Hobbiton is a private farm. It is not a national park, not a purpose-built theme park and not, originally, meant to survive. It is 1,250 acres of grazing land belonging to the Alexander family near Matamata, on New Zealand's North Island, and Peter Jackson's location scouts found it from the air in 1998 while flying over the Waikato looking for somewhere that matched Tolkien's description of the Shire.
What they wanted was specific: rolling green hills with no visible fences, power lines, roads or buildings, plus a large tree beside a lake. The Alexander farm had all of it, including a mature pine on a rise above a pond that became the Party Tree.
Built by the army, then dismantled
Construction began in March 1999. Because the site had no vehicle access, the New Zealand Army was brought in under a training arrangement to build 1.5 kilometres of road across the farm, and the set was then constructed over roughly nine months.
For the original trilogy it was largely temporary work: 39 hobbit-hole façades in untreated timber, ply and polystyrene, dressed to look centuries old, along with the mill and the double-arched bridge. The production planted vegetable gardens and hedges a year in advance so they would look established on camera, and hung artificial lichen and moss on the fences.
The oak above Bag End was not a living tree. A 26-tonne oak was cut down near Matamata, brought to the site and reassembled there, then dressed with artificial leaves imported from Taiwan and wired onto the branches individually. Jackson reportedly had the shade of the leaves adjusted because they were not quite right on camera.
After filming the set was supposed to come down entirely. Bad weather during the demolition and the sheer scale of the job meant the work stalled with a number of bare façades still standing — and by then people had started turning up at the farm gate asking to see them.
The second build, in wood and stone
The Alexanders began running informal tours across the paddocks of a half-demolished set. Demand did not go away. When The Hobbit went into production in 2011, the set was rebuilt on the same ground — this time permanently, in timber, stone and plaster, engineered to survive weather and tourists indefinitely.
That second build is what you visit today: 44 hobbit holes, hedges, gardens, the Party Tree, the mill and double-arch bridge, and the Green Dragon Inn, which was constructed as a fully working pub and serves beer brewed for the site. The doors are all different sizes, a trick used on camera to sell the height difference between hobbits and men.
It is worth being clear about what this means: the Hobbiton you can walk around is a faithful permanent reconstruction on the exact original location, not the surviving 1999 set. The hills, the pond and the views are the genuine article.
The rest of Middle-earth is spread across the country
Hobbiton is the most visitable location but a small fraction of the shoot. Jackson filmed across both islands: Mount Sunday in the Canterbury high country became Edoras, the Rohan capital; Tongariro National Park and Mount Ngauruhoe supplied Mordor and Mount Doom; the Kepler Mire near Te Anau was the Dead Marshes; Queenstown's Twelve Mile Delta was Ithilien.
Almost none of those other sites are marked, and several are on conservation land where nothing was left behind. Edoras in particular is a bare tussock hill with no trace of the set — the walk is spectacular, but you are looking at a landscape, not a location.
Visiting the location
- Where
- Hobbiton Movie Set, 501 Buckland Road, Hinuera, Matamata, Waikato, New Zealand.
- Getting there
- About two hours' drive south of Auckland or an hour from Rotorua. Tours depart from the Shire's Rest on Buckland Road; some operators run coaches from Matamata town and from Rotorua.
- Access
- Guided tour only — this is a working farm and there is no independent access to the set. Tours must be booked in advance and run year-round.
- Book well ahead in the southern summer (December to February); tours sell out days in advance.
- It rains in the Waikato. The set is at its greenest precisely because of that, so go anyway and take a jacket.
- The Green Dragon Inn stop is included in the standard tour and the beer is brewed specifically for it.
- Evening banquet tours cost considerably more but give you the set at dusk with the hobbit-hole windows lit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hobbiton the real film set?
It is the real location, with a permanent reconstruction on it. The temporary 1999 set was mostly demolished after the trilogy; the set standing today was rebuilt in durable materials on the same ground for The Hobbit in 2011.
Can you go inside the hobbit holes?
Mostly no. The great majority are façades with nothing behind the door, because all hobbit-hole interiors were filmed on soundstages in Wellington. One or two are dressed a short way in for photographs.
Can you visit Hobbiton without a tour?
No. The set sits on a private working sheep farm and access is by booked guided tour only.
Where else in New Zealand was Lord of the Rings filmed?
Across both islands — Mount Sunday for Edoras, Tongariro National Park for Mordor, the Kepler Mire for the Dead Marshes, and Queenstown's surroundings for Ithilien among many others. Most left no physical trace.