Behind the hobbit door
After the walk through the green hills of Hobbiton, the moment comes when you are no longer just looking at the world of the hobbits, but literally „invading“ it.
(If you missed the first part of the adventure – Read here!
At the Hobbiton Movie Set you can peer beyond the round doors and see what a home looks like from the inside. And then you realize that what looks like a small house in the hill from the outside is a whole world on the inside.
Everything is touched up to the smallest detail—kitchen, books, furniture, fireplace, knitting, dishes, bed. Nothing is random and nothing looks like it was left just for decoration.
Quite the opposite.
Everything looks as if the owners have just stepped out for a moment and will be back any minute.
Inside the Hobbit home
I enter a house of the little people and start looking around like a curious child.
There is a study or a small reading nook, books, furniture, a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom. Even the smallest items are in their place.
I especially liked the book corner.
Perhaps because the book once again turns out to be one of those details that transform the decor into a story. You don't just see a room, but you start to imagine who sat here, what they read, how they spent the evening.
And then you look at the bathroom
Yes, and there is no omission there.
Toothbrushes, toothpaste, a sink – everything you expect to find in a real home.
Even the toilet is indoors. With sawdust. With dissolved newspaper.
And by the toilet, as we know, you can always tell the standard of living. 😊
There are no technologies.
There is no television.
There is no computer.
Nothing of what we take for granted today exists.
And yet the home seems completely sufficient.
Cozy. Self-sufficient. Alive.
The bed also makes me think. Low, old-fashioned, as if it belongs to another era—a time when people were shorter and life was somehow slower.
And all of this is made up.
But it is crafted so well that you start believing it.
In the video, you will see a part of this world from the inside: the fire in the fireplace, the children's belongings, the baby basket, the knitting, the bedroom, and more of those little details that make Hobbiton so convincing.
And while I'm looking around, I think how strange it is: movie sets are supposed to remind us that everything is fiction, and here it's the exact opposite.
The more details you see, the more you start to believe that someone really lives behind that door.
And for the road: a prize
After the village comes another experience.
You cross a picturesque bridge and reach the Green Dragon Inn, the legendary pub from the films.
And this is where you say to yourself:
Okay. Is this a decoration?
Hmm... or it hardly matters. Because the atmosphere is completely real.
Wood, stone, dim light, furniture, objects, all in Shira's style.
And drinks created especially for visitors await you.
There are three types of non-alcoholic movie-style „beer“.
I choose the ginger one. I sit down. I drink slowly.
Around me are people from all over the world: smiling, in good spirits, chatting or deep in conversation. Some have come for the films, others are simply curious, and some are clearly true Tolkien devotees.
For a few minutes, we are all residents of the Shire.
And that is probably the best part.
Even the toilet is part of the history
Of course, I simply have to take a peek at the tourist restrooms as well.
Curiosity is curiosity.
And the movie goes on there.
Wood, porcelain, antique washbasins, retro details – everything is in the same style.
None „Here, we are finishing now.“.
There is no final caption „END“.
Neither „End“.
Just go out.
And you want to stay like that so much
The hills are a deep green. The sky is bright blue.
For a moment, you want to lie down on the grass and just contemplate the blue. To sink into the azure and not rush anywhere.
But the road continues.
I'm leaving, and a few questions are spinning in my head.
What actually makes this place so attractive?
The movie, adapted from Tolkien's books? The set design itself? The green hills and small houses? Or the feeling that for an hour or two you've lived more simply and more truly?
Perhaps the answer is in all of this together.
Hobbiton starts as a film set.
It becomes a movie set, and then a tourist attraction. Finally, it turns into something much more interesting: a place that takes on a life of its own outside of the movies.
