Interesting facts from the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Hobbitton village in New Zealand, where the Lord of the Rings was filmed
The Lord of the Rings, an epic novel and the world's most famous work of fantasy, has millions of fans in all countries. For half a century, fans could only enter the magical world of Middle-earth in their dreams. But since the early 2000s, everything has changed. Director Peter Jackson, a native of New Zealand, shot a film trilogy based on Tolkien's book in his homeland, and those who wanted to plunge into the world of hobbits, elves, dwarves and orcs rushed to look for the places shown on the screens. Since then, The Lord of the Rings has become a New Zealand brand.
This island nation continues to experience a boom in all things Lord of the Rings. In 2004, just after the final part of the trilogy was filmed, this type of tourism brought US$320 million into the New Zealand treasury. And recently, gold coins with images of film characters were proposed to be used as a means of payment.
It is expected that there will be even more people wishing to visit New Zealand: the world premiere of the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will take place in December. And then two more films will come out. All of them will describe the events of Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.
Getting to New Zealand is not easy. From Moscow to Auckland (the largest city in the country) you can fly by plane via Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai, Los Angeles, Delhi, Paris, Sydney, Singapore and other cities. The journey takes on average 30 hours. Air tickets are sold at different prices, you can expect about 1 thousand dollars. Visa and medical insurance are also paid.
Usually a tourist in New Zealand does not have to think long about where to spend the night. There are many hotels in large cities that meet international standards. Hotels can also be found in picturesque places in nature. On the way to the cities there are motels. Hostels are popular; many people prefer to stay in the houses of New Zealand families (“homestays”) and. And, of course, there is a large selection of houses for rent. If night takes you by surprise in the middle of the forest, you can pitch a tent. This is permitted wherever there is no prohibiting “No camping” sign. There are also special camping sites in national parks, and there are also paid sites.
Lord of the Rings tours last two to three weeks. You can use the services of travel agencies or. In the latter case, there will be no problems either, since the locals are friendly and always ready to help.
Agencies offer different prices, most often the cost of a tour varies from 5 thousand to 10 thousand dollars, depending on the number of vacationers and the season. The most convenient way to get around is by car.
The journey begins in Auckland. There's nothing notable here that would be associated with The Lord of the Rings, but it is New Zealand's largest city, home to more than a quarter of the country's total population. In the surrounding area there are 48 extinct volcanoes, preserved in the form of mountains, lagoons, lakes and islands. In the city you can rent a car and hit the road.
The further route passes through the following places: Wakaito, lakes Rotorua and Taupo, Tongario, Mount Ruapehu, Wellington, Kaitoke, Nelson, Punakaiki, Franz Josef Glacier, Collingwood, west coast and fjords, Te Anau, Queenstown, Mount Cook, Christchurch, and Marie Kepler. Some of them were actually used for filming, others are simply interesting landmarks along the way.
Hobbiton - Wakaito
Heading south from Auckland, the suburbs gradually give way to rural scenery, and in two hours you will find yourself in the middle of the Wakaito grasslands. The green rolling hills will immediately remind you of Hobbiton - the village where Bilbo, Frodo and their friends lived. And there really is a similar village here. The town of Matamata received a second baptism after the filming of “The Lord of the Rings” and is now called Hobbiton. A sign was placed on the main street, announcing to tourists that they were now in the world of halflings. Here you can feed the animals on the farm, visit all the corners where the film was filmed, look into hobbit holes (though most of the houses are dummies), have a snack at the Shire’s Rest cafe and buy souvenirs.
Mordor - Tongariro
Then you should go further south, to lakes Rotorua and Taupo. Once there, you should definitely visit Tongariro National Park, which became the location for the filming of Mordor. This park is characterized by great natural diversity: grassy meadows, forests and quiet lakes are interspersed with desert plateaus. At the Fakapapa ski resort they filmed the Gorgorot plateau and the Emin Muil highlands, at the Tukino resort they filmed the slopes of Orodruin (Mount Doom), and in the Rangipo desert they filmed the Black Gate of Mordor.
Mount Doom - Ruapehu
There are even active volcanoes in Tongariro. One of them, Mount Ruapehu (translated from the Maori language as “thundering abyss”), appeared in the form of Mount Orodruin. At its foot, Isildur overthrew Sauron and put the One Ring on his finger, around which the plot of The Lord of the Rings unfolds.
