The famous Hobbit’s shire the one of Frodo, Sam, Bilbo, Merry and Pippin, the one where Gandalf explodes his fireworks, where we smoke pipe grass and drink mead. It’s today the New-Zealand most famous tourist attraction, the result of J.R.R Tolkien‘s imagination and staged for Peter Jackson‘s films, the middle earth opens its doors to the curious and the real fans.

Let us, first of all, set the stage. If madam has always been a great fan of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, sir, for his part, has been leaden and driven by curiosity, by the way he has never seen the second trilogy. You will then have the feelings of two individuals with divergent expectations.

Booking

Before anything else, you have to know that it’s an outside visit, so before any booking you have to be very careful and check if the weather will be good.

Once the day is choose, head to the website at >>http://www.hobbitontours.com/en/<< Booking is not an obligation, but advised if you don't want to spend hours waiting for the group where there will still be a free place on the day.
Once on the website, you will find that several options of visit are available to you. The most popular classical tour, starting from various points, then the private tour, the banquet, or the package offering other activities from the region.

You understand now that Hobbiton is not an amusement park, if you dreamed about a quiet visit with your lover it will be necessary to pay the private visit.

From there, it’s up to you to choose your option!

At the beginning

We turned to the classical tour, the two-hour small group guided tour starting from the shire itself.

We recommend a departure at the first hour of the day (9am), it’s generally the least reserved so the one where you have the best chance to be in tiny committee.

The organizers ask to arrive 15 minutes before the visit departure, you just have to present yourself at the ticket office with your reservation number and they give you two entrance tickets that your guide will point when you get on the bus. Indeed, the middle-earth is on the Alexander family farm, it’s a private land jealously guarded also you have to take the bus from the parking of the entrance to reach Hobbiton. This is how the visit begins.

On the bus, your driver and guide present themselves and welcome you, ensued a short video about the movies shooting, a few anecdotes all on a well-known musical background of the trilogys. Then it’s your driver who continues to provide some explanations before to drop you off at destination.

Visit

It’s time to take a walk on Hobbiton’s trails. From the first facades of hobbits holes to the house of Bilbo and Sam, it’s your guide who leads you and reveals to you the undersides of these constructions, supposed ephemeral, and of the filming. Here only hobbits missed, a few smokestacks smoke, clothes dry on the ropes, fruits and vegetables grow in the vegetable gardens, the water mill rotates … In short, it can be said that the maintenance team doesn’t waste it time to keep this dummy village as alive as possible.

We walk down on the paths with a mix between magic and nostalgia, even if it’s only facades, apart from Bilbo house which is unfortunately not visitable from the inside, we really have the impression of being in a village. Everything is made for the visitor to feel good, your guide, in addition to the informations he provides, is human, funny and makes himself available to answer any question but also to take pictures. Moreover the timing is cleverly orchestrated to leave everyone the maximum photo pause time, we don’t feel hurried and we appreciate.

At the cloe

After taking the time to observe all these pretty small holes and to found all the details hoped for, it’s time to cross the bridge to join the tavern, the only building that we will finally have the chance to visit from the inside. The “Green Dragon” offers you a drink, a lager or brown beer, without alcohol or cider, you have the choice and you can take the time to taste your beverage inside or outside, where tents and lanterns are erected as in the movies. Rather appreciable, if you are a bit hungry, you can also buy something to munch like in a real tavern. A nice moment when we would like to see Merry and Pippin land as a surprise.

On the way back

Finally, comes the moment to return his mug and to go up in the bus direction the parking. Again we are shown a short video where Peter Jackson and Mr. Alexander, the owner of the farm, thank us for our visit, hope we enjoyed the moment and invite us to come back (of course $$$)! Then little goodbye to our guide before returning to real life.
That said, everything is arranged at the reception to permise the visitors to stay as much as they want, there is a souvenir shop, a bar brasserie but also a few picnic tables and a wifi connection. So it’s up to you to see if you want to stay longer at the gates of the shire.

Conclusion

We both enjoyed the atmosphere, the guide, joyful and fun, plunges us into the movies by reminding us some scenes, but he also reaches everyone by talking about the shooting of the movies and revelations about behind the scene.
The choice of the place, the setting up of the sets, the picky demands of the director, all that remains really pleasant to discover even without knowing the films.
The shire is staging us, we are in a film setting that is real, no studio or green screen, just physical material scenery. For us, the price remains excessive for such a small attraction, but the fact is that it’s the only place in the world to offer a visit of this type, it hangs in the balance.
We regret a lot of not been able to discover an interior it’s a bit frustrating to see all these pretty cottages facades and not being able to push the door to enter. We also stay a bit unsatisfied because despite the time that has been given us, Hobbiton is small !

Nevertheless, we appreciated the little beer and the moment spent in middle-earth, so we recommend the visit. We repeat, this is the only place where we can live that. And for those who want to push further, or for the curious, know that it’s possible to discover many natural places of the two trilogies filming, and this for free.
You can find the different points on the application “campermate” or on a book indicating all the places of shooting.

Enjoy the hobbits !