Place of the Film of the Book
When I travel I like to find a book about the place andsometimes a movie too. One of mybest ever trips was to Hobbiton – in fact a small town called Matamata. Best every because this is a placewhere one of my favourite books was brought to life in film. Mantamta is a couple of hours south ofAuckland and is the only location that still has Lord of the Rings (LOTR) filmartefacts in situ. The only placebecause Peter Jackson and New Line Cinemas pledged to return every location toits pre-filming state. The farm that became Hobbiton was in the process ofbeing bulldozed back to its sheep pasture origins when heavy rains began in2000.
Fortunately for the movie and book loving guins among us whowant desperately to glimpse some remnant of LOTR live, the owners of the landapplied to New Line for permission to retain what had been saved by inclementweather. About half of the hobbitholes remain as they were left, stripped of the round wooden doors andthickened glass windows with only fenced sheep tracks showing where streets ofthe Shire once existed. Despite this, the site is wonderful, complete withBilbo’s party tree (an enormous old ent which clinched the location) beside asmall pool over which the hump-backed bridge to Hobbiton’s market square andthe Green Dragon pub once stood.
Here you can understand the incredible effortsmade by Jackson and all his team to honour Tolkien’s description of much-lovedlocations. You can see the oak tree that had been purchased from another farmand moved in toto to be re-erected andhang over the doorway of Bag End. This move caused all the leaves to fall offand so the special effects department had to bind 6000 plastic oak leaves tothe branches and twigs of the imported tree prior to filming. Similarly, asevery hobbit garden was to be brimful of English-country-garden flowers, andevery vegetable plot with full blown verdant veggies, Jackson’s company boughta complet nursery in Wellington 18 months before filming began where all thenecessary fruit and vegetables could be brought on to just the right level ofperfection prior to replanting in Hobbiton itself for filming.
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