We Visited The Hobbits!!

We got to see the hobbits!  Well, not actually, but we did visit the Shire where The Lord of the Rings was filmed and also The Hobbit (part 1 released later this year).  It was awesome!  It was exceptional.  It was much better than we expected (and we were pretty excited about it to begin with!).

It ended up being a beautiful day, the weather was perfect! 

Our tour started at the Shire's Rest cafe, where we boarded a bus filled with other Lord of the Rings fans and we headed out into the movie set.  

I didn't realize how large the set is.  There were over 30 hobbit holes built!  Each one unique and designed to look old.  The shire was built 2 years before the Lord of the Rings was filmed because the vegetation needed to grow to have the look of being well established.

Stunning!  The tree on the far left is the tree on top of Bag End!

Each hobbit hole had such detail!

The garden was beautiful!

From up the hill, looking over the shire.  The white dots are sheep.  The Shire was constructed on a working sheep farm.

This one we could go in!

Looking out from the hobbit hole...

The tree on top of Bag End.  It's fake!!  The original tree (the one featured in The Lord of The Rings) was real, but in order to film The Hobbit, they needed the tree to look 60 years younger.  So, they constructed a fake tree that have the look and movement of a real tree.  Our tour guide said that it confused the birds at first, but mostly, the birds know now.  Between when the tree was put in place and when the filming started, the leaves faded.  But, not to worry, they sent a few people up into the tree to paint each leaf!

Bilbo's house, Bag End!

A hobbit family!

We played on the field where Bilbo's 111th birthday party was.  Madeline helped out the tour guide by showing everyone how to dance like a hobbit!

A view from the party field over to the Green Dragon Bar.  

A couple of hobbit kids playing!  

This tree is the tree that is in the party field.  Bilbo stands next to it at his party and makes his famous speech to the hobbits just before he disappears!

What a gorgeous day!

Frodo and Gandalf pass through this passage on the cart at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring.

It was magic visiting Hobbiton!  I loved every minute of it.  The entire tour was about 1 1/2 hours.  After the tour, we returned to The Shire's Rest and the kids fed some sheep and pet the baby lambs.  We headed back into town (Matamata) for lunch and then returned to our cottage.  When we got there, it started to rain.  So, Scott built a fire and we all cuddled up and he read to us from The Hobbit.  We decided that our NZ holiday would be a perfect time to share that special story with our kids.  We were all so captivated by the story and the cozy afternoon, that Scott read to us for 3 hours!  It was a very special family day that we all enjoyed.