Hobbiton

     About an hour northwest of Rotorua is the movie set of the Hobbit and Lord of the Ring trilogies based on the books by J. R. Tolkien. In 1998, when director Sir Peter Jackson began looking for a location for The Shire, he and his scouts did an aerial search by helicopter. When Jackson spotted the beautiful 1,250 acre sheep and cattle farm of Russell Alexander near Matamata, he knew he had found the perfect bucolic setting for his story.
     A total of 39 hobbit holes were built and a complete set constructed that included The Green Dragon Inn, Bag End, and The Mill. After the Lord of the Rings trilogy was completed in 1999, the set was torn down and the farm returned to its original state.
     But everything was rebuilt in 2009 for the filming of second series of films, The Hobbit trilogy. This time permanent materials were used and the reconstruction process took two years. Filming for The Hobbit movies was completed in 2011 and since then Hobbiton has remained a permanent and very popular tourist attraction.
     To be honest, I am not a Lord of the Rings fan, I haven't seen any of the movies, and I only read the first hobbit book back in college, and I can't remember anything about it. Nonetheless, I absolutely loved Hobbiton. It's pure magic and fantasy. Just take a little look.

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