There And Back Again - A Visit to Hobbiton

Like Tolkien's diminutive hero Bilbo Baggins, Mike Bodnar goes on an adventure - to Middle Earth...

Hobbiton, Middle Earth, New Zealand

It's a well-known fact that New Zealand provided the backdrops for Peter Jackson's epic Tolkien movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings, and later The Hobbit. Aotearoa take a bow.

Nothing is more testament to this starring role than the influx of tourists New Zealand experienced once the first films were released; people from all over our own earth were desperate to see Middle Earth for themselves. Wikipedia notes in reference to the LOTR movies: The annual tourist influx to New Zealand grew 40%, from 1.7 million in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2006, which some have attributed to be to a large degree due [sic] to The Lord of the Rings phenomenon.

This tree above Bag End is completely fake

It's also a fact, however, that most film sets are ephemeral, and usually built of materials such as polystyrene, timber, fibreglass, plaster, and so on, so it should come as no surprise to tourists that even if they do make the pilgrimage to Aotearoa in search of Middle Earth, they are going to be out of luck if they want to actually see Rivendell, Minas Tirith or Helm's Deep. The sets were torn down after filming, often because they were on public land, and their destruction and disposal was part of the filming arrangements.

Rivendell is a good example. The verdant location for the Elven dwelling was in Kaitoke Regional Park, north of the capital, Wellington. The park is operated by Greater Wellington Regional Council, and although Jackson and his crew had access to the area for many months, and erected various walls, 'stone' steps, plazas, rooms, even a fake bubbling stream, there is now nothing to see of any of it. (That said, it's such a pretty part of Wellington it deserves a visit in its own right, and local LOTR tours will show you exactly where certain scenes were shot).

The site for Hobbiton, overlooking the water

But there is one location that does exist, and it's perhaps the most relevant and Mecca-like of all: Bilbo and Frodo's home settlement of Hobbiton, in The Shire.

Jackson chose the North Island location for its relative ease of access, its similarity in part to
English countryside, and the fact that it had a hill overlooking a body of water, as described by Tolkien in his books. It was - and is - on a working farm, so as with all the other sets, Hobbiton's Hobbit homes, gardens, bridges, even the Green Dragon pub, were all temporary structures.

The farm is owned by the Alexander family, and to their credit - and no doubt financial benefit - they reached a partnership agreement with Jackson's lot to recreate Hobbiton and to rebuild it in accordance with modern construction codes, so that visitors could enjoy it today. The result is something to strike joy into the heart of the coldest Orc in the land.

Where it all starts: the Shire's Rest Cafe

Needless to say it is hugely popular. On a recent trip to New Zealand we had booked a month or so in advance, critical in summer when most people visit, though it is open all year round except Christmas Day.

Two things impress: one is the attention to detail throughout Hobbiton, and the other is how well-run the operation is. Let's start and dispense with the operational stuff.

Of necessity, and because Hobbiton is on a working farm (a couple of hours' drive south of Auckland for reference), you can't just turn up and wander round unaccompanied. The attraction is extremely popular, so tours assemble and depart from The Shire's Rest Café, which is beside the road that passes the Alexander's farm. There's a Gondor-sized car park and a check-in reception. Plenty of seating indoors and outdoors, and the food and drink options are commendable. And loads of toilets!

The tour begins...

The tours are staggered so that you're not tripping over each other, but you can check the
details (and make bookings) on the Hobbiton Movie Set tours site. I encourage you to do so; but I'd rather use this blog to reminisce about the experience. In a word: wizard!

Each tour group of approximately 30 people is taken by bus through the farm to where the Hobbiton set is. A video along the way means that both Sir Peter and Mr Alexander welcome you to the experience, which is all very jolly, but of course you spend your time looking out of the bus windows in the hope of a glimpse of Middle Earth (which you do get).

Me with Peter Jackson on the set of Rivendell,
circa 2000. Polystyrene, timber, fake stone,
even fake lichen!

There are rules, as the guide explains. No wandering off, stick to the paths, keep together, and that's about it. Our guide, a Welsh lass called Louise, was very good at explaining some of the cinematic techniques used during filming, highlighting details of the set, testing our LOTR knowledge, and she always seemed ready to answer questions or discuss things. I bored her with my story of how I chatted with Peter Jackson at Rivendell when he was shooting scenes there. She was very polite.

