Hobbiton (Matamata), New Zealand

There are two things you may already know about New Zealand:      1) They have a LOT of sheep there. More than they have people.      2) New Zealand is where they filmed the Lord of the Rings           movies. Here is where these two meet: on a farm outside Matamata.

The family who hosted the filming on their farm remains on good terms with the movie company. Apparently it is extremely rare for a movie site to remain somewhat intact as it has here. It is only because the weather turned foul while the set was being destroyed, that these hobbit holes are still present today. There were enough local people interested in seeing the site that the family was prompted to request that it be preserved and that they allow tourism here. They are currently trying to get permission to rebuild the portions that were successfully destroyed on schedule.

The way it looks now.

During the movie.

There are sheep (and their leavings) everywhere on the site. It is a working sheep farm, after all. In fact, it was a working sheep farm during the filming. They just rounded up the sheep and moved them to another area when filming in a particular location.

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