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There And Back Again

New Vacation Destination Everybody: The Hobbites’ Hobbiton To Become Permanent Installation

by Susana Polo | 2:58 pm, October 28th

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Good News Everyone: New Zealand is going to get to see The Hobbit before the rest of us do.

Wait, no. That’s not the one I wanted to say.

Hobbiton is becoming an official, permanent tourist destination. There we go.

I think it would be fair to say that there are a number of you out there who regret that you had not the time, means, stature, energy, age, or other defining characteristics (like owning a horse, or knowing a martial art) that would have allowed you to become an extra in The Lord of the Rings back in the late nineties. And perhaps, like me, you comforted yourself with the knowledge that maybe some day you’d go see the set of Hobbiton, until you found out that it wasn’t actually being preserved. While you could go out and visit the sheep pasture in which the tiny town was constructed over the course of a year, and even take tours, it wasn’t being maintained by anybody, and would eventually be reclaimed by the land, much like the on location set of the Lars Homestead from Star Wars. Only seventeen of the original thirty-seven hobbit holes remain, and they’ve got no interiors, as those shots were filmed on a soundstage in Wellington.

But, of course, the Hobbiton set is now being rebuilt, for the The Hobbit(s). Before the beginning of filming at Hobbiton earlier this week, Peter Jackson announced first that his native New Zealand would be getting a release of The Hobbit a month before the rest of the world. Then he announced that Hobbiton was built to last, and will be a permanent maintained attraction of Matamata, the rural town in which it resides, with forty-four intact hobbit holes, a bridge, and the Green Dragon pub.

Brb, planning my 2012 vacation…

(via Stuff.co.nz.)

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  • Anonymous

    I have noted the potential to misinterpret the SEO title of this page, and am amused by it more than anything else. I’m letting it stay.

  • http://www.facebook.com/RevolutionarySpike Simon Newby

    I just want to say, I think Hobbiton’s should become the new movement in housing – given the insulation advantages.

  • Nick Gaston

    Plus, with a Hobbit hole, when the time comes, I could put in a filtered air intake, seal myself in, and ride it out in comfort while the world kills itself around me!

    Oh…now I made myself sad. :(

  • Anonymous
  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins

    Damn, dude. How do you make a permanent Hobbiton resort sound depressing?

    Without the Scouring of the Shire, I mean.

  • Life Lessons

    YAY!!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Grigni/100000224795276 John Grigni

    Earth sheltering homes, or earth berm homes, are not new.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_sheltering

  • wynterlantyrn

    I give in. Why is there an ‘e’ in “HOBBITES” in the title?