Lord of the Rings filming locations in New Zealand. Hobbiton - the famous place where the film "The Lord of the Rings" was filmed (Matamata, New Zealand)

El sila erin lu e-govaned vin, dear reader, or, to translate the graceful Elvish greeting into rough human language: “The star has illuminated the hour of our meeting.” Today we will go on a tour of the filming locations of Peter Jackson’s epic saga based on the book series of the great Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien “The Lord of the Rings”. Unlike, for example, “Game of Thrones,” which was filmed in many European countries and even one African one, the War of the Ring trilogy was filmed in one country, New Zealand, where the film’s director himself is from. The island state, far from us, was ideal for personifying the fairy-tale country of Middle-earth on the screen due to the diversity of landscapes and the general “unusuality” of the local nature for European and American viewers. The landscapes from the series of films about the adventures of the Fellowship of the Ring sank into the souls of fans so much that today New Zealand is a kind of Mecca for Tolkien tourism, thanks to which a huge number of travelers from all over the world enter the country every year. Without much preamble (although, what just happened then?) we suggest you saddle up your faithful horse (well, or pony, if you are short and have hairy legs), sheathe your sword, fill your quiver with arrows and rush to the places where you filmed heroes of the Lord of the Rings saga! And remember the main rule: “Don’t dare throw the gnome!”

Where was the Hobbit Village filmed?

Where is: North Island, Waikato region, Matamata-Piako region.

Screen embodiment: the village of Hobbiton and other parts of the Shire.

Hobbiton film set

The place where we first meet the main character of the trilogy, the hobbit Frodo Baggins, simply had to be as cozy, calm and fabulous as possible. How could it be otherwise, if in the image of the Shire, the land of halflings, Tolkien expressed all his love for the quiet and calm English villages. To bring the Shire to life on screen, Peter Jackson decided to build the entire settlement on the family farm a year before filming began. This was done to make the place look as lived-in and cozy as possible, which the film’s art team managed to pull off brilliantly. The director himself said in an interview that “by allowing plants to sprout here and there, forming small gardens and vegetable gardens a year before the start of filming, we created an incredibly real place, not just a set.” After the filming of The Lord of the Rings, the site was used to create the Hobbit trilogy, and now operates as a tourist center, allowing anyone to live briefly in real Hobbit houses. The main thing is to remember that the ceilings here are not too high.

Mount Ngauruhoe and the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Where is: North Island, Tongariro volcanic complex.

Screen embodiment: Mount Doom.

Despite all its attractiveness, Hobbiton was not the first place to which the film “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” introduced viewers. Middle-earth meets the viewer in the harshest of its lands, the land of the orcs Mordor, at the foot of Mount Doom. It was there, in a battle with the Dark Lord Sauron, that the son of the king of men, Isildur, cut off his enemy’s finger with the One Ring with a fragment of Narsil’s sword and laid the foundation for the future misadventures of the powerful artifact in Middle-earth. Mount Doom, where the ring was forged, is “played” in the film by the active stratovolcano Ngauruhoe, which erupted especially actively in the seventies of the twentieth century, and today does not show any signs of noticeable activity. Those wishing to visit this beautiful and slightly creepy place should remember that the sulfur fumes escaping from the vent can cause many problems for asthmatics.

Skippers Canyon

Where is: South Island, near the resort city of Queenstown.

Screen embodiment: Bruinen River.

The picturesque gorge in southern New Zealand was once the site of the Gold Rush. Local gold miners even called the river running along the bottom of the gorge, the Shotover, “the richest river in the world,” although no documentary evidence has survived that its waters were rich in grains of precious metal. In The Lord of the Rings, the canyon became the place where the Nazgul's pursuit of the wounded and close to death Frodo, who was being taken to Rivendell by the elf Arwen, Aragorn's lover, was interrupted. Now Skippers Canyon is famous throughout the world for its extremely dangerous, but very picturesque roads that run along the edges of the gorge.

Mount Olympus

Where is: South Island, near Boulder Lake.

Screen embodiment: southern valleys of Rivendell.

