Hobbiton

We had so much fun today.  I’m not even a big Tolkien fan.  It was just so cool to see Hobbiton and recognizing scenes from the movies.  This is the spot that convinced Peter Jackson he should shoot his movies here.  He loved the rolling green hills.

The set today is a working farm with both sheep and angus beef.  When the Lord of the Rings movies were made the sets were made of plywood and other temporary materials.  This time around for Hobbit, all the sets were made with materials destined to last closer to 50 years.  The filming ended on a Thursday afternoon, the first tour came in the next day at noon.  They’ve been holding tours ever since.  An average of 600 people go through each day. 

Here’s some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

The house on the bottom left is Bilbo Baggins house.  The tree you see above it is totally fake, made of fiberglass.  The leaves are all glued on.  It cost about 1.7 million dollars and is seen for about 4 seconds in the first Lord of the Rings. 

 

 

 

 

This is the party tree where the celebration is held before Bilbo leaves on his adventure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            This is the gate Bilbo jumps over as he’s leaving.

 

This is Sam’s house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the bridge leading to the Green Dragon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having a cup of ginger beer at the Green Dragon.  (Nick didn’t seem to mind it, Ian thought it was nasty, I knew it was nasty and only took a sip of Ian’s).  We can now say we had a drink at the Green Dragon.

 

 

 

 

The Green Dragon also has a functioning kitchen geared up to serve the tour guests.  Nicholas and I ordered a mouse trap (a slice of bread with ham and cheese) and a sweet biscuit (chocolate chip cookie).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite pictures.  It’s easy to see why Peter Jackson chose this area.  It’s spectacularly beautiful – and it comes by it naturally.

 

 

 

 

I loved the flowers throughout the area.  They were stunning.  I’d love to recreate some of the looks at home.  Not sure I could get the same effect without all the natural green.  Oh well, It’s worth a try at least.