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Matamata is a town in Waikato on the North Island of New Zealand, nestled in the shadow of the Kaimai Ranges, and prior to 1 998 not known for much apart from being a thriving farming area. That was all to change when Peter Jackson’s location scouts for the Lord of the Rings films were searching for a hill, a tree, and a pond, the essential geometry of Tolkien’s Hobbiton. Hobbiton, a hill, a tree, a pond From the air they spotted the Alexander farm, a 1,200‑acre sweep of rolling Waikato pasture that looked uncannily like a corner of ancient England, and they knew instantly they’d found The Shire. No power lines, no modern clutter, just soft hills, grazing sheep, and a lake with a magnificent pine tree standing guard. The water of Hobbiton By March 1999 the transformation was underway. The New Zealand Army built the access road; the crew built 37 hobbit holes for The Lord of the Rings. When the crew packed up, the set was meant to disappear with them. But the pl...
