Hobbiton, Matamata

Having read the books and seen the movies, it was a beautiful summer day to visit the movie set now a tourist mecca set in lush, rolling farmland. What was surprising was the number of people still fascinated enough with the world of Tolkien to visit this place, just like me really.

Against the rolling hillside, you can walk along the paths around the 40 or so hobbit doors. Now though, you can enter into one of the dwellings and walk inside an entire hobbit house. This was quite fascinating and the attention to detail was astonishing – this was one of the highlights for sure.

At the end of the tour, people were buying memorabilia of all different kinds. Me? Well I bought a book about Tolkien – his biography. What a brilliant mind to be able to envisage all things Middle Earth.