Here Be Hobbits

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." 

You can visit the remains of the LOTR film set for Hobbiton as a day trip from Rotorua. The set is on a working sheep farm in Matamata amongst lovely rolling hills, about 1 hour's drive from Rotorua. Peter Jackson spotted the huge tree which matched his ideal for the Party Tree whilst flying over the farmland and the rest is history. 

I booked myself onto the afternoon trip and chatted to the driver who had been a dwarf extra for 6 weeks. Apparently the armour he wore had to be remade in plastic, as it was just too heavy to walk around and fight in. Once on the farm, we piled into another minibus which drove us deep into the farm to the set. At one point we passed a flat grassy area, which our tour guide said was the car park for the crew and during filming was crammed with lorries and vans. It was hard to imagine this peaceful area full of so much activity.

There are huge photo boards dotted around the set to show scenes from the films as a few hobbit holes are all that remain of the set. The guide pointed out the sawed up remains of the tree from the top of Bag End, which was cut down from elsewhere, reconstructed, and then rewired with thousands of fake leaves. I wondered why they couldn't have just digitally added the tree, rather than go through so much trouble: "Wouldn't have looked real enough" was the response.

We all took turns having our photos taken outside Bag End, and then ducked inside for a quick look (and for comedy shots with people sticking their heads out of the windows!). Of course all the interior shots were filmed in studios, so there's nothing inside that resembles a cosy hobbit-hole. 

Construction work has begun on more hobbit-holes for the filming of The Hobbit. Bizarrely, due to confidentiality agreements, no-one is allowed to talk about the new film, not even to mention its title - but it's patently obvious what film will be made here.

After wandering around a few more hobbit-holes nestled into the hillsides, the minibus took us back to the Shire's Rest Cafe for the final part of the tour, which was the Sheep Farm Experience. A professional sheep shearer produced a skittish sheep, and then expertly flipped it over onto its back to begin the shearing. It took him about 2 minutes to do, though he said that those who have been shearing all their lives can do so in 30 seconds! "I really don't understand how it can be done faster than you've just done it!" said one of the group incredulously.

Finally there was a chance to pet and bottle feed a couple of ravenous lambs. Cue lots of squealing from all the girls, and even some of the guys got mushy at this point. We then got unexpectedly presented with some food - a delicious little meat pie, a cookie and a big red apple - all of which were very welcome!