What has Andy gone and done now…?

In the year and a half that Marty and Sheree were in Ireland, and the few days that I had been with them in Hamilton, not once did they mention they they live “down the road from The Shire”…!?…no really – half an hour down the road from their house and you’re in Middle Earth…Hobbiton to be precise…!?…I couldn’t believe it – so straight into the car on Wednesday morning, dropped Sheree into work and headed Shireword..!!…

Apparently Hobbiton is the only part of the movie set of Lord Of The Rings that is still remaining to some degree, as after the filming was complete there was a copyright agreement which stated that all of the set in all locations had to be taken down…well, what happened in Hobbiton (actually just outside a small real life town called Whatawhata – no really thats what it’s called!?) was that 10 days after the filming was finished, and after Peter Jackson was happy with the shots the team went in and started dismantling everything…but then it started raining…and didn’t stop…for ages…so they went away and decided they’d come back and finish the job in three months…but in those three months the owner of the sheep farm on whose land The Shire is was inundated with people knocking at his door every day asking if there was anything left to be seen…so after a lot of wrangling and negotiations (2 years in fact) the movie owners gave permission for the family to run tours and keep what of the set remained…

Now, to be honest, you would have to be a bit of a Lord Of The Rings fan to appreciate it, and you also need to use your imagination…but it is DEFINITELY worth it…there are 17 of the original 37ish hobbit holes left, including Bag End where Frodo and Bilbo Baggins lived of course…thing is, they are just plain white bits of wood – not like you see in the film obviously with all the plants and paths and fences and shutters etc…but still great to see how they were made and you can definitely get the idea that you are in Hobbiton when you are there..!!…anyway…a few photos…

A photo looking up at the hobbit holes (Bag End is top left)…at this point I’m standing on the path that Gandalf road in on with all the fireworks in the wagon..!!

As I said, the hobbit holes aren’t quite like in the film – just bits of wood and polystyrene dug into the hillside – pretty cool though!

The ‘Party Tree’..!!

The lake…just between my right shoulder and the tree is where the pub was…and I am holding an actual piece of the ’stone bridge’ that was actually made out of polystyrene!!

Bag End!!  This is the only hobbit hole that you could get inside, though it was essentially just a wooden box – once anyone stepped inside, the scene was cut and finished in the studio in Wellington!

They did have a nice view from their front door to be fair..!!

Sitting at the top of the steps to Bag End…pretty cool…if you like that sort of thing…(which I do…)

Looking down from Bag End…

Panoramic of The Shire with the Party Tree and the lake…nice views…

…and finally…remember the bit of the film where Frodo and Sam are leaving The Shire and after 4 days they get to a point where Sam says “if we take one more step I’ll be as far from The Shire as I’ve ever been”…well…if you look between these two trees to just were the grass turns slightly more yellow…thats where they were…about 400m from the pub..!!..he must have had some Irish in him..!!..I reckon they spent the first 3 days in the pub and then thought they’d better get on with that whole ring business…

…and that’s how they do it in The Shire…