The Hobbit

Beautiful Bag End

| cjlevinson

Bag End.jpg

In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a Hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. ~ JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit

It’s been a year this week since I went to New Zealand and I’ve been going back through some of the photos I took during the trip recently. I found this one today from Hobbiton which I’d always liked but had never really done much with. 

It’s of Bag End, the set of the Hobbit-hole home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films. 

Hobbiton is an incredible location and Bag End is definitely one of the highlights. It really is as beautiful as it looks in the films; even more so actually as you can see all of the details that just pass too quickly on screen to take in.

If you ever get the chance to go I’d highly recommend it. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Photo © CJ Levinson 2015

Welcome to Hobbiton

| cjlevinson

Welcome to Hobbiton

To live simply
And eat and laugh
With friends –
A hobbit’s life is for me

We visited Hobbiton, near Matamata while we were in New Zealand. It’s the movie set from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and has been carefully maintained since filming ended on The Hobbit films. It’s a beautiful spot and walking around it is quite remarkable… there are 39 Hobbit holes complete with beautiful gardens and The Green Dragon has been maintained as a fully functioning tavern.

The detail as you walk around is extraordinary and it’s just like it appears in the films, with barely a detailing having been changed. In many ways it’s even better than in the films as so much appears on screen so quickly and walking around Hobbiton, it’s amazing seeing how much was actually created for the films that you’d just never take in otherwise.

It’s well worth a visit if you’re ever on the North Island. Even if you’re not a fan it’s like visiting a beautiful park. I’m very glad we went, it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Photo and haiqua © CJ Levinson 2015