Orodruin is the only active volcano in Middle-earth. This is how J. R. R. Tolkien describes him: “Sam looked at Orodruin - the mountain of fire. And from time to time, the furnaces far below its ash cone heated up and, with a loud roar and noise, threw streams of hot lava out of the cracks on the slopes of the mountain. Some flowed through great canals to Barad-dúr, others carved a winding path across the stony plain until they cooled and lay like twisted dragon carcasses vomited out by the tortured earth.”
Shire, Bree, Troll Grove, Old Forest - Wellington Region
Tourists usually visit Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and explore its main attractions. Many episodes of “The Lord of the Rings” were filmed in the surrounding area: the outskirts of the Shire, Bree (on the site of an old military base), Troll Grove, the Old Forest, Helm’s Gorge, Minas Tirith and more. An hour's drive from Wellington is the Martinborough wine region, and on the way there you will meet the Hutt River, on the banks of which the hobbits left their boats.
Rivendell - Kaitoke
In the south of the North Island, near Wellington, there is Kaitoke Regional Park, where scenes in the land of the elves, the Anduin River and battle scenes at the Fords of Isen (in the upper reaches of the Hutt River) were filmed. Kaitoke was chosen for filming Rivendell because of the variety of landscapes: there are forests, valleys and a river. Using computer graphics, the filmmakers managed to make it look like the place Tolkien described: “Sam led him (Frodo) through several long corridors and down a staircase with many steps and through a garden above a steep river bank. Here, on the threshold facing east, sat his friends. The valley below them was covered in shadow, but there was still light here, and the light reflected from the distant mountains. The air was warm. The sounds of flowing and falling water were loud, the evening was full of the smells of trees and flowers, as if summer had lingered in Elrond’s garden.”
Edoras - Mount Sunday
The next attraction is Mount Sunday in Canterbury. To get there you have to make a big jump to the center of the South Island. The two parts of the country are connected by a ferry service for passengers and cars. En route to Canterbury, you'll visit the towns of Collingwood, Picton and Nelson, with pristine beaches and breathtaking mountain peaks and crevices. Mount Sunday is significant because in the film it was the location of Edoras, the capital of Rohan, along with the palace of Meduseld, where King Théoden lived.
Argonath and Bruinen - Queenstown region
Some complete the trip by stopping in Christchurch, located east of Edoras, but true Tolkien fans head further south. In the vicinity of Queenstown they filmed the refugee crossing of Rohan, the White Mountains, the hills of Eregion, the Misty Mountains, an overnight stay in Ithilien, Argonath, Bruinen and more.
The Bruinen River scene took place in Skippers Canyon. In the film “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” Arwen and Frodo escaped the pursuit of the Black Riders by driving them into this body of water. Nearby, in the area of the Twelve Mile Channel, an episode called "A Night in Ithilien" was filmed, when Frodo, Sam and Gollum watched the battle between Faramir's warriors from Gondor and their enemies from Harad. The difficult trek through the Misty Mountains actually took place in the Southern Alps. Stone statues of the kings of Gondor were “placed” on the Kawarau River, but the statues themselves were drawn using computer graphics.
Dead Marshes - Kepler's Marie
Even further south lie the marshes, where they filmed the episode in which Frodo falls under the spell of the dead and Sam saves him. These are the so-called Kepler mari, located near Te Anau, the largest lake in the South Island. The depth of the swamps reaches almost 5 m. Marie Kepler is indeed similar to the description of the Dead Marshes from Tolkien’s book: “On both sides and in front lay wide swamps, stretching to the south and east in the dim half-light. The fog rose in curls from the dark, fetid pools. Heavy fumes hung in the air. The only green was a foam of pale algae on the dark, dirty surface of the dismal water. Dead grasses and rotting reeds rose in the mist like the ragged shadows of a long-forgotten summer.”
To return back, you can get to Queenstown, and from there by plane to Auckland. The same route can be taken by bus or car.
