Day 48 and house 13! (Cassie’s showing off what she learned in our scuba course.)

We were all moving a little slow to start, having arrived in the dark the day before. We also knew that we had a full day ahead of us. Today, we’d be going to Hobbiton, the set used in the LOTR and the Hobbit movies to film scenes in the Shire. If you’re not familiar with the movies, you might want to skip this post. It’s going to be a pretty deep dive. Particularly since we didn’t just do a tour. Heck no. We signed up for the Winter Feast. If I’m going to be totally honest, we booked our spots at Hobbiton before anything else in NZ — even before we got our plane tickets. With palpable excitement, we set off a little before 1:30 for a 1-hour drive.

We arrived in plenty of time, checked in, and poked around the gift shop. Soon, we were boarding the bus for the last little hop to Hobbiton. After a quick ride, we disembarked and headed off to the Shire.

We started at the edge of Hobbiton, where someone might be spotted running off if you were, for instance, going on an adventure.

You can see a bit of construction in the background. We’d been warned that this would be a bit of an eye (of Sauron) sore, but the good folks of Hobbiton were working to spruce up their wedding venue. In the warmer months, they apparently do weddings 7 days a week, with multiple weddings taking place most days.

We rounded the corner and found our first little hobbit hole.

We next passed the hole best known for the grumpy hobbit who didn’t like Gandalf. Which I totally get. He’s a disturber of the peace.

From here we found another hole, but this one was markedly smaller. Apparently, the doors are different sizes to give the appearance that some actors are smaller or larger. Lydie’s huge!

The holes had incredible detail and variety. Some had small thatched buildings adjoining them.

Most of the doors are just facades, though many have smoking chimneys in the turf behind them. Some have doors that swing open, though we couldn’t go further in than a few feet.

As we wound our way up the hill, we could spy the Green Dragon, which features prominently in some of the films. We’d been promised drinks there later that night.

At the top of the hill, we reached Bag End, where Bilbo lives. Sadly, he wasn’t home and we couldn’t go in because we were not on party business.

From here the path started to wind back down the other side of the hill, where we found more small holes, including a cheese maker.

The next was perhaps even smaller and apparently was for a bee keeper. One with very large bees by comparison.

I know it’s a lot of holes, but this is actually just a small fraction. There are 44 separate holes with doors scaled to various effects. We soon spotted a sign for the Green Dragon, too.

But we first we had to head down Bagshot Row, starting with Samwise Gamgee’s house. The verge looked amazing!

Our next hole was our last for the tour. And truth be told it was our best. We really didn’t know what to expect on the tour, and we were all a little suprised when we reached a hole that we could go inside.

And the house was huge! The entry tunnel led deep into the hill.

Inside, the incredible level of detail continued, with a working fireplace.

And a cozy kitchen.

Our guide was very explicit regarding this part of the tour. Everything could be touched, prodded, and played with. You could get in the beds.

You could ponder the story of your life.

You could hang out in the well-stocked pantry (to keep dwarves from raiding it).

You could take a fully-clothed bath.

There was even an indoor well.

We really didn’t want to leave. We all started trying to come up with elaborate schemes for somehow living on the set. But there was a schedule to keep, and it was time to set off for the Green Dragon.

As we crossed the small bridge, there was a band sitting on the walls on either side, playing jigs and reels. We’d later see them for the feast. We got to the tavern, and grabbed a table near the bar.

We were soon drinking beer and cider, while snacking on some particularly tasty lamb bites. Outside the sun was setting over Hobbiton.

After enjoying a round of drinks in the bar, we headed into the party tent. We got a great seat near the front with the band. Team Hubbard+ was super excited.

The only downside of our front-row seats was that we got our food last. When it was finally our turn, we piled our plates high and tucked in.

Cassie got a huge tomato, so we made her eat it like Denethor. Naturally.

The food was great, and the band was delightful, playing drinking songs and bardcore versions of modern hits. There were two little girls who danced the whole night with little regard for their own safety, so much so that Connor and Lydie had to keep their hands on the corners of our table to keep the girls from clocking their heads. We drank, laughed, sang, clapped, and banged the table. Some folks, including a few hardcore fans in elaborate LOTR outfits, started dancing in the aisles.

It felt like we’d crashed some sort of combination of a renaissance fair and a wedding. Julie even convinced the 100+ folks in the tent to sing me happy birthday, as I’m just a few days shy of 50.

Tours normally leave before dark, but by the time we left the Winter Feast, night had fully fallen. On our way to the busses, we got the special treat of a lantern tour through a darkened Hobbiton.

In short, the day was surreal, ridiculous, and spectacular.

-Will