We spent most of the day at the Hobbiton movie set, located on the Alexander farm (formerly the Anderson farm) in Matamata, about an hour outside of Rotorua. This site served as the primary filming location for the exterior scenes of The Shire in all six The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films.
For the original trilogy, the sets were temporary and completely removed after filming. However, for the subsequent Hobbit films, the production team rebuilt the set using permanent materials. This allowed the site to be preserved as a full half-day experience for visitors.
Location and Scouting
Director Peter Jackson, a New Zealand native, wanted a location that captured the look of J.R.R. Tolkien’s envisioned English countryside. While filming in England was considered, Jackson chose New Zealand to keep the production localized, as the majority of the other landscapes for Middle-earth were already found there. The site was initially identified through aerial photography and later secured after negotiations with the Alexander family.
The Shire and Forced Perspective
After leaving the visitors center, a bus took our group onto the 1,250-acre working sheep farm. We walked the paths through the Shire, passing 44 unique hobbit holes. These homes were built at various scales to achieve "forced perspective" for the camera:
60% Scale: Used for most holes to make human-sized characters like Gandalf appear much larger.
90% to 100% Scale: Used for scenes where the "Hobbits" needed to appear small relative to their surroundings.
While most of these are exterior facades only, we visited the recently opened "Bagshot Row" interior experience. This is a fully realized hobbit hole interior designed by the original film illustrators and replica makers. It includes a functioning kitchen with a steaming pot, a working fireplace, bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room.
Attention to Detail
The set is characterized by an immense level of detail meant to suggest a working village. Some specific examples we noticed included:
Scale Artifacts: Small-scale mailboxes, birdhouses, and benches placed at the entrance of each gate.
Daily Life Props: Super-realistic loaves of bread outside the bakery, scaled toys strewn in yards, and even half-filled beer mugs left outside the "town drunk's" house.
The Oak Tree: A massive tree overlooks Bag End. The original was a real tree moved from near Matamata, but for the prequels, it was recreated using a steel infrastructure with fiberglass bark and thousands of hand-painted silk leaves imported from Taiwan.
The Groundskeepers: A large team of groundskeepers maintains the site daily. Their goal is to keep the gardens, fruit trees (including apple and pear), and lawns looking "just right"—neither too manicured nor overgrown, mimicking a natural rural landscape.
The Green Dragon Inn
The tour concluded at the Green Dragon Inn. The interior is a faithful recreation of the pub seen in the films. We were served a half-pint of beer (brewed exclusively for Hobbiton by Good George Brewing in Hamilton) while enjoying the fireplace and the company of our group.
On the way back, we stopped in the village of Matamata. This farming community has largely adapted to support the tourism generated by the movie set, and the main street offers a wide variety of food selections.