You probably won’t find a person today who hasn’t watched or at least heard about Peter Jackson’s film “The Lord of the Rings.” This trilogy is based on the work of the same name by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien is a famous English fantasy writer, philologist, and linguist. The book tells a story about the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. Director Peter Jackson brought to the screen the adventures of little hobbits, elves, gnomes and magicians. The film featured such talented actors as Elijah Wood (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Liv Tyler (Arwen), Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and others.
Many fans of the film are interested in where The Lord of the Rings was filmed. This is what we will talk about now.
Middle Earth in New Zealand
The book takes place in a fictional country - Middle-earth. In the film, the viewer enjoys magnificent landscapes: the green fields of Hobbiton, elven forests, stormy rivers. Peter Jackson found all this splendor in New Zealand, where the film was filmed for three years.
- Thus, Hobbiton is located on the territory of a private sheep farm, near the town of Matamatu. The scenery of cute hobbit houses - burrows - was built there. They have survived to this day, and tourists actively visit the Shire.
- Rohan is a country of horse breeders, ruled by the noble King Theoden. Rohan is located in the Canterbury region, on the South Island. The endless majestic plains perfectly recreate the atmosphere of the novel.
- The picturesque Hutt River, flowing in the Southern Alps, turned into the Anduin River in the film. Along it, the Fellowship of the Ring sailed from Lórien.
- Well, those who want to see with their own eyes the fatal mountain, where Sauron forged the Ring of Omnipotence, need to go to the active volcano Ruapehu. You will be able to repeat the route along which the heroes of the saga Frodo and Sam walked.
You can find out how the trilogy was filmed in the article in the section
The small town of Matamatu, which is located in the Waikato region, is now a place of real tourist pilgrimage. After all, it is in the vicinity of this city that the Shire is a wonderful land where the people of hobbits live. Waikato, with its small farms, rolling green hills and thickets of heather, was the ideal location for this filming. Most of the scenery is still preserved in the outskirts of the city, so here you can see hobbit holes with green round doors, a huge one where Bilbo Baggins celebrated his birthday and other memorable places from the film.
In the vicinity of Wellington (the capital of New Zealand), filming lasted three whole years. Here you can see the incredible landscapes that surrounded the elven valley of Rivendell in the film, and nearby the plains on which Orthanc stood. A walk through the Wairarapa Hills takes you to the grim peaks of Pitangirua, the Path of the Dead from the third film.
Not far from the famous resort city of Queenstown, which is located in a unique natural area, the golden forests of Lorien were filmed - the place where the beautiful elf mistress Galadriel reigns. And ten kilometers from this city there is a wonderful national park, Deer Park Heights, where the Rohans and orcs were filmed.
Rohan and Mordor
Canterbury is the largest of the South Islands. On its beautiful plains in the film the Rohan city of Edoras from the second part of the epic was located; it was here that Theoden’s palace called Meduseld stood.
Southland is one of New Zealand's most picturesque areas and is home to the Fiordland National Park. The Hutt River, which flows through this region, became the great Anduin in the film, along which the film's sailors floated as they left the golden forests of Lórien.
The volcano Ruapehu was directed by Peter Jackson (the film's director) as Fire Mountain, or Orodruin. Everything in the film began and ended with the flame of this volcano. There is a whole walking route for fans of the film. Tourists can see many places familiar from the film, approach the Ohakune River, where Gollum fished, and see stunning mountain landscapes.
New Zealand's diverse climates, stunning nature and beauty make it the perfect location for filming a fantasy epic.
Peter Jackson knew from an early age that he would make films. His dream was a film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, which he read in his youth. Years later, he finally came to his dream and created an outstanding film, and subsequently two full-fledged trilogies.
"The Lord of the Rings" was filmed in New Zealand. The first part of the trilogy brought in a lot of money both for the studio and for this country. But the big contribution, of course, was the cultural heritage, because the films became record holders in nominations and victories at the Oscars. Peter Jackson forever made a name for himself, and the world received one of the most memorable and outstanding film projects in history. But once upon a time, no one could have imagined that Tolkien’s fairy tale would become a real legend.
New Zealand. An ideal place for the world of hobbits
Where was The Lord of the Rings filmed? Almost all of the main filming of Peter Jackson's legendary film trilogy took place in New Zealand. The reason for this was several key factors, because the film adaptation of the cult works of J.R. Tolkien required a truly fabulous nature and atmosphere around. The lands of New Zealand, due to their uniqueness, had everything necessary to recreate a fairy-tale world, the capital of which was Hobbiton, a city that still exists.
