As fans of The Lords of the Rings and The Hobbit, we decided we couldn’t pass up a visit to ‘Hobbiton’, even though we were afraid it could be a hundred times more tacky and touristy than Waitomo Caves. ‘Hobbiton’ is the film set of the village where Bilbo Baggins and his nephew Frodo and friend Sam dwelt in the district of Underhill.

The first surprise for me was the location – it’s set on a massive sheep farm deep in the countryside in the middle of the Waikato region. The Farm belongs to the Alexander family.  Apparently, the location was ‘discovered’ when Peter Jackson’s location scouts were flying overhead, combing New Zealand for that perfect location.

The second surprise was just how idyllic the setting is. To reach the set, you have to climb on a bus and drive past grazing cattle and sheep until you reach ‘The Shire’. It’s a twelve acre site which encompasses a range of different hobbit-holes. On the day we were there, the grass was so green it looked almost unreal against a backdrop of perfect blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The landscape itself undulates with countless small hills.

Five full time gardeners who work on set. The hobbit-holes are surrounded by flowers, fruit trees and vegetable gardens – and, although we spotted the odd plastic apple, the vast majority of plants and trees are real. There’s a wonderful vegetable garden – I spotted grapes, tomatoes and courgettes growing. At present the gardeners are engaged in a competition to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin – there are pumpkins to rival those I’ve seen up at the Square and Compass Pub in Worth Matravers during the annual Pumpkin festival. As a result, the gardens are buzzing with butterflies, dragonflies and bees. There was one surprise, though – the huge oak tree which hangs over Bag End, home to Bilbo Baggins, isn’t real. The leaves are artificial and require constant maintenance to keep them looking good. When we were there, a couple of gardeners were up in the tree, replacing one of the branches.

The hobbit-holes themselves come in all sorts of sizes. This was so that they could ‘cheat’ the size of the hobbits in comparison to the other characters – it’s all a matter of perspective. When Gandalf was filmed, they used a hobbit-hole with a small front door to make him look big. When the hobbits were filmed, they used a bigger one to make them look small.

Most of the hobbit-holes are just exteriors – the interiors were filmed on a studio set in Wellington – although there is the odd one with a decorated corridor or hallway. As we ventured through the Shire, we had fun taking pictures of ourselves outside the various different sized holes.  According to our guide, the original set used in The Lord of the Rings was made of temporary materials and then taken down. However, when the crew returned several years later to make The Hobbit, the Alexander family and Peter Jackson agreed that this time they would  make the buildings of proper building materials such as wood and brick so that it could remain standing after the filming and be used as a tourist attraction.

As well as the hobbit-holes, we saw the Party Field which was the setting for Bilbo and Frodo’s joint birthday party. The Party Tree which stands over the Party Field is 100% real.  This ancient pine was one of the things which attracted the eye of the location scouts who spotted the farm from the air. The river which runs through the valley was created from an existing hunting lake and a stone bridge was built over the river. Apparently, the bridge was constructed by soldiers from the New Zealand Army.  To thank them for their help, they were given roles as extras in the Orc Army!

Beyond the bridge is a mill and The Green Dragon Pub. The tour ends at the pub with a free beer. The pub interior is perfect. Despite the fact that it was lovely and warm outside, David and I couldn’t resist settling ourselves in front of the fire to enjoy our beer. Once again, I was reminded of the dear old Square & Compass back home. Unfortunately, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we failed to notice that the rest of our tour group had left! By the time we made it to the car park, we’d missed the bus!

Another bus pulled up and we asked the driver if we could cadge a lift. The bus driver was very stern and directed us to sit on a step (which David dubbed  ‘the naughty step’) and wait. When the next group arrived, she’d see if she could squeeze us in, but no guarantees!  In the end, she did squeeze us in and we got back to the car park in one piece.

Pity. I wouldn’t have minded spending a few more hours in Hobbiton!