The windy, inhospitable valleys of the elven kingdom became the site of the first test of psychological stability of the Fellowship of the Ring, when all nine of its members had to hastily hide under boulders, put out fires and try not to breathe while black ravens, scouts for the traitor magician Saruman, flew over their heads. In the real world, Mount Olympus is not only a picturesque peak, but also one of New Zealand's most popular ski resorts, where extreme sports enthusiasts from all over the world try their hand at the local snow-covered slopes.

Mount Owen

Where is: South Island, Tasman region.

Screen embodiment: Dimrill Dale.

The valley on the eastern slope of the Misty Mountains welcomed the Fellowship of the Ring into its arms and allowed them to take a short break after being rescued from the dungeons of Moria, where, covering the retreat of his comrades, Gandalf fell into the endless abyss of the dark abyss, dragged along by the demon Balrog. Mount Owen was ideal for the film crew because it was replete with caves, and besides, it was located in the middle of the picturesque Kahurangi National Park (which, by the way, acted as the main location for filming the Battle of Azanulbizar in the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but that was already much later), so that nature at the foot of the mountain really allowed for a little respite from the gloomy and oppressive vaults of the Dwarf kingdom.

Mount Sunday

Where is: South Island, Canterbury region, Rangitata Valley.

Screen embodiment: Edoras.

The capital of the horse breeding state of Rohan, the city of Edoras, was built by the filmmakers from scratch on Mount Sunday, in an area called Mount Potts. It took builders nine months to construct the Golden Chamber and its surrounding buildings. An interesting fact is that, unlike Hobbiton, this set had to be dismantled at the end of filming so as not to spoil the pristine beauty of these wild lands. The city is remembered by fans of The Lord of the Rings for the scene of the arrival of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf at the royal palace in order to persuade Theoden to help the kingdom of Gondor in the war, followed by the expulsion of Saruman from the mind of the old king. In addition, it is here that the viewer first becomes acquainted with such important figures for the trilogy as King Theoden himself, his nephew Eomer and niece Eowyn, the vile traitor Grimaud Wormtongue and many others. The land on which Mount Sunday is located is private, but you can still get to it, even though Edoras itself and the Golden Chambers are no longer there, but the magnificent views of the wide valleys and mountain peaks in the distance have not gone away.

Marie Kepler

Where is: South Island, Southland region, near the town of Te Anau.

Screen embodiment: Deadfalls.

Marie Kepler embodied one of the most mysterious, mystical and gloomy places in all of Middle-earth: the battlefield of Dagorlad, filled with the corpses of people, elves and orcs, which over time turned into a deserted wetland in which dirty water washes rotting reeds, sparse patches of grass and heavy, viscous, oily earth. It was here that Frodo, Sam and Gollum traveled to Mordor, where the first fell into the water and almost drowned, enchanted by the lights above the mounds. If not for the timely help of the faithful squire Samwise the Brave, Frodo Baggins would have been another face in the swamps, over which the faint lights of the “candles of the dead” danced. Kepler's real Maries are part of Lake Manapouri and don't tell any sad stories about past battles, but they do an excellent job of creating a gloomy mood.

Putangirua Peaks

Where is: North Island, Wellington region.

Screen embodiment: Paths of the Dead.

When the situation of Gondor became threatening, and the Battle of Minas Tirith seemed a pointless attempt to delay the inevitable, Aragorn was forced to call upon the aid of the Dead of Dunharrow, an army of ghosts who had once betrayed Isildur and were cursed by him. But calling the oathbreakers to account for their deeds was not so easy; first, the Stone of Erech had to be reached along the dark Paths of the Dead, where mere mortals should not tread if they want to save their lives. It’s good that Aragorn is not a mere mortal, but the real king of Gondor. The gloomy walls of mountain paths are embodied on the screen by the peaks of Putangirua, located next to the Aorangi mountain ridge, massive stone pillars, which over thousands of years of erosion have built a tangled labyrinth in which it is easy to get lost if you do not know the way.

Mount Ruapehu

Where is: North Island, south of the Taupo volcanic zone.

Screen embodiment: Gates of Mordor.

