An expected journey

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We awoke in the morning to the news that The British and Irish Lions had triumphed in Sydney. We immediately celebrated with a lie-in. As todays activity had already been booked in advance, we were off to The Shire. We met the tour bus at “The Shires Rest Area”, a bespoke gift shop on the edge of a farm.



In 2003, when scouting for locations for Hobbitton, Peter Jackson stumbled across a sheep farm outside Matamata. It was perfect. From “inside” the village, you can’t see any roads, buildings or power lines. However, what you do have is the lake, the party tree and rolling hills with the mountains in the background. Thus, it was chosen without further thought.

Then in 2009, when filming on the Lord of the Rings trilogy finished, Jackson ordered, as per the agreement for using the site for it to be returned to the original greenfield state. The bulldozers moved in. Fortunately, half way through the destruction, a huge storm struck and it was too muddy to work. The owners of the farm then came up with the idea to turn the remnants into a tourist attraction. So for the first few years, the attraction was a bit dog eared. Fortunately for us, since the production of The Hobbit began the whole set was re-vitalised and is currently restored to its’ full and former glory.

As expected the whole thing was geek-tastic. As huge fans of the film, we both appreciated the level of detail thought of during the filming revealed by our guide. Our guide, Theresa, was a veritable font of knowledge with a genuine passion for the films. Indeed, when the attraction was closed down for the filming of The Hobbit, she volunteered to help on the film set. Unfortunately Theresa was not credited in the final credit sequence. Shame. Basically it was fantastic, and I’ll not ruin any of the trade secrets, well maybe just a few in the picture captions. The only disappointment was that behind the brightly painted doors, do not lie actual hobbit holes. The interiors of Bag End etc are only seen at a film studio in Wellington, with plywood boxes behind the door of Matamata. With one exception…



The Green Dragon pub, is open for business, serving a range of stout, pale ale and cider. Pies and roast dinners are also available and there is a pub cat called Scratcher, who resolutely ignores all patrons. The only thing that is slightly fake is the fact that the alcohol content if the drink is 1%!

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