Matamata in New Zealand was the place chosen to film the Hobbiton scenes of the
Lord of the Rings Trilogy of movies. After the film was finished the farm upon which the Hobbit village was created asked if some of the hobbit homes could remain to serve as an additional tourist attraction to the area.
...And so it was. However, it does look as if the sheep have discovered a new home and evicted the previous hobbit owners. A shame in some ways. However, the structures were never built and then fully furnished - all the scene's inside of Bilbo's house were shot in a studio far away.
In other words, don't go to Matamata's Hobbiton expecting Disneyland. Yet while you may be enticed to this rural community by the ghosts of Peter Jackson's movies, there is more to the place than Hobbiton, even though it is still a quaint remnant of a supreme series of movies.
The
set still has a charm all of its own. OK, you may need to squint a little to imagine a populated village, with smoke rising from the chimneys. Yet the New Zealand countryside here is at its most stunning and the farm on which Hobbiton sits offers tourists a tour, showing you how sheep are shorn (for breaking squatting laws, perhaps) and the opportunity to pet the lambs.
Just sit back, use your imagination and you
will be in Hobbiton. Just look at the scenery, after all. You
are in the Shire.
And no, you can't eat the lambs. Tsk.
See how Hobbiton has changed in 2011 after the completion of the filming of The Hobbit!
6 comments:
I'd like to point out that these pictures are old, and Hobbiton is being reconstructed right now.
See http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2009/08/22/33232-exclusive-more-pics-from-hobbiton-rebuild/
Bizarre! We just watched Return of the King last night. So strange to see the abandoned village. Stranger still, when you consider it was never inhabited! So now we can visit places that never were. How odd.
Can't help thinking to Black Sheep movie after the second picture..
http://www.best-horror-movies.com/image-files/black-sheep-face-off.jpg
we were there! in july 2009! not on the hobbiton tour, but in the little town. we visited the sheep, and fed the lambs, and watched a shearing. very nice guest shop with nice snacks and everything!
That's awesome. One of these days I will get to New Zealond and the remaining sets from Lord of the Rings will be high on my lists of sights to see.
Someday, some future archaeologists are going to be VERY confused.
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