We both admit to being late to the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit party. Neither of us have been fans of the Middle Earth genre other than being amused by Air New Zealand's entertaining pre-flight safety videos. (These often feature Middle Earth characters played by airline staff.) But the film set of the Hobbits village, Hobbiton, is highly rated by visitors and we had the opportunity to call in on our way from Tauranga to Auckland to pick up the van so we thought "why not".
The tours are immensely popular so we had booked well in advance to avoid disappointment. And to get the most out of our visit we thought we would prepare by watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit before we left UK.
As we approached the site near Matamata, the road side sign added fuel to our pre-conception that it would be all a bit of a commercial ruckus. And having checked-in for our tour we were clearly surrounded by an eager throng of die-hard fans waiting for shuttle buses to the movie set.
Tourist Farm
Although it was certainly busy, once onto the movie set itself, the individual tour groups soon dispersed. Although clearly keeping a fairly close eye on the schedule, our guide was always laid back and there was never any feeling of being pushed through the site. And there was plenty of opportunity for the all-important photographs without having to jockey for position. Interesting though that some nationalities still feel the need to jockey even when there isn't!
View towards The Green Dragon Pub
Perfectly proportioned
Hobbits on tour
Bag End
We were pleased that we took the tour; it was a most enjoyable stop-off and even if you are not a fan then you will likely enjoy it too. All in all, we needn't have been worried by that roadside sign as we weren't herded around the site like farm animals as it had perhaps suggested we might.
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