CULTURE
Hobbiton – a real hobbit village in Matamata, New Zealand
Baku, May 6, AZERTAC
One of the most successful movie sagas the Lord of the Rings, based on the eponymous novel written by English author and scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, was mainly filmed in New Zealand, whose rich nature offers a variety of differing sites.
Hobbiton was a set, built for the movie. However, after the filming was finished somebody got the idea to leave this Hobbit village as the tourist attraction.
The movie highly increased tourism to New Zealand and Hobbiton is the favorite attraction among the sagas’ fans. The visitors feel like they are walking around a real Hobbit village.
At the end of last summer, Hobbiton wasn’t as green as usual, though, due to water restrictions.
It takes a lot of work to keep the village so lush—there are a number of full-time workers whose sole job is to water the site.
The Hobbit Holes—the homes of the hobbits that are built into the hillside—are incredibly cute. Some of the doors are large so that during filming humans looked hobbit-sized, while others are small to make Gandalf the Wizard look tall.
Even the sheep pasture in the fields of Hobbiton! The site adds up extra excitement on the trip to New Zealand.