No tour of New Zealand could be complete without a visit to The Shire. The success of the first LOTR film meant set dismantling was stopped and the farmers whose land it was started up a new venture of guided tours. When The Shire was rebuilt for the Hobbit movies it was with one eye on creating a permanent attraction. Now two to three thousand people a day visit, seven days a week. Apparently 30% of visitors have not seen any of the movies or read the books, although the straw poll on our bus was one person out of fourty. As a result of these volumes the tours are run with an element of military precision. Lining up under your time board you are loaded on a bus for a short transfer into the heart of the farm. There’s a bit of theme music to get you excited & a couple of clips to set the scene. Unloaded & briefed on staying with our guide & not walking on the grass we follow along on a short path before emerging to a tremendous view surrounded by hobbit holes.
Being on the first tour of the day meant we had unobstructed views over Hobbiton. The sun was out & the place couldn’t have looked better. A team of gardeners & handymen are employed to keep the place in good order & they get to the vegetables that they produce. There are 44 hobbit holes on site, every one is different & the attention to detail is incredible. Of course, being a movie set, there is very little behind the doors & only one is accessible on the tour.
It’s halfway through the tour before we arrive at Bag End where we get another movie secret. The tree on top is not real! Built with a steel frame, it took 7 months to complete with the leaves manufactured in Taiwan & individually attached. In fact before filming could commence the leaves bleached blue in the sun & had to be hand painted green – all for 10 seconds of screen time.
The party tree is apparently what secured the location gig for this farm. This particular Radiata pine tree is ideally situated on a lake and attracted the attention of the location scouts flying around in their helicopter back in 1998.
We stopped outside Sam’s house to learn how this was where the last scene of LOTR was set & also the last to be filmed and the actors playing Sam & Rosie used their own children for the scenes. It was also the last of 44 hobbit holes we saw (I didn’t count them all), but that figure includes 3 that never made it into the movies – we never found out exactly why.
Our final stop of the tour was over a stone bridge to The Green Dragon. Serving beer, cider & ginger ale produced exclusively for the tour (also available in the gift shop). We took our amber ale & ginger beer, along with a slice of pork pie and made ourselves at home in front of the open fire.
But, being on such a strict schedule meant we soon had to be back on the bus & leave the fantasy world behind. The setting was amazing, the one complaint was how rushed it was to get around, and with a group of 40 all taking photos it was difficult to keep up with the guide. On such a beatiful day however it was difficult not to be charmed by The Shire and want to head home & watch all the movies again.
The Ottners 