WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 2016 issue

Photos from The Martian. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
December 2002 led by Russell Alexander
who assumed the responsibly of running
tours while his brother Craig and father Ian
ran the farm. “I think it was basically the
day after the premiere of The Fellowship of
the Ring… I made contact with New Line
Cinema in America, and I think that took
me eight months to get their approval to do
what we are doing today in tours,” said Alexander
in a recent interview.
Even before the first movie was released
the set had deteriorated and most of it was
torn down. The early tours left a lot to the
mind’s eye as visitors hiked through the
village pockmarked with the empty Hobbit
holes along winding paths where the occasional
story board told tales of the early filming.
When Jackson got the green light for The
Hobbit Trilogy, he arranged with the Alexander
family to rebuild the Shire set. But
this time, with dramatically upgraded tours
in mind, the farm family insisted the set be
built to last. Jackson agreed.
Rebuilding got underway in 2011 and
this time they did it right: Gardeners and
artisans created an idyllic 17th-century English
countryside complete with hedge rows,
orchards, bountiful gardens, lichen-covered
fences and well used paths. “I knew Hobbiton
needed to be warm, comfortable and feel
lived in,” wrote Jackson “By letting the weeds
grow through the cracks and establishing
barberry hedges and little gardens a year before
filming, we ended up with an incredibly
real place, not just a film set.”
18 Wine Dine & Travel 2016