Hobbiton

The main reason we wanted to come to New Zealand was to live our fantasy and become Hobbits for the day! For those of you not familiar with Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, you can leave now, we are no longer friends 😁.

The Hobbiton Movie set, situated on the picturesque Alexander Farm, is a fully immersive experience at the location which was used for filming both LotR and the Hobbit. The original set for LotR was created way back in early Naughties and mainly built from disposable materials, like ply woods and Styrofoam, they did terraform some areas but when they were done filming they dismantled the entire set and let the sheep take back over. When they came back to film the Hobbit over a decade later the farm owner partnered with the director to build out a full permenent set which would last through the ages and could be used in any future films and as a major tourist attraction.

The result is astounding, it really paid off. They have created an amazing full set experience complete with 39 hobbit holes, each with their own character and design, the party fields, Green Dragon pub, a stone bridge and working Mill. The tour itself is a 90 minute guided walk around Hobbiton with photo stops at the major sites, Bilbo /Frodos home Bagend, Sam and Rosie hole, the Party Garden, as well as the major filming spots from the two movies and even a glass of Hobbit ale at the pub.

The tour was also about how they filmed the difference scenes in the movies with hobbits and normal sized characters. As you can see on our pictures there are hobbit holes perfect for a James size and some perfect for an Armelle size! Of course when we see the movie we all think they are the same so we think it is the character that are tall or small!

As big Tolkien fans it was a bit of a pilgrimage for us and really incredible to see his epic novel come to life.Read more