– FEBRUARY 24, 2015
Its time to take a break from nature and go “geek-out” on the actual set of the Shire from the Hobbit & Lord of the Rings series of movies! This set was first created when Peter Jackson and his location scout team performed an aerial search for suitable film sites. They found a farm just outside of Mata Mata, which had the large and famous tree they needed (in addition to the rolling hills and a large pond/lake).
The Party Tree
Thirty-nine Hobbit holes were created for the Lord of the Rings movies with untreated timber and polystyrene. They then went about dismantling the set, but weather prevented them from completing the demolition. They agreed to come back in 6 months and finish the work, but the local farmer who owned the land and the townspeople came together to make a deal with New Line Cinemas to stop the demolition. When they returned many years later to rebuild the Shire for the Hobbit movies, New Line Cinemas had to agree to rebuild the set with permanent materials so they could make the set into a tourist attraction. This reconstruction included an artificial tree made of steel and silicon over the Bilbo Baggins house.
Please enjoy some of our pictures and of course, more will be uploaded to our flickr account when Jill gets around to it.
The Hintze’s invade the Shire!
Welcome to the Shire!
The famous trees and Bilbo’s house
Hobbit Holes!
A wee-bit small for Kenneth!
Perhaps the Hintze’s will stay here for the night?
You have to see this in person! Amazing!
An older Sam’s house at the end of the Lord of the Rings series.
Beautiful.
Our tour guide did his first forced-perspective shot on our tour. Well done!
Some landscaping…but do you see the hidden tour treat?
SMAUG!!!
We survived and even had a home brew at the Green Dragon Inn. This was an amazing experience!
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For more photos of our adventure go to our flickr account here.
A Leaf on the Wind 
That is just too cool man! I wish I was there.
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My wife wants to go there so badly. I can’t wait to show her these pictures.
When my son was 10, I took him to the first movie. He wasn’t very excited. We ended up at the very front of the theatre. He was unimpressed until the movie started and then he leaned forward and upward, his jaw agape. When it was over, I asked him what he thought of it and he LOVED it. He said, ‘Dad. I thought it was going to be about wrestlers!’
That same summer he took a trip to a small town in the Kootenays with his Mom and sister. They went swimming in a river where, in a creek close to a small town he found a plain silver ring.
It looks positively magical there!
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I was excited to go to the Shire and it didn’t let me down Dana. It was magical and they do an excellent job keeping it looking new. You can’t help but feel like Gandalf will come around the corner at any time, it was a special highlight of New Zealand for movie geeks like me.
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