I have to be honest, Emma and I weren't very excited about this day trip. I wanted to check it out and see it, but I'm not really a huge Hobbit fan. Mark and Adam have watched all the movies, Nathan some of them and Cole and Adam played the Lego Lord of the Rings video game together in Australia. So, they were all well educated in the characters and the story. I have seen the play (which was really good) but I have just found the books and movies to be a little long for my attention span so haven't really taken to them. Anyhow, going into the day not really knowing what to expect, I was blown away with the attention to detail at Hobbiton! The number of hours to prepare the set to EXACT demands (like fake trees with THOUSANDS of wired on leaves that had to be repainted two days before the shoot because the paint had faded ever so lightly.....) paid off. The set was AMAZING! The details and artifacts were awesome and we loved the tour! Here are some fun facts you may or may not know:

Location of Hobbiton
- Distance from Matamata = 20km; Hamilton = 43km; Rotorua = 74km; Auckland = 180km
- Matamata population:13,000; 6000 (town), 7,000 (rural)

Hobbiton Farm
- Farm area: 1250 acres or 500 hectares
- Farm stock: 13,500 sheep, 350 - 400 beef cattle
- Farm production: lamb, beef, wool
- Visitor numbers: 240,000 in 2013 / more than 800,000 since opening 12 years ago

Hobbiton Movie Set
- Film set area: covers approximately 12 acres
- Hobbit houses: 44 hobbit holes
- Roads: 8km created
- Party tree: 70 - 80 metres tall
- Construction: 70 set builders
- Catering: During production, three meals were served daily to cast and crew, plus snacks on demand for 600+ people
- Gardens: 2.3km (and growing) hedges; 30 - 200 plants around each hobbit house
- Ground staff: 7 - 8 gardeners during height of season, 5 in winter
- Traditional ales, cider and non alcoholic ginger beer, all brewed exclusively for Hobbiton, are served from barrels behind the bar at the Green Dragon Inn
One of the definate highlights was visiting the pub at the end of the tour. They brew three beers just for Hobbiton that you can only purchase here. We ended up with quite a few souvenirs from Hobbiton and really did have an enjoyable morning! I highly recommend this tour for anyone in the area!