The second active New Zealand stratovolcano in our selection, like its brother, embodied part of the lands of Mordor, among which the scenes at the gates of Sauron’s kingdom were especially striking. It was on the sharp stones at the foot of Ruapehu that Frodo saved Sam, who had fallen from the hill, from the Easterling warriors, pretending to be a stone (literally). The volcano is famous for being the highest point of the North Island, as well as for its more “restless” character than Ngauruhoe: volcanic activity was last noticed in 2016. Getting to Ruapehu is very simple - in the vicinity of the mountain and directly on it there are two ski resorts, the ski season for which is usually open from June to October. Access there is open to everyone, and people interested in rock climbing can try their hand at conquering the peaks of Ruapehu.

There have been so many people wanting to visit New Zealand after the release of Peter Jackson’s famous trilogy that local authorities are now actively attracting tourists who want to plunge into the world of Middle-earth. There are even separate excursion routes to the filming locations of The Lord of the Rings, so that you don’t miss anything interesting. So if you can't wait to visit the plains of Rohan, the mountain peaks of Mordor or the emerald fields of the Shire, you know which country you need to buy tickets to.

Here in Auckland I came across an excellent map listing the locations where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. I have already shown the heart of the Shire - the town of Hobbiton, which we will all soon see in the new "Hobbit", and the elven forests from the South Island. Due to the availability of air tickets and free tourist visas for Russian citizens, today I am posting links on the topic for amateurs and fans. Tolkienists, go ahead!

Don't judge me strictly if I'm wrong somewhere. I love the author with all my heart and admire his works, however, I cannot, like some of my friends, notice the wrong color of the plumage of the elven arrows in the flickering of the battle scene.

Hobbiton

So, let's start with the mecca of any roleplayer who respects the One Ring. It takes about two and a half hours to drive from Auckland to the farm where Peter Jackson filmed the Shire for all his films. This pleasure costs 60NZD excluding the road from Auckland. You can rent a car, or you can take a bus: there are plenty of tour operators. In detail, with photographs.

Anduin River

Filmed on the Waiau River. Open spaces, water surface, the banks of the Anduin River overgrown with dense forests.

Mangawhero River

Gollum fished here.

The same location is Mordor. Frodo and Sam pass by a ruined pillar.

Whakapapa skifield

Here Isildur cut off Sauron's ringed finger.

In the same place: Frodo and Sam caught Gollum and he led the hobbits to the Emyn Muil

Tukino skifield on Mt Ruapehu

Frodo, Sam and Gollum look out at Mordor before them before beginning to look for a way around it.

Dimholt Road

Putangirua Pinnacles

Aragorn, Legolas and the Dwarf Gimli ride to meet the army of the Dead

Still from the film

Dimrill Dale

Mount Owen

The Fellowship of the Ring (without Gandalf) flees Moria.

Elven Valleys in Rivendell

Mount Olympus/Boulder Lake

The Fellowship of the Ring is hiding here from Saruman's black ravens.

Ered Nimrais

Mount Gunn, next to the Franz Josef Glacier (Mount Gunn, Franz Josef Glacier)

Smoke signals light up on the tops of the White Mountains, carrying news from Gondor to Rohan.

Edoras

Mount Sunday

The capital of Rohan and the home of Meduseld, the castle of King Theoden.

• Bruinen Creek (Ford of Bruinen)

Skippers Canyon

Arwen wets the Nazgûl, causing a flash flood to fall on their heads.

Isengard

Dan's Paddock

Gandalf rides to Isengard through the valley of Nan Curunír.

Overnight in Ithilien

Twelve Mile Delta

Frodo, Sam and Gollum watch the battle between Faramir's warriors from Gondor and their enemies from Harad. Then Sam and Gollum discuss cooking fish.

Still from the film

Kawarau Bridge

The Fellowship of the Ring sails through the King's Gate on the River Anduin.

North Mavora Lake

Members of the Fellowship of the Ring sneak along the lakeshore at the end of a rafting trip down the River Anduin. The hobbits are hiding from the Urukhai.

Still from the film

Suspension bridge over the Mararoa River at South Mavora Lake

The Fellowship of the Ring leaves Lothlórien.

