bilbo returns from his adventure in the last of the Hobbit movies, as he runs around the bend in the path thru the village on his way up to his home, there is a scene behind him.  This is that scene.  If you don’t remember it, that’s understandable as the view of this scene only lasted about 3 seconds in the movie!

When we came upon this home, both Jeff and I recognized it as Sam’s home.  Sam was the good friend of Frodo in the Lord of the Rings movies.  When Sam & Frodo returned from that adventure, he married the bar maid that he had taken a fancy to from The Green Dragon pub. At the end of the last Lord of the Rings movie, there is a scene where Sam returns to his home.  His now wife and children greet him as he walks up to the house.  One little girl runs up to him and he scoops her up in his arms.  When they were rehearsing this scene, a child actress played the role of his daughter.  However, unknown to the actor who plays Sam, the producers of the movie flew his real-life wife and daughter to New Zealand, and during the actual filming of the scene, his own daughter ran out to greet him.  He stayed in character, but the joy you see on his face when he scoops up his daughter was very real as he hadn’t seen his family in about 5 months!  Also, his wife stands just outside this door, with a baby on her hip.  That baby was the actual child of the actress playing Sam’s wife.  Just a couple of fun little tidbits from the movie!

Fans of the movies certainly recognized Bilbo Baggins red vest hanging out on the clothes line as we approached his house.  The bottom image is of Bilbo’s home, taken from at the entrance to Hobbiton, at the bottom of the rolling hill it’s located on.  According to the norms of hobbits, the richer and wealthier one was, the higher on the hill their homes were located.  Bilbo’s was at the top!

There were a couple of interesting tidbits about Bilbo’s home, too.  Around the side of the house that was Bilbo’s was another, much smaller recreation of this same front door.  They made a smaller version so that when Gandalf, the very tall wizard approached Bilbo’s home, he looked appropriately larger than the doorway of the very small hobbit that lived there.  Also, the oak tree on the top of Bilbo’s house is fake!  Filming took place over several months, and in order for the tree to always look the same, it had to be fake – altho it certainly looked real enough to us!!

After seeing Bilbo’s house, we made our way toward The Green Dragon pub thru the charming scenery of Hobbiton.  It was amazing how detailed and complete the set was.  Filming could take place anywhere and it would maintain the illusion of a very real town of tiny hobbits!

And, here it is – The Green Dragon where Frodo, Sam and the other hobbits went to celebrate and, in Sam’s case, meet his lady love!  Today, the inside of The Green Dragon still looks like a pub and visitors were able to get a mug of something to drink – either ale, hard cider, or ginger beer, which was non-alcoholic.  Jeff had the ale and I tried the hard cider, which, I have to say, I didn’t care for.  Oh, well!

Out in front of The Green Dragon, and one of our last views of Hobbiton, was the watermill that existed in the village.  I don’t recall seeing it in any of the movies, but it certainly added to the realism of this charming movie set.

Enjoy!