Some years ago I was fortunate enough to be in New Zealand very soon after I had seen the last of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and while there I went to a small town called Mata Mata and when on a tour of he farm where the Hobbiton scenes in the film were filmed.

The village itself was barely still standing other that the area where the actual Hobbit houses themselves were, but he trip was well worth it as many of the workers who were on the farm had good stories to tell and despite the appearance of disrepair you could still get a good sense of being in Hobbiton. Unfortunately the weather and roaming sheep had not been kind and things were deteriorating fast.

The good news this week is that the set builders are back on the farm and are re-building the village ready for work of Guillermo del Toro The hobbit which starts filming next year. This really is exciting news as hopefully the owner of the farm will have a better say on things being removed this time and next time I go to New Zealand I can visit a fully realised village which would be wonderful.

The Hobbit is being readied for a 2011 release so there is still a lot of time before we get to see this but as you can imagine as Tolkien film produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo del Toro is a tasty prospect.

For some great pictures check out theonering.net.