According to simplyyellowpages, the village of Hobbiton, which made New Zealand famous all over the world, can be called one of the main attractions of the country. Thousands of Tolkien fans come to this place, located near the city of Matamata. The Lord of the Rings trilogy made famous the once most ordinary New Zealand farm. Yes, yes, relatively recently, local residents had no idea that they would soon receive crowds of travelers and tell them about their life.

However, acquaintance with the director turned everything upside down. The Alexander family was inspired by the idea of ​​creating Hobbiton and agreed to the construction of an unusual village.

It all started with director and producer Peter Jackson traveling around the North Island in New Zealand. He was looking for a suitable location to film his new project. Flying around the area in a helicopter, Peter spotted a farm called Alexander. The owners of the farm, the Alexander brothers, have lived and worked here since 1978. It is worth noting that at that time they owned 1250 sheep and 300 angus bulls. The farm brought a good income, and the Alexanders were not going to change anything in their lives. However, acquaintance with the director turned everything upside down. The family was infected with the idea of ​​​​creating Hobbiton and agreed to the construction of an unusual village. Work on the reconstruction of the sheep farm began already in 1999. It took almost a year to create the scenery! In total, more than 400 people worked here.

Peter Jackson did not want to build the scenery out of cardboard. Absolutely everything in Hobbiton was built for real. The New Zealand army was even involved in the work. So, for example, soldiers built the road to Hobbiton with a length of 1.5 km. Hobbit houses are made of wood and plastic. Moreover, beautiful gardens were laid out throughout the territory and a living fence made of barberry was made.

As a result, 44 Hobbit houses, a mill, an arched bridge, a Green Dragon pub and even winding streets appeared on the site of a former sheep farm. At the end of the filming process, Hobbiton was not dismantled, but everything was left as it is. The owners of the farm were so imbued with the ideas of Tolkien that they decided to keep the unusual fairy-tale village for tourists. True, with the condition that the guides will release them from the constant questioning of visitors.

There are daily guided tours in Hobbiton. You can see absolutely all local attractions. The only thing – you can not get inside the hobbit houses. But to have a bite and drink beer in the famous Green Dragon tavern is easy. Don’t forget to bring your camera, Hobbiton is a great place for fun photo shoots. By the way, all tourists are given food for tame sheep. In addition, it is allowed to feed very small lambs with milk.

Hobbiton is visited daily by about 300 people.

How to get there

From Auckland on your own or during the tour. By car, two hours south of Auckland. Hobbiton is located near the city of Matamata.