Still from the film

Mavor was filmed in the Fangorn Forest. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli follow the trail of Merry and Pippin after discovering the charred corpses of orcs left behind by the Riders of Rohan.

South of Rivendell

Northwest Lakes, near St Paul's Dome

The Fellowship of the Ring is moving south from Rivendell, as you might guess.

Fangorn Forest

Bog Pine Paddock

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli meet Gandalf.

Dead Marshes

Marie Kepler (Kepler Mire)

Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the swamps, saving Frodo from the spell of the dead floating here and there.

I hope this keeps you New Zealand and Google Maps travelers occupied for a while.

http://staskulesh.com/2012/07/lotr/

Peter Jackson's project "The Lord of the Rings" went down in history for a number of reasons: it is both the first live-action adaptation of John Tolkien's brainchild, and one of the most ambitious works in the history of cinema. An incredible half a billion dollars was spent on the creation of the trilogy, as well as its promotion. More than 3,000 people worked on the films. This gave an absolutely unsurpassed result: 3 billion grosses, 17 Oscar statuettes and Jackson’s name in the annals of film history. It's hard to imagine that anyone can surpass the eight-year work of such a brilliant director. Let's look at how this franchise was created.

The long way to the start of filming

Jackson's introduction to The Lord of the Rings occurred when he was 17 years old. He saw Ralph Bakshi's animated version of Tolkien's work and was so impressed that he read the trilogy in 12 hours. Already during these years, Jackson knew his calling, so the idea of ​​​​creating a picture arose in his head, but for now it was not financially feasible. Jackson became familiar with The Lord of the Rings after watching the Ralph Bakshi cartoon

The director took his first creative steps in his native New Zealand. There he opened several businesses and a film production company. With their help, he made quite successful and original films. In 1995, for example, a film called “The Scarecrows” was presented. Despite the fact that the filming of this project took place in New Zealand, funding for the work was provided by US film companies. Soon the Hollywood masters had to admit that they had worthy competition.

After completing work on The Scarecrows, Jackson began to approach The Lord of the Rings and, together with his wife Frances Walsh, as well as the head of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, began negotiations with the owner of the film rights to Tolkien’s creations, Sol Zaentz.
Saul Zaents is the owner of the film rights to Tolkien's works

Work on the script took two years . Several people were involved in it: Peter himself, Frances Walsh, Stephen Sinclair and Philippa Boyens. As a result, the team developed two films of epic proportions. $75 million was allocated for the filming of both parts - a fairly impressive amount for those times. But when producer Marty Katz went to New Zealand to scout locations, it turned out that the possible minimum would have to be about 150 million. Miramax, unfortunately, refused to provide such large amounts of money.

Jackson faced terrifying circumstances; he spent a month visiting various studios, presenting scripts and a 35-minute video of the finished material. I agreed to this adventure."New Line Cinema”, or rather, producer Mark Ordesky. However, this company presented new conditions: if this is a trilogy, then there must be three films. Jackson and his team had one choice: to start writing the script for the third film.

The material for all three films was shot in 438 days (from 10/11/1999 to 12/22/2000). To implement the plan, 150 locations were used in Miramar and Wellington. New Zealand turned out to be the best place to film such a film due to its unique natural landscapes.
New Zealand was a great location to film due to its unique landscapes

The work took place on seven film sets simultaneously. It was a colossal work, in which many assistant directors took part. Jackson himself supervised the process using satellite communications(by the way, he had his own team of specialists in matters of this very satellite communication).

The work in New Zealand was scheduled to end in 2000, and Peter met this deadline. This was followed by post-production in London, which took a year . In 2001, the world saw “The Fellowship of the Ring” and froze in anticipation of the subsequent parts of such a grandiose project.

A difficult test for actors

According to the actors themselves, it was not easy for them. According to Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo, his working day began at five in the morning. But even this time seemed excellent, since there were days when the filming process began even earlier.
Elijah Wood admits filming wasn't easy for him

But Liv Tyler, for example, I couldn’t find a common language with my horse: he constantly tried to bite the rider. As a result, for filming the elves on horseback, they used an artificial version of a horse mounted on a pickup truck. Thanks to this, there was no need to use real animals, which, although accustomed to noise and explosions, still could not accept strangers.

