One of the things I get asked the most from friends and family is if we’ve visited Hobbiton yet. It almost seemed sacra-religious to live in New Zealand and not visit this famous Lord of the Rings land. As we planned our trip to the bottom of the North Island to visit family in Wellington, we knew we had to make a stop at Hobbiton. It was a must. What is Hobbiton you say? Hobbiton is a living movie set from The Lord of the Rings. And our experience at Hobbiton was awesome!
We got up in the wee hours of the morning to beat traffic and to make the very long trek down to Wellington. We didn’t tell our kids that we were making a special stop along the way. Once we pulled into the Hobbiton carpark we let them in on the secret and they were so surprised and stoked!
I was really hoping for a bright & sunny day, but it was cloudy and cold. But even with the lack of sun, it was still so stunning! We were surrounded by rolling green hills that were sprinkled with new little lambs and their mamas. We took a bus ride to the entrance of the cute little village and our tour guide led us through the Hobbit’s shire.
We learned all about how the movie set was made. We walked around their little hobbit holes. We learned some cool behind the scenes facts. We wandered through the yards and gardens. We could visualize the big shindig at the Party Tree. We drank ginger beer at the Green Dragon with the beautiful countryside in view. It was like we were back in time and a little hobbit would pop out of his home at any time.
The scenery was breathtaking. The trees, houses, flowers, props….everything was amazing! There were so many attentions to details. Everything looked so real and perfect. It was such a cool place to pretend like you were part of the scene.
We had a great morning visiting the shire! I would totally recommend visiting Hobbiton if you are a Lord of the Rings fanatic or movie set fan. Our trip did not disappoint!