More specifically, where was The Lord of the Rings filmed? Most of the filming about the life of hobbits in this village took place in Auckland County, or rather literally just a few kilometers from it. Some scenes that required a picturesque body of water with crystal clear waters and blue streams were provided by the Anduin River. Its banks were also used, as the vegetation around it is quite frightening and dark, which was perfect for many of the action-packed moments that peppered this tale. Also included in the frame is the Mangavero River, the place where Golum himself once fished. The destination of the journey, as we remember, was Mordor. This place where they filmed "The Lord of the Rings" in New Zealand is located on the territory of Whakapapa, which is a ski resort.
Paradise for Tolkienists
The fever itself, under the simple name “hobbitomania,” prompted many fans of Tolkien’s works, and especially fans of the cinematic universe, to engage in real “Tolkien tourism” in order to find out everything and visit the filming locations of the first trilogy, since it mainly took place in natural settings .
The Peaks of Pataungirua is a place in the rocks on a certain hill where the three of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli once ran. All the outstanding three went to war, forgiving the entire army of the Dead. Dan's pasture provided a nice natural setting for a memorable scene with Gandalf, who goes to Isengard, the legendary fairy valley.
The legacy of "The Lord of the Rings"
The location for filming “The Lord of the Rings” was chosen almost perfectly, and if initially the local authorities were not particularly eager to give permission for cinematic activities, and many Tolkienists were also indignant at this choice, now few are dissatisfied.
The creators of the film series fell in love with their work, and now in New Zealand, where The Lord of the Rings was filmed, there is not only a real living city of Hobbiton, but also unique museums that have preserved certain artifacts from the filming and are conveniently located in the former locations of the film trilogy, thus making a huge gift for the most ardent fans. Now New Zealand has increased its tourist flow by forty percent, all thanks to Peter Jackson's trilogy. Many people now want to enjoy the picturesque places associated with the action of the film, and having received this, no one remains indifferent.
A journey of years
How many years did The Lord of the Rings take to film? The implementation of the project within the trilogy took eight years. All films in the trilogy were shot simultaneously in order to save time and money, since long breaks between filming affected the budget increase. For example, The Fellowship of the Ring was filmed in fifteen months, which is almost a year and a half. We spent approximately the same amount of time filming subsequent parts.
Innovative filming techniques, including motion capture, which created the entirely digital character of Golum played by Andy Serkis, forced more time into the filming process and subsequent post-production. But even though everything took eight full years, for a trilogy this is a fairly short period of time, because the director's cuts, which were released on DVD a year after the theatrical premiere, showed a lot of additional material that Peter Jackson's team filmed during these years.
Subsequently, the same team returned to New Zealand to film the Hobbit series, which also grew from a dilogy into a full-fledged trilogy. But here the filming time was reduced, since most of the production no longer took place on location, but in specialized pavilions.
Locations and scenery of "The Lord of the Rings" in New Zealand
One must also take into account the fact that New Zealand is the homeland of director Peter Jackson, and he first read The Lord of the Rings at the age of eighteen. When his dream became to make a film adaptation of Tolkien, he understood that he needed to gain a lot more experience. Years later, in the lands where Jackson grew up, he had six or even seven crews working at the same time, building sets and filming in parallel to save time and stay on budget and on schedule.
Hobbiton became the homeland of hobbits, and to create it, the film company bought a farm in the city of Matamata from the New Zealand authorities. The local landscape was perfect for filming, and to create the world of hobbits in the authors' understanding, gardeners, the army and other workers were involved in planting trees, bushes, flowers and many plants. Builders and artists erected the necessary huts, hills and laid out paths. The task was simplified, because initially a computer and natural model of this place was prepared. Ultimately, a real hobbit village was built - Hobbiton, it became a real treasure and exists to this day, and the unique English comfort welcomes everyone.
Interesting facts about the creation of the film trilogy "The Lord of the Rings"
There are many interesting facts about the film "The Lord of the Rings". Peter Jackson began writing the script for the film while still very young. After reading The Fellowship of the Ring at the age of eighteen, he began making his first sketches. Initially, he saw the entire story in a ninety-page script, but soon everything stretched into two full-fledged scripts.
