J.R.R. Tolkien described it as a “lost paradise,” telling The Guardian in 1966 of the childhood home that inspired his creation of The Shire—the fictional home of the hobbits Frodo and Bilbo Baggins—in the book series that became his legacy.
The famed English author spoke, of course, of the Hall Green area, formerly the hamlet of Sarehole south of central Birmingham, where the millhouse, pond, and old-fashioned village houses fed his imagination. “I loved [Sarehole] with an intense love,” he said. “I took the idea of the Hobbits from the village people and children.”
But if Tolkien were alive today, what would he think to witness his Hobbiton reimagined over 11,000 miles away, Down Under in New Zealand, with a millhouse like the very one near Bag End? On the North Island, for over two decades, visitors have been able to tour a Hollywood blockbuster movie set from the epic trilogies.
All fell into place over the rolling hills of Waikato. Flying overhead, director Peter Jackson was convinced the hobbits had found their home in the grassy meadows of Alexander Farm, 5 miles west of Hinuera. Conspicuously, east of Waikato, the Kaimai Range hosts the nation’s longest underground tunnel—presumably the counterpart to the pass under the Misty Mountains of Middle Earth leading to Esgaroth.
It was no accident they looked at New Zealand; this wasn’t the country’s first blockbuster fantasy film. In the location guidebook to “The Lord of the Rings,” Mr. Jackson described Waikato as “like a slice of ancient England;” set designer Alan Lee wrote that the hills “looked as though Hobbits had already begun excavations.”
Sets for Bagshot Row, Bag End, and the venue for Bilbo’s “unexpected party” unfolded in this fertile paradise. At one time, glacial silt, sand, and gravel deposits formed the basis for a marshland. An extensive drainage scheme in the 19th century turned it into farmland for livestock, like the sheep on the 500-hectare Alexander Farm. The area is known for its horse breeding, wool, beef, and (roast?) mutton.
All told, crews built 39 separate hobbit hole façades for “The Lord of the Rings” in 1999—though they probably were not intended for guided tours yet, as they were made of untreated timber, polystyrene, and flimsy plywood. A post-screening partial deconstruction stripped Hobbiton to its bare bones.
Yet, temporary as it was, in 2002 the first tours were given of the old set and have continued ever since. It surely sparked interest in Tolkien fans to visit the hollowed-out shells of hobbit homes.
Harder structures had also been installed. The film saw a double-arched stone bridge and mill constructed where there was a lake with an arm that doubled as a river. The New Zealand Army even built a road leading to the pristine pastoral setting where not even a powerline could be seen for miles.
To the thrill of “The Lord of the Rings” fans, the release of “The Hobbit” was announced in October 2010. That same year, the set of Hobbiton in Waikato underwent a momentous makeover, but this time it was to be permanent. In all, 44 hobbit abodes were meticulously crafted down to the smallest detail, such that many onsite felt like people (or hobbits) really lived and worked there.
“I knew Hobbiton needed to be warm, comfortable and feel lived in,” Mr. Jackson wrote. “By letting the weeds grow through the cracks and establishing hedges and little gardens a year before filming, we ended up with an incredibly real place, not just a film set.”
Speaking of the impression it gave, Mr. Lee wrote, “It was satisfying to see that it had taken on something of the look of the Devonshire countryside I'd lived in for the past twenty-five years.”
