I went to Hobbiton. Although I have not read any of the books nor seen the movies, when I had the opportunity to visit, I was excited. And, I was not the slightest bit disappointed. It was 3 hours of awesomeness.

We drove from Rotorua through lush countryside to Hobbiton in Matamata which took about an hour.

We arrived with enough time before our booked tour to enjoy a simple but delightful lunch at the Shire’s Rest cafe. After lunch we lined up to wait for our bus which swept us off to the Shire. On the way to the site, we watched a feature presentation on the television in the bus.

We drove through beautiful sheep grazing countryside of the Alexander farms to the location of the set. It is virtually impossible to see the set from the road as it takes several minutes drive in to Hobbiton after passing through security gates.

We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the place.

 

 

 

 

The sets are beautiful, and the amount of detail that was put in to them is mind boggling. If you’re a photographer, there are an infinite number of great shots waiting for you here. Our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. She had a great sense of awareness of when to share her information and when to set the group free to explore an area on their own. She was happy to take photos for us. She told us the details of building the set, how Peter Jackson came to find it and stories about the filming.

Hobbiton itself is magical and it makes you appreciate what a genius Peter Jackson is. The attention to detail is incredible and it doesn’t feel like a film set in any way. It really felt like we had fallen into middle earth. It was a fantastic trip through the world of J.R.R. Tolkien and you don’t need to be an extreme fan to enjoy this.

During this guided captivating 2 hours tour, we felt transported to the Middle Ages amongst Frodo, Sam, Gandolff and Bilbo Baggins in Bags End Shire and the Green Dragon.

The mill and the Lake look so picturesque and the views are stunning

Hobbiton is simply stunning – beautiful gardens, gorgeous flowers, huge trees (one of them is fake) and the fascinating hobbit holes which feel so real and authentic that you could easily believe people are still living there and that it is a real community.

 

An absolute must do, the set is amazing. The whole place makes you feel like you are part of the movie. Meandering up & down seeing all the hobbit holes all the way to the Green Dragon Inn where we were treated to a choice of either a cup of ale, cider or non alcoholic ginger beer or in my case a dark alcoholic ale.

 

 

We loved every second of the tour. It truly was magical; like stepping into a different world. We strolled around the shire like happy little Hobbits for an afternoon. And, if you are not already a fan, you just might become one.