Walking Tour in The Middle Earth - Hobbiton Movie Set Part 1 | Hobbit Holes | New Zealand

#hobbiton #hobbit #hobbithouse #hobbithole #middleearth #thelordoftherings #lordoftheringsfan #lotr #frodo #frodobaggins #bilbo #bilbobaggins #matamata #newzealand #nz #nztravel #walkingtour

The Hobbiton Movie Set is a significant location used for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit film trilogy, serving as a stand-in for the town of Hobbiton in the Shire in both trilogies. It is situated on a family-run farm about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Hinuera and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of Matamata, in Waikato, New Zealand, and is now a Tolkien tourism destination, offering a guided tour of the set.

The Lord of the Rings
When Peter Jackson began to look for suitable locations for The Lord of the Rings film series, he first saw the Alexander Farm during an aerial search in 1998 and concluded that the area was "like a slice of ancient England".

After suitable negotiations with the owners, work commenced in transforming part of the farm into sets for Hobbiton and other parts of J. R. R. Tolkien's Shire in March 1999. The New Zealand Army brought in heavy equipment to make 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) of road into the site from the nearest local road and initial ground works. Further work included building the facades for 37 hobbit holes and associated gardens and hedges, a mill and double arch bridge, and erecting a 26-tonne (29-ton) oak above Bag End that had been growing near Matamata and which was cut down and recreated on site complete with artificial leaves. Thatch on the pub and mill roofs was made from rushes growing on the farm. Generators were installed and water and sewerage also had to be considered. Catering was made available for up to 400 cast, crew and visitors per day.

Filming The Hobbit
The original set was not built to last, the hobbit hole facades having been constructed from untreated timber, ply and polystyrene and partially torn down after filming. In 2010, the set was rebuilt in a more permanent fashion for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, filming for which began in 2011. Ian McKellen reprised his role as Gandalf the Grey and was joined on the Hobbiton location by Martin Freeman, who remarked that the site "just looked like a place where people lived and where people worked".

Visitor centre
Guided tours of the 5.5 hectares (14 acres) movie set site commenced in 2002 and continue to be provided daily. The two-hour excursion is very popular, and advance bookings are recommended.

Highlights of the tour include Bagshot Row, the Party Tree, and Bilbo's Bag End home. There are now 44 hobbit holes on view although it is only possible to enter a few of them, all of which have small, unfinished, earth-walled interiors. (The interior of Bag End was shot in a studio in Wellington). The hobbit holes on site have been designed and built to one of three different scales. In addition to the smallest ones built to the correct size (hobbits are smaller than humans), some are built to a larger scale to make the hobbit actors appear smaller, and some have been constructed in a "dwarf" scale for scenes containing dwarves. Apart from a few exceptions, the colour of the front door indicates the scale, for example hobbit holes with a blue door are built to the correct scale for humans.

Refreshments are available at "The Shires Rest Cafe" prior to or after tours. Breakfast and indeed "Second Breakfast" is served. In 2012 the "Green Dragon" inn (a replica of the Green Dragon that featured in the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies) was opened on the set. There is now also a store selling merchandise and souvenirs adjacent to the cafe and evening events commenced in 2014. The tours have generally received good reviews. In 2013 the set welcomed its 500,000th guest.

In December 2023 new holes were opened to the public, which took nine months to complete.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbito...

Playlists :
Sydney City :    • Sydney City  
Sydney Suburbs :    • Greater Sydney Suburbs  
Blue Mountains NSW :    • Blue Mountains NSW  
Central Coast NSW :    • Central Coast NSW  
South Coast NSW :    • South Coast NSW  

More exciting videos:
   / wanderingsydney  

If you have suggestion of places you would like me to cover, please leave comments, and I hope you would SUBSCRIBE for more interesting videos every week.
Don't forget to click notification BELL so you are up to date with new videos every few days.

If you enjoy the contents in this channel, please LIKE, COMMENT & SHARE the link to your friends, family, facebook groups, and social medias.

Thanks for your support, god bless and have a nice day!