The intense work was not easy for each team member. According to Peter, he slept 4 hours a day. Everything was complicated by the fact that helicopters were required to travel between film sets, because part of the process took place in places where roads were out of the question. By the way, Jackson once even quarreled with local authorities, because after unplanned filming of battle scenes in Tongariro Park, restoration work was required.

Makeup and costumes

The greatest difficulties arose with the fake hobbit feet and makeup, which took more than an hour. At the same time, Sean Astin admitted that approximately fifty days of filming went without hobbit legs in the frame - but the extensions were a mandatory part of the process.

To begin with, the legs had to be smeared with glue, the feet were attached to it, then they were made up. The actors had to endure all this while standing, since the pads were not fixed correctly in a sitting position. Moreover, the feet could only be used once, so in total more than 1,800 pads were used during filming. A little less artificial ears were spent – ​​1,600 pieces.
During filming, about 1,800 artificial feet were used.

Another interesting aspect concerns the rings. About 10 of them were created, and they all got into the frame at different times . The largest of them weighed 3 kilograms– it is he who can be seen in the episode when Frodo dropped the ring while rolling down a snowy mountain . At the end of filming, Wood and Serkis each received a copy of this prop., and for a long time each of them was sure that they had an exclusive option.
After filming, Wood and Serkis received copies of similar rings

The costumes in the film can be called a real work of art. This is especially true for elven outfits. But the greatest expense required the creation of chain mail. Two craftsmen wove more than 12 million rings over two years and created 400 metal and plastic (to lighten the weight) protective suits. During the work on the project, Frodo needed 64 sets of clothes, Aragorn - 32.
During filming, more than 400 metal suits were made

Decorations and innovative special effects

Another challenge was creating the scenery. They were developed in Wellington, and from there they were transported by car and helicopter to the filming location, where, in turn, they began to be assembled and the luxurious houses of the elves were gradually erected. Another interesting point is connected with these dwellings: the artist was so imbued with the psychology of the elves that he created all the buildings around trees. This ensured that the bulldozer did not disturb natural elements, which was a big plus for Jackson in the eyes of environmentalists.
Hobbit Dwellings

It is worth noting that Jackson saw no barriers to his ideas. When he needed a location to film the lifeless plain of Mordor, the Black Gate, and Black Mountain, he turned to the New Zealand army. Only their training ground met the director's requirements. Some actors initially refused to play their roles in such conditions because they feared for their lives, because live shells from military units lay throughout the filming area.

One of the most difficult problems was maintaining proportions. To show the difference between Gandalf and the hobbits, it was necessary to create false hands that were 2 times larger than the usual size . They consisted of electric motors and could move independently. Two versions of Bilbo Baggins' house were also created: the large one starred Ian Holm himself, and the small one starred Ian McKellen as Gandalf. All interior elements were copied in duplicate so that the large version was one and a half times larger.
This is what Bilbo Baggins' house looks like from the inside

A storyboard was created for each scene - these are simplified animated videos in which Jackson imagined what he wanted to get as a result.

Filming the scenes of the fight with the trolls in the dungeon turned out to be an equally difficult task. Here the masters fromWETA Digitalwho created a special virtual space. Jackson put on glasses and assessed the trolls' movements in real time. Thanks to this, maximum realism was achieved, as well as the feeling that huge creatures really existed.

As a result, such colossal work yielded excellent results. For 13 weeks, the first part of the trilogy was in the Top 10 of the American box office, and other episodes showed similar results. $870 million was the international box office figure for The Fellowship of the Ring, but this record was broken by the next two installments. In total, The Lord of the Rings grossed over $3 billion! And this does not take into account profits from souvenirs, the release of computer games and other marketing moves. In addition to financial success, the American Film Academy record was also repeated. “The Return of the King” collected 11 Oscar statuettes, equaling such iconic projects as “Ben Hur” and “Titanic.” The total number of awards in the trilogy exceeded one hundred.

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

Mordor - Tongariro

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

Rivendell - Kaitoke

Edoras - Mount Sunday

Argonath and Bruinen - Queenstown region

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

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.

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.