At the New Line Cinema presentation, where Jackson presented the project, the management stated that they considered this madness, and Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” should be told in three films, as it should be in the original book. Therefore, two parts turned into three and the script had to be redone again. By the way, the script had to be rewritten right up to the start of filming. Ultimately, the creators of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 film) loosely told the story described by Tolkien, but still tried to preserve the basic philosophy and atmosphere of the story. Many Tolkienists did not like Peter Jackson's film adaptation.
Elven brotherhood
Many members of the cast of The Lord of the Rings (2001), as well as Peter Jackson, got tattoos in honor of the filming of the epic. The symbol “9” became a sign of belonging to the elven lads. Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo, did it on his stomach, Billy Boyd and Sean Astin (Sam) did it on their ankles. John Rhys-Davies scrapped the idea, but Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Sean Bean and Dominic Monaghan took it on. But Peter Jackson distinguished himself and got himself a tattoo of the elven symbol “10”.
Ring of One Power
After filming ended, Peter Jackson gave one “one ring” to Andy Serkis, who played the role of Golum, and one ring to Elijah Wood, who played the main role of Frodo. Until recently, the actors thought that there was only one ring, but the joker Jackson decided that both characters deserved such a gift. The now legendary joke says that Elijah Wood does not age precisely because he kept the real “Omnipotence Ring” for himself.
The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's legacy today
Not long ago, Amazon acquired the rights to the yet-to-be-filmed works of J.R. Tolkien, and the world shook. As usually happens (for example, it happened with the first film trilogy “The Lord of the Rings” and subsequently with “The Hobbits”), there were opponents and ardent defenders. Most of Tolkien's relatives were always against such uses of works about Middle-earth, but once the rights were sold, and the big movie business got involved.
This time we will talk about the prequel (backstory) of "The Hobbit", that is, what happened even earlier. But one of the most interesting features is that actor Ian McKellen, who played the role of Gandalf in two trilogies, said that he would absolutely not mind becoming a wizard again and playing his role. Here's what he said on BBC radio:
“What other Gandalf? I haven’t given my consent or refusal to anyone yet. But no one has asked me about it yet. But do you think that some other actor should play him? As far as I remember, Gandalf the Gray is seven thousand years old , and I'm not that old yet."
As we understand, a lot is possible in the world of cinema now, because once upon a time Guillermo Del Toro was supposed to shoot the second trilogy, which was called “The Hobbit. There and Back Again,” but the studio still managed to persuade Peter Jackson to perform not only the functions of a producer, but and again film what he already knows and loves. And now there is a small opportunity that we can see the hero we already know in his usual form, and if Jackson appears as one of the helmsmen of the project, then the series is doomed to success.
What Peter Jackson liked most here was the amazing beauty of nature and the absence of even a hint of civilization. Thus, an American film company acquired the central piece of the farm and built there the city of Hobbiton for the filming of the cult film “The Lord of the Rings,” which consists of dummies and sets - forty nor-houses. After the filming of the film, the scenery was removed and empty eye sockets remained here for some time, but with the creation of The Hobbit, the scenery was again updated and this time left for the delight of tourists.
At the request of the American owners, local farm workers take care of all the living creatures inhabiting Hobbiton and the unique garden. There is a bus running from a fairly large cafe by the road with a prominent sign that says "Hobbiton" several times a day. The town is comfortably located by the lake, and if you look around, you won’t see civilization anywhere nearby.
On the approaches to Hobbiton there are sheep all around, hills - the usual things for New Zealand. 
Welcome to Hobbiton! 
Everyone is given some kind of compound feed that can be fed to tame sheep. They feel like carpet. There you can pay to see how sheep are sheared or feed milk to small ones. This is the boring part. 
Outside the cafe window everything is the same: hills and sheep, hills and sheep. 
The photograph on the wall seems to hint: it will be interesting, this is what the holes of real hobbits look like. 
Actually, a view of a cafe called “Rest in the Shire” or “Shire’s Rest”. 
The loud-mouthed tour guide is organizing tourists, soon a bus will arrive, and everyone will go deep into the farm, to the Shire. 
On a New Zealand farm there are fields, sheep and cows. 
The bus flies ahead and stops in Hobbiton. 
