Hobbiton, the movie set of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is one of the most popular tourist destinations in New Zealand. Hundreds of thousands of people visit every year to get a glimpse of what life was like in Middle-earth. The hobbit hole doors are all there for tourists to explore.
Hobbiton was was built to film the Shire for "The Lord of the Rings" in 1999 and is located on a sheep farm in Matamata, New Zealand. Thousands of pieces made it possible to recreate Middle-earth where Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and many other characters lived.
The Hobbiton movie set is accessible by guided tour only. I had booked a two-hour excursion to visit this site, the ticket price for one person is NZ$89 (about US$62). I was picked up at Matamata i-SITE, then transported to the Shire's Rest as the starting point of the tour. To get to the Hobbiton movie set, the bus had to drive us through the farmland area where we could see amazing view of rolling hills with lush green grassland dotted by sheep.
The weather on the day I visited Hobbiton was not so ideal as it was just after the rain and there was just a little of sunshine. However, the views were still incredible as I imagined. All the beautiful houses built by digging into the hillside with a colorful round door in front still stunningly stand out on the green hills. Even though most of the house are not real digging holes, I believe the artisans had put many effort to recreate a real life village of the Hobbit. During my whole tour, the guide had lead us through Hobbit Holes, The Mill, The Double Arched Bridge and we finished at The Green Dragon Inn with a complimentary beverage.
Visiting Hobbiton movie set was a great experience for me. When walking through the Shire, I felt like I am walking into a storybook where hobbits live such simple lives and enjoy the beautiful nature surrounding.
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