The Scouting of the Shire: How HOBBITON Was Built For Real | Pentex on Location 

Thanks for watching - please subscribe if you want more 'Pentex on Location' videos like this one in the future. As I said in the description, this video is NOT sponsored by or affiliated with Hobbiton Movie Set in any way. My visit was entirely self-funded and self-initiated, but I want to say a huge thanks to Shayne Forrest for agreeing to have a chat with me during my visit, and to Mikayla, Luke, and Sarah for all the help they gave me when researching this video. Their knowledge was invaluable, but any errors are my responsibility alone.

I actually visited this just before they started filming for the Hobbit. They had strict pathways that you had to follow in order to give the paths a trodden down and used look. It was kinda cool but the Green Dragon was not open at that time so I may just have to visit a second time

Who's cutting onions?! Seriously, well done with this video. Reminds me why I love the trilogy so much.

New Zealand is an amazing place, but my visit to Hobbiton in 2016 was pretty much a religious pilgrimage. I cried several times. It's so incredibly beautiful and perfect. Thank goodness they made that deal to build it permanently.

The style you went with here gave me some real "CGPGrey outdoors" vibe (must be that camera angle and your voice)! Fantastic video!

We went to Australia and New Zealand around my 70th birthday. I had two things on my bucket list for this trip. The first was to dive the Great Barrier Reef. I was a bit disappointed because the waters weren’t that clear due to bad weather a few days before my dive. However, when we visited New Zealand we fulfilled my second bucket list item which was to tour Hobbiton. That did not disappoint. It was wonderful! I still use a photo of me crouched beside one of the doors in the Shire for my Zoom ID.

I loved that place when i visited New Zealand in 2012-2013. It's just the perfect Location for Hobbiton. I loved the attention to detail. Every garden looks like someone lives their. Just amazing! Oh and by the way the whole country is gorgeous ;)

You helped bring back some of those same warm fuzzy feelings the Shire originally brought. Thank you!!

Ian Alexander and his wife must have thought they won the lottery. 12,000 visitors when they thought they would receive 300. Then made a permanent attraction when the Hobbit came around.

Clever title. On my bucket list to visit this one day.

You should do a video where you just go over the production history of Lotr. I'm a sucker for seeing what dates scenes are filmed, such as the "Well I'm back" scene being filmed four years in advance.

Awesome video as always!💜 It's so cool learning the history of these sets and the people who made them a reality. I too love that scene in the Green Dragon, it really speaks to the invisibility and isolation of severe trauma

It makes me think of when my mother read the Hobbit to me in 1966. So I’ve known and loved the vision of that place for over 50 years! I love how Hobbiton looks and that people can go there. I would so love to visit!

this was an awesome unexpected journey into the making of hobbiton. Nice job man great video

This is still on my list to one day visit this wonderful place. Thanks for the video and thanks for the farmer's wife for saying yes to film on this location.

Took my 3 kids there in 2014 (from Oz). Attention to detail is boggling - right down to concrete spatters on the wooden posts painted to resemble lichen. I found, and still retain, one of the hand painted leaves from the Bag End tree and the Green Dragon is delightful. The 4 of us kids had a wonderful day :)

Going to Hobbiton was one of the best memories in my life. Won’t forget it.

This was good for my soul. Thank you. I really appreciated your attention to detail, history and love of what I love. Beautifully well done.

I visited just days after they finished filming the hobbit. There was some ladders and stuff inside bag end and you could see where base camp had been set up. There were still props around, barrels and things. The pub was not open yet. It would be cool to go back some day.

Very well done video! Even tho I knew half of it due owning DVD Collectors edition with all the extras, learning new things was nice, and the way you presented it is so wholesome, I couldn't help myself but smile. I hope one day to visit this place myself. Maybe after retirement. :D

I watched every second of all the extended editions and special features when they came out but this video showed me something new and gave me a fresh view of it all. Can't wait to get over to NZ and check it out

I watched the movies when i was about 16, started reading the books when i was 20, and got amazed by how true the movies are to the books. Every scene feels like the books, and many of those that got cut really only works in book-form. It is really a perfect adaptation.

One day I’m gonna to visit that place. And I wish they had built a Rivendell. I love that valley.

You sir have created a gorgeous and detailed video essay of the best films to ever be created. Thank you

I think it was a fantastic idea to open up a permanent hobbiton. Sure it is a bit cheesy and touristy but I loved it. I felt like a kind watching it all in the cinema but this time beeing there for real!

