Cambridge is our base for a couple of nights and for the short drive to Matamata to visit The Shire. This is where Tolkien’s hobbits live in his iconic books ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’.

Now, Allthego has not read these books, but Homealone has and is very keen on the story. As well as the film series. To get some background Allthego did sit through the three Lord of the Rings films before coming on this trip, knowing we would be coming to The Shire.

Our Hobbiton Movie Set tour did not start till 2pm so we decided to have lunch and a short look around Matamata beforehand. Setting off from Cambridge the weather was very overcast with drizzly rain. Didn’t look good for an outdoor wander through an old sheep farm.

In Matamata we called into the Visitors Centre, very full of Lord of the Rings stuff. The centre was built in the hobbit style, with round doors and a straw thatched roof.

Apart from Hobbits, Matamata is also known for its racing thoroughbred industry; there are numerous studs in the area. The town has a motto ‘The Town That’s Racing Ahead’.

An emblematic sculpture of a horse and jockey stands in one of the main streets.

The drizzle had continued for most of the morning but it started to clear as the afternoon progressed.

After a quick pasta for lunch we arrived at the Hobbiton visitor centre around 1.30 and picked up our pre-ordered tickets. Then the drizzle stopped and blue skies started to poke out. Amazing timing!

‘Hobbiton’ is the movie set for the scenes of The Shire in the films. It is located in a hilly arc shaped section of a sheep farm a few kilometres outside Matamata.

There were forty people in our tour group and we were led around the site for two and a half hours by an energetic young lady. She seemed to have a well worn tour script pointing out the various spots that appeared in key moments of the films. Also detailing some of the films’ trick photography in relation to the size of hobbit ‘holes’ (homes) and the actors.

Here are a few pics of the tour.

There are apparently 31 Hobbit Holes in the hillside all meticulously crafted.

A little down the hill is Bagshot Row, this is where we can go inside a Hobbit Hole and check out how they lived. A great deal of design detail has gone into all these structures. Very lifelike!

We now headed down to the lake past the old Mill house, over the stone arched bridge to the Green Dragon Inn.

Well that was the end of the tour and the group wandered back to our starting point. All happy hobbits.

A couple of final photos looking back over The Shire.

The clouds in the background were ominous. As we got back to our car for the half hour drive back to Cambridge the heavens opened. Timing is everything it seems! It poured rain all the way back and for most of the night. Our next stop is Lake Taupo.