The tour of the Hobbiton set, from Lord of the Rings, costs $75. We umm and ahh about the price, but only for a bit. I've heard that the tour is excellent, the site beautiul, and anyway, I'm a huge fan of the films. Besides, I can hardly go to New Zealand and not to anything Lords-of-the-Rings-y.
The set is on a farm owned by the Alexander family, who had never heard of Lord of the Rings before they were approached by Peter Jackson, the director. It was discoved on an aerial search for potential locations and was chosen because of its rolling green hills, lake and huge 'party tree', matching the deacription of The Shire in the books. Being a sheep farm there were also thousands of sheep, but Peter Jackson decided that they looked 'ugly' and 'too modern' to be used in the film, so he shipped in 'old' looking English black-faced sheep. An electric fence was put around the set to prevent the ugly New Zealand sheep from getting in.
Our guide tells us lots of other funny and ridiculous stories about the making of the films. 'Old-looking' apples trees were helicoptered in. Peter Jackson then had all their leaves picked off and had plum leaves, flown in from Japan, sewn onto the bare branches, just to satisfy one line in the book. Throughout the filming, 'noisy' frogs had to be removed daily from the pond because they were interfering with the sound recording and the set designers learnt how to thatch the roofs from YouTube. It took two hours for the Hobbits to get their costumes on, an hour of which was just for the feet.
The entire Shire is beautiful and, in my opinion, perfect. There is still a team of gardeners working five days a week, tending the flower beds and vegetable patches - everything is real. There are differet sizes of 'Hobbit hole', so the perspectives between human and hobbit are accurate while filming. Hedges and benches are also different sizes and in a green house off set hundreds of plants were grown so that they could get identical pairs, differing only in size. The detail is meticulous, very Hobbit hole has personal touches, such as carving around the doors, window boxes and different numbers of windows and chimneys, depending pn the wealth of the hobbit who lives inside. Peter Jackson went millions of pounds over budget, but made billions when the films were released.
All the structures are permanent, certified as architecturally sound by a surveyor, but behind most doors is just a small gap for the actors to disappear into. All the interiors were filmed in studios. However, we're not allowed to see into Bilbo's house because of some big secret to do with the upcoming film. I'm not sure if there is actually anythig there of if it is just an attempt to create some mystery on the tour.
Our tour finishes with an included drink in the Green Dragon pub. It is the most home-place I havs been in seven months, just like a Dartmoor pub. There are big, scared wooden tables, leather arm chairs and a huge open fire. I have a cider brewed in Auckland specially for the Green Dragon.
We only get fifteen minutes - the tour has to be under strict guidance so people don't seek a peak at anything yet to be revealed in the films, or trample on the flower beds - but I don't want to leave, the entire place is perfect... like a film set. But it looks so real!.... like a good film set should I suppose.
I can't wait to watch the films again, to spot all the things we were shown, incuding our guide's little sister saying 'Did you bring the fierworks Gandalf?'.
The set is on a farm owned by the Alexander family, who had never heard of Lord of the Rings before they were approached by Peter Jackson, the director. It was discoved on an aerial search for potential locations and was chosen because of its rolling green hills, lake and huge 'party tree', matching the deacription of The Shire in the books. Being a sheep farm there were also thousands of sheep, but Peter Jackson decided that they looked 'ugly' and 'too modern' to be used in the film, so he shipped in 'old' looking English black-faced sheep. An electric fence was put around the set to prevent the ugly New Zealand sheep from getting in.
Our guide tells us lots of other funny and ridiculous stories about the making of the films. 'Old-looking' apples trees were helicoptered in. Peter Jackson then had all their leaves picked off and had plum leaves, flown in from Japan, sewn onto the bare branches, just to satisfy one line in the book. Throughout the filming, 'noisy' frogs had to be removed daily from the pond because they were interfering with the sound recording and the set designers learnt how to thatch the roofs from YouTube. It took two hours for the Hobbits to get their costumes on, an hour of which was just for the feet.
The entire Shire is beautiful and, in my opinion, perfect. There is still a team of gardeners working five days a week, tending the flower beds and vegetable patches - everything is real. There are differet sizes of 'Hobbit hole', so the perspectives between human and hobbit are accurate while filming. Hedges and benches are also different sizes and in a green house off set hundreds of plants were grown so that they could get identical pairs, differing only in size. The detail is meticulous, very Hobbit hole has personal touches, such as carving around the doors, window boxes and different numbers of windows and chimneys, depending pn the wealth of the hobbit who lives inside. Peter Jackson went millions of pounds over budget, but made billions when the films were released.
All the structures are permanent, certified as architecturally sound by a surveyor, but behind most doors is just a small gap for the actors to disappear into. All the interiors were filmed in studios. However, we're not allowed to see into Bilbo's house because of some big secret to do with the upcoming film. I'm not sure if there is actually anythig there of if it is just an attempt to create some mystery on the tour.
Our tour finishes with an included drink in the Green Dragon pub. It is the most home-place I havs been in seven months, just like a Dartmoor pub. There are big, scared wooden tables, leather arm chairs and a huge open fire. I have a cider brewed in Auckland specially for the Green Dragon.
We only get fifteen minutes - the tour has to be under strict guidance so people don't seek a peak at anything yet to be revealed in the films, or trample on the flower beds - but I don't want to leave, the entire place is perfect... like a film set. But it looks so real!.... like a good film set should I suppose.
I can't wait to watch the films again, to spot all the things we were shown, incuding our guide's little sister saying 'Did you bring the fierworks Gandalf?'.
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