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and valleys were dotted with 37 Hobbit who had to take their time climbing or de- Top: Martin Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins
houses, storybook gardens, and connecting scending a hill. The Hobbit houses looked (pictured) in the film. He makes a humble hero
narrow dirt paths. This was not Disneyland. inviting but were all false fronts with no
There were no costumed characters roam- interior except Bilbo’s hole where you could out of the unadventurous hobbit plucked out
ing around or Magic Kingdom music being open the door into a small room cut out of of obscurity. Photos on this page courtesy
piped in from hidden speakers. We were in the hill. New Line Cinema.
the Shire, just like the movie, only the Hob- We stopped at almost every Hobbit
bits (and film crew) were away. house where the guide would add a little tid-
Our affable guide took us from one won- bit of trivia about the movie or the set. There
derfully detailed home to another and began was plenty of opportunity to take pictures of
to tell the tale of Hobbiton. Even though the each other and the group in front of our fa-
tours were time limited, our group didn’t vorite movie Hobbit houses. It was the stuff
feel rushed and we accommodated those of a fantasy – a story of a relatively prosperous

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