Thank you for this charming tour! Very informative. What an epic movie, and this land is truly beautiful. I so wish I could travel to NZ. I need to win the lottery 😅

Thank for this tour! It randomly appeared for me, probably because I watched a LOTR reaction video. Once again, New Zealand climbs higher on my travel bucket list. It’s spectacular.

These movies were life changing for me. Thanks for making content about them.

New Zealand is the country I most want to visit.

I am in possession of a leaf from the tree at Bag End, it blew onto the path in front of me. I found a second one and gave it to a little boy, we were both ecstatic. An unforgettable visit.

Wow what a video. Well done and Thankyou. Visiting hobbiton next year! 🎉

Very cool that you not only visited Hobbiton but also for sharing the journey with us. 😎👍🏻 Thank you. 🙏🏻

Absolutely mesmerised by the Whole Hobbit and LoTR Series,... This trip is definitely on the "Bucket List".... I mean,... It's only 11,393.89 miles....

Thank you so much for making this! It's like a journey home and (like Sam said) it's worth fighting for.

Kia ora, The days I visited Hobbiton was one of their "locals" days. They close the tours early and host a party for the locals complete with food and drink under the party tent next to the Green Dragon. My favorite attention to detail at Hobbiton is that the emergency exit signs are even true to the LOTR fonts rather than the usual block lettering :) Thanks for the film memories. Hoping to visit again soon.

Great tour!

Awesome video, well done. You should do an update, as you can now go into two of the Hobbit holes, and they are stunning

Bucket list for sure.

I really like your use of "The Before Times" here. Glad I'm not the only one.

What a treat. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing that experience... especially the part of the crowd reactions. Must have been great to watch this with hardcore fans

As a wheelchair user I will never be able to visit (no ability to get to the facilities is a no-go for me), but that's the beauty of the internet - all things are accessible.

This is so cool. I had no idea Ive seen clips and stuff of lotr, but i finally watched all 3 back in december. So worth it I gotta visit this place someday

And now they have created two "real" hobbit holes for visitors to enter - showing what the home of a hobbit family looks like. Something that has been in the works for many years. There are many videos showing those.

i need to know if there is a party on bilbos birthday, that includes wizards lighting off fireworks, music, food ale and pipeweed.

It was really cool when I visited.

So wholesome video thanks for doing it.

Love it. Thanks

This is brilliant! TY

Great video! The family definetely made a smart move, hope to visit it one day

So cool to know that the owner of the land was AN ACTUAL HOBBIT

I'm gonna put this on my bucket list. 😊

Been there... Dunn that... CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!!! But this next time: full-blown for the evening lamplight feast after the tour... Ohh, yeaaaa... BTW: When you go, if you start from town, you'll be in for a real treat of a 20-25 minute luxury bus ride, w/ intro videos from some of the top actors. That may sound sad, but it wasn't: it really got you ready for when you'd step off that bus and how much everything resonates around YOU to get the best experience imaginable! They keep you tight-knit as a group, so be prepared to make fast friends with everyone on your tour. You'll be with them for the next few hours, until your ultimate breakup upon entering the Green Dragon Inn. The MASSIVE amount of people touring at one time is almost INVISIBLE, as they stick to a very orchestrated by leisurely schedule, keeping each group out of eye-shot of other tourists in front and behind. It's only at the very end that all the crowds are apparent, and even then, we're all in the same movie spirit, happy to be there, and still wishing it wasn't going to end soon. PS: The Gift Shop has HIDDEN TREASURES! I bought an absolutely delightful "Chronicles" 'Art & Design' book for The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, and while standing in the cashier's line, I realized that both of the primary artists of the series, John Howe and Alan Lee, along with the head of Weta Workshop, Richard Taylor, had hand-signed the inside title page of this singular book - from a stack of at least 50, if not 100, copies! Once I got to the front of the line, I asked the cashier if they were all likewise signed, and she stopped everything to go find a manager and see if I somehow got something that wasn't supposed to be in that stack or sold at that small of a price: it was listed for $25UK/$40CAN, and I was getting it for $17US. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it! They sold it to me for the bargain-basement price they had set on all of them, and I found myself in seventh-heaven. However, just before we got back on our exit bus, another site manager - I later thought that he was perhaps the overall top executive there that day - tracked us down and told me the longer tale: the book was signed along with a tall stack of others at a 'grand opening' weekend of the newly refurbished Hobbiton Movie Set a year prior. Some of the primary actors and crew members were there, and it was a whole afternoon of a public meet-&-greet, lots of tables for signing autographs, and just generally interacting with their huge fan base. Other cases of pre-signed books from other artists and crew who couldn't attend the big event had also been shipped earlier from Wellington, where Weta Digital is located. The book I got was a left-over from that moment, or from one of those bookcases, opened later, displayed, or re-stacked and then forgotten until I ran across it... I can't imagine that it's actually worth much more than it's list price to anyone else, but to me it's worth more than it's weight in gold! It was as if I went into the very Mines of Moria and recovered a whole vein of mithril, or found my own Arkenstone while needlessly wandering around inside Erebor. Now it rests along with a few other 'tokiens' on the mantlepeice above the hearth in my happy hobbit home, and only brought down to reminiscence of past adventures, or help set new ones alight. Check this one out (NOT ME!): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GsoAvwJA3JQ.html