At the entrance we are greeted by numerous prohibitory signs. You cannot litter, climb into holes, touch or take (steal) things. The fence is electrified (for sheep, of course), and the shock is quite sensitive. 
Here it is, here it is the hole of my dreams. Most hobbit holes are pure dummies, with either nothing inside at all, or, perhaps, the exact amount of space needed for a certain number of actors or crew members for a certain scene. Most doors are just doors. 
Sadik. The hobbits obviously lived very poorly. Farm workers look after him. Butterflies fly around and the forest smells. 
There, in the distance, you can make out other holes; on the top of the hill, under a spreading tree, stands Bilbo's house. 
The shorn sheep are waiting in the bushes for food and are afraid of everything. 
Hobbits have amazingly cute houses. We had a long discussion about the practicality of round doors. A separate subject of controversy was the knocker handle in the center of the door - after all, it was purely a decorative thing. 
If anyone has carefully read Tolkien's books, the pictures on the mailboxes reflect the profession of the owner of the house. About 30% of Hobbiton visitors have never read a book or seen a movie. There are such statistics. 
What I liked most was the amount of detail around the holes: brooms, baskets, benches, jars, bottles, benches - very similar to the village way of life, where everything goes into the house, everything goes into the family. 
Classic hobbit hole. Pay attention to the window replicas in the distance. You can see curtains and some dusty bottles in them. 
These are the details I was talking about: how much is laid out on the window and, surprisingly, in the window too. 
More bottles and a figured window in the door. Every door, every hole, every hobbit house is unique and reflects the character of its inhabitants. The decorators frolicked to their heart's content. 
In the distance beyond the lake is the city center and the mill. Tourists are prohibited from entering there: it seems they are still planning to film something there. The bridge was designed and built by the military, for some reason it is a special source of pride. 
View of the lake in which the clouds are reflected. 
View of Hobbiton across the lake. This will most likely be in the new film, remember this angle. 
The timing for the visit was not the best, so at some point we had to take photographs against the sun. I clicked triplets, collected them later: dimmed the lights, pulled out the shadows. What happened, happened. Yes, this is what for some reason is commonly called HDR. 
The same hill nearby. 
A fishing village, here during filming there were fishing rods, smoke coming from the chimneys, clothes and fish were drying. This is one of the fairly busy streets in Hobbiton. 
In calm weather, the surface of the lake turns into a mirror, I’m sure Peter Jackson photographed the beauty in the early morning. 
The outskirts of the city, sheep graze on the slopes; according to the book, the actors walked here for four days. In reality it is only five minutes from the physical center of the city. The magic of editing. 
Once again I am amazed at the work of the decorators. 
One of the views of Bilbo Baggins' house (under the tree). In this hole, the door opens, and inside there is just enough space to accommodate four people. And the tree is completely artificial and cost more than a million dollars: in the book it is written that Bilbo lived under the tree, but nothing grew on the top of the hill. 
We continue to look at the details next to the holes. 
This is a woodshed next to the forge. Do you notice anything special near the ax? 
Yes, this is it, the ring. It was brought to Hobbiton by fans from England. 
They said that when approaching New Zealand, the ring became heavier. 
The elderly couple was very happy to have their photo taken in the cinema set. 
The gardeners do their job well: the houses are not overgrown, the flowers are blooming, the butterflies are flying. 
The glass in the windows is uneven, the boxes are painted in the corners - if the guide didn’t prompt you, you could hang there for a long time, looking at the work of the graphic designers. 
House with a yellow door. In one of these holes there is a technical room responsible for lighting, smoke from pipes and much more that is designed to enliven the set. 
As promised, there is a butterfly in the frame. 
A burgundy door with firewood neatly stacked in a tub and sunflowers growing underfoot. Very nice. 
The huge tree under which the hobbits frolicked in the first parts of The Lord of the Rings. 
Road sign. Lichens, if you remember from your school biology course, grow very slowly. Moss and other signs of aging on the wooden parts of the scenery, as I understand it, are a separate task for their creators. Looks great. 
The most important, most popular, most famous house in Hobbiton. Bilbo Baggins lived here, Gandalf came here. 
It looks very much like a photograph from a wall in a cafe, the entertainment organizers were not deceived. 