But oh my, what a lovely place. Hobbiton has been perfectly recreated, with all the essence of the settlement captured in perfect and extreme detail. You walk along winding paths through gorgeous scenery, past numerous 'Hobbit holes', their front doors all painted a different colour, their front gardens personalised with flowers, stalls of honey or cheese, even Hobbit-sized waistcoats and breeches hanging on washing lines.

There are over 40 Hobbit holes

If, like me, you've been a fan of both The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings stories for years, then you'll be transported back to the books. There's no sign of Hobbits of course (although smoke curls teasingly from at least one chimney) but I have to say I actually felt somewhat emotional, almost overwhelmed by what I was seeing.

As an 11-year-old, immersed in the Lord of the Rings books for the first time, I yearned to live in Middle Earth. My real earth wasn't all that good - I'd just started senior school and hated it. I escaped into the Rings books as often as possible and went journeying with Frodo and Sam; they took me away from the harsh realities of daily school life. Give me a Nazgûl over our demonic headmaster any day.

So for me, visiting this Kiwi Hobbiton was like arriving at a place I'd known about for decades, a place with which I was totally familiar, and yet one which by definition of its being fictional, didn't exist. And yet here it was. And it was perfect. Almost as though Hobbiton had really existed, and Tolkien had been there and written about it. Written about this place. I felt he would have been proud, had he been able to join our tour.

Nearly all the Hobbit homes are facades built into the hillsides, so most of the doors don't open and you can't duck in for a cup of tea, a puff of rough shag, or a pint of Rosie's cider, but that doesn't matter. I could empathise, because when we lived in New Zealand we built our own Hobbit hole façade, our own Bag End in fact, on a hillside at the back of our house. Unfortunately we sold the property before the

Our own 'Bag End' which became
a condition of purchase

grass could properly establish over it (see pic), but on the other hand the new owners - the husband worked for Weta Workshop and was involved in the special effects for Jackson's films - made it a condition of purchase that we left our Bag End in situ. We were happy to oblige (but I plan to make another one one day!).

The 'real' Bag End

Some in our tour group (myself included) wanted photographs of course, and here's the challenge: getting a shot of a Hobbit dwelling (and Bilbo's home 'Bag End' in particular) without other tour members in shot. The trick, I discovered, is to be the last in the group, so that everyone has moved on just far enough that you're left with a people-free photo opportunity. The downside of this is that you're likely to

miss out on what your guide at the front is saying, or that she'll turn the Eye of Sauron on you and burn you to ashes for dawdling. That's a risk I was willing to take. I'm still here.

As you can see from some of the images included here, my tactic worked, even to the point of getting Bag End without one of those large pesky men-folk in shot.

A detail that particularly impressed me about this reconstructed movie set was that in any gateway, or fence, or door or signpost, I did not see a single Philips screw or alloy nut and bolt. No stainless steel fittings, no MDF board. Everything was as it would have been in Middle Earth, and rightly so. Nothing looked new either; there was a quaint rustic charm and patina to everything, an appropriate lived-in look.

The bridge past the Mill leading to The Green Dragon

The tours, although well controlled, are not rushed. It takes about an hour to amble through the leafy byways, and to gaze in wonder at the to-scale Hobbit homes and gardens, and there's a bonus, my precious: the tour concludes at the quaint thatched Green Dragon pub with a free pint of cider, beer or soft drink. The Green Dragon, you'll be pleased to know, is human-sized, so there's no ducking down to get in or banging your head on the beamed ceilings.

The Green Dragon, complete with Hobbit

And because it was a nice day for our tour, most people took their drinks outside, which enabled me to get a shot of the interior without any people in it. Except for one child sitting at a table, and charmingly he actually was Hobbit-sized so fits into the scene perfectly.

A visit to Hobbiton is (obviously) something I'd recommend. Of course it helps if you've read the books or seen the films, but the place is so pretty, so perfect anyway, that even if you don't know a Hobbit from an Orc or a warg from a cave troll, you'd almost certainly still enjoy it.

If you do go, and your tour guide sears you to ashes for loitering to take photos at the back of the group, you can blame me. But remember to tell them that you're there because I recommended it. As I said earlier, it's wizard.