It was our fourth visit to Hobbiton, the others starting in 2008, before there was actually much there. We had done the standard tour twice before, in 2014 and 2018, but for Christmas our daughters Rebecca and Rachel had given us tickets to do the evening banquet at the Green Dragon plus the torch-lit night walk around the village. It was a special treat. As usual, we took way too many pix, but have whittled them down and divided them by day and by night. Many more such pix, except those by night, can be seen in our previous Hobbiton posts. Just enter "Hobbiton" in the search box.
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The night before our tour, we had stayed at a farm camp (Farmer
Maggot's) on a hill with this amazing "Shire" view; beautiful countryside
all over the island between Auckland and Rotorua |
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View from Shire's Rest the entry point where one catches the
tour bus to the village proper); we'd never noticed the mountains
before |
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The tour begins: the really big advantage of the evening banquet
program is that you tour with just your one group (about fifty);
during the day tours, busloads are arriving every 10-15 minutes and
there can be as many as four or five groups touring the place at any
given time |
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Without the multitudes--40-50% of whom have neither read the
books nor seen the movies--there are time and opportunity to
indulge one's Inner Fantasy fantasies and to get some better pix |
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Ever-attentive to the affairs of birds and bees...here is a hobbit
sparrow (center) that has been working the sunflower seeds |
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| And a pollinating bee, gathering nectar |
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| Back to the main narrative thread |
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| Us, there |
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| Party Tree, pond, Green Dragon |
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| Closer up |
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| Bag End, chez Bilbo |
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Way back in 2008, one could march right up to "the door where
it began" and have one's picture made; not any more... |
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| Us, there, 2023 |
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For TFOTKR, Sir Peter had to provide a tree over Bag End, as
described by Tolkien |
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And there it is still, 72,000 plastic leaves, individually fastened
to the "limbs," each painted green by scores of art students; the
magic of movies.... |
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Chez Samwise; the two holes adjoining will be excavated this
spring and enlarged; and made into "living" hobbit-holes for
tourists to visit |
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| Excellent signage |
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| Looking across the pond to the Green Dragon |
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| Down by the old mill |
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| Pre-literate signage |
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| Approaching the Green Dragon |
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Hearty fare: practical tip...it's all family-style, the tables are long,
seating perhaps 18-20, and only one set of tongs provided at each
end of the table: don't sit in the middle! |
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Hobbits are better known for their insatiable appetites, not for their
discriminating tastes |
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| But no one went away hungry |
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| Nor thirsty (I took thirty minutes off from my dry January) |
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| Green Dragon interior |
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| Himself |
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After the main dinner, we were ushered outside to stretch and
appreciate the twilight |
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