New Zealand: Hobbiton Movie Set
Hobbiton is a must-see attraction in New Zealand – the legendary movie set used by Peter Jackson for his Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit prequel. When the location was chosen in 1998, the construction of the set began a year later and took 9 month to dig and create 39 Hobbit Hole houses (NZ military was doing the construction), dug into hill sides. A single artificial Party Tree was even added to the landscape, molded and painted to look like the existing trees around. All hobbit houses were empty inside, as the indoor scenes would take place in studio. The filming took 3 months for all the scenes of Hobbiton and the Bag End that went into the trilogy. After the filming, most hobbit holes were demolished with 17 carcasses remaining. In 2002, tours began running to what was left of the movie set and were a success. Peter Jackson returned here to film The Hobbit in 2009 and a total of 44 hobbit hole house were built. This is what you see today. The demand for tours was enormous and in 2012 the Green Dragon Inn was constructed as the finale of the tours (you get to drink Hobbit ales at the fireplace in here). The proprietor is considering adding a chance to actually stay overnight in here as the demand would probably come out at thousands of dollars per night.