I have one of the leaves from the Bag End tree, they were known to drop off every now and then between Desolation of Smaug and Five armies

That was really cool, if I ever visit New Zealand then I'd be sure to go there.

Well done!

I want that little house on the water with the water wheel!

I’d love to go there some day! Screw the Haters, without these films id’ve never glanced toward Middle-Earth! And they remain some of the greatest movies made, an effort of love and respect! If only more movies were made in such a way!👍

that was such a kiwi answer from the farmer haha

awesome!

Great video, would love to visit but NZ is a bit far for me ;)

I live about 25 mins drive from here. Lovely place.

Absolutely great video, could you please edit in the new remastered footage of fellowship that removes the absolutely terrible green tint added for the first Blu-ray release? I'd actually be happy to do this for you if you'd upload it when I completed it.

There and back again

Very cool

Around 8:45. They expected only 300 visitors a year? Are you joking? LOTR and The Hobbit are ICONIC! Since the early 1950's! It seems that people in decision making positions are almost always clueless.... Jesus.... roll my eyes and heavy sigh of frustration.....

During covid times I have been invited to 3 events at Hobbiton which all got cancelled due to covid. Have visited as a tourist would love to go for a conference or special dinner.

This is so cool.

Thats the best thumbnail I've ever seen.

great video

LOOL I misread that title as the scouring of the shire, and was soo confused for like 30 seconds

Even though I haven't visited, yet, i was sad to learn there are no props or exhibits on the making of the LOTR and Hobbit movies; a mini museum, as it were.

My two favorite still standing film sets are Hobbiton and Sweethaven from Popeye. It's too bad we can't have Rohan, but conservation lands!

I wish that they could have kept edoras

I would be an awesome place to work at

Neat. Though I hope he gets a stabilizer soon.

We went to the movie set in January this year (2023). The news is that 2 of the hobbit holes next to Sam’s are going to be enlarged and constructed as hobbit holes to be visited.

Will you do a video on minas tirith or helm's deep?

Namarie! Subscribed.

The hobbit trilogy might have been a bust, but they did give us a proper hobbiton. 100% worth it.

Would love to have A real Hobbit house like Bilbo's One can dream!!!!

New Zealand is beautiful

Clever title.

Hey! I’ve been to a wedding there, unfortunately it was raining that night

Damn those farmers made some easy money and somebody else built it all for them hahaha

I can't fathom why you would use the lowest possible framerate from the early 20th century. It's like watching a slideshow.

do u know that rohan actually had his own real city on the mountain it wasnt fake but windy

You need to increase your output gain on this video. The sound is barely audible. And I have it turned up full - on ALL my devices.

So they needed an old tree and the cut it down? Why

I wanna drink some ales at the green dragon

yep, that was cool

i feel like there is so much money to be made by just releasing the a large amount of the footage that is unseen, make it expensive i don't care but would love too see everything they shot but we didn't see

I will pay money to live here

frfr?

*_You can't go inside any of the Hobbit houses?? That's sad._*

#releasetheSharkeycut

Omg 😍😱😍😍😱😍🌈

Almost none of your HOD labels are correct. Not Fran, Not Lesnie, Not Comer for starters.

6:17 man those pans look awful. Why can't you shoot in 60p or at least 30p? 24p looks choppy and stuttering on every 60 Hz display.

Why are you hiding your face?