New Zealand: Waikato – Alexander Farm
New Zealand has plenty of picturesque green landscapes of rolling green jills dotted with sheep and cattle. Alexander Farm is just one of them, but it was this farm that caught the eye of the film director Peter Jackson in 1998 when doing aerial scouting for the Lord of the Rings and the location of the Shire. The farm looked most identical to the way the Shire was described by JRR Tolkien – rolling green hills for miles with isolated standalone trees. Alexander Farm spread over 1250 acres of land and was immediately chosen by Jackson as the location for Hobbiton (next post). The farm is still active, although Hobbiton tours bring in significantly more money than farming.
