HOBBITON

Hometown of the Hobbits.

Beware, there are A LOT of photographs in this post. I went a bit (read: a lot) photo nuts whilst at Hobbiton. And for good reason, this place exceeded all of my expectations. I am not a Lord of the Rings fan by any means. I read The Hobbit when I was in high school and have seen snippets of the films from time to time, but I cannot tell you much more than there is a ring and hobbits and a dragon. Not exactly much to go on. But, my gosh, I am so glad we chose to visit this place. We almost didn't bother! Initially we thought it was too far south, closer to Wellington and so we wouldn't visit. Thank goodness we changed our minds because this place was amazing. The level of detail and artistry here was insane. One of the trees was made entirely by the art department, to match a no longer existing tree that had been in the first film. The director didn't like the colour of the leaves so made them do it all over again. It's an incredible attention to detail.

At every turn I expected tiny little hobbits to come dancing out of the famous round doorways. The gardens were all real, apart from the fake tree and a handful of baked goods set out on trolleys. Being here in the Springtime meant that we got all the gorgeous flowers from bluebells to apple blossom. I couldn't think of a more idyllic setting. We had brilliant weather here too. The sun came out for the time we were at Hobbiton! At one point we were basking next to the lake sipping on the apple cider you get for free with your tour, but more on that in the next post. 

In (not very) short: this place was a beautiful place to visit and I would very much recommend it, even to people like me who weren't fussed. In the end I was very much interested. I bought a second copy of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings (all three, naturally), hat pins and a necklace matching one worn in the films. Like I said, Jenna and I went a little nuts in the gift shop. But realistically, that could be said of any place I go.