Hobbiton Movie Set

One of the first things we did during our stay in and around Rotorua was to take a trip to Hobbiton - the setting for the Hobbit movies made in NZ. And it was popular - indeed absolutely crowded with people. Again, have a look at these picture and you'll see why. We stopped first at the tourist office in Matamata, the nearest town, to catch one of the many buses ferrying passengers to the rural film-set. Even the tourist office got into the swing of things, looking like a hobbit hole.

Buses the size of this one left every few minutes for Hobbiton.

And the site was stuffed full of elegant hobbit-holes like these set among bucolic rural scenery

And here I am sitting atop one of the more underground homes that populated the site.

The set designers did a wonderful job of creating, in effect, the perfect English country village of perhaps a couple of centuries ago.

Fish drying in the sun.

Max in front of a wood pile.

Bucolic landscape.

Fake tree. Since trees grow slowly, the set designers had to improvise. This tree looks real, but is wholly manufactured!

A water-wheel astride a little lake, which is next to the village pub - The Green Dragon, which features in both Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. Visitors can get a drink there as we did.

One more glimpse of hobbit holes and a fake tree! Au revoir Middle Earth. By the way, one of my colleagues at my university was private secretary to J R Tolkien at Oxford.

AS