Hobbiton, part 2

So, I resisted showing you pictures of all 44 Hobbit holes (because, thankfully, I didn’t take pictures of all 44!), you’ve seen Bag End, the gardens, and even the mailboxes, and might be wondering what else is there?

If there’s going to be a party, we need a party tree. The Party Tree, above,  is real, but the oak tree atop Bag End (center rear below)

is constructed. It’s leaves are silk and were attached one-by-one. If any faded, they were spray painted (would this fall under the job of a set dresser???).

And there has to be a place for half-pints so that Pippin can discover that there are places with pints!

which means there’s a functional Green Dragon

I wondered how the small town of Matamata was reacting to its recent tourism boom, but when I saw the Visitor’s Center (built in 2000), it was clear they have embraced it

One last tidbit. For LotR fans, remember the scene just before the party where Gandalf and Bilbo are sitting in front of Bag End, smoking pipes and watching the sun set?

Well, here’s a bit of NZ slang for you: yeah-nah (i.e., I don’t agree, don’t believe ya). Bag End faces East, not West. They filmed the sunrise and reversed it. Someone will have to explain to me how filmmakers can overlay two sections like that, because I presume they had to superimpose Gandalf and Bilbo over the reversed dawn section, but I can’t imagine how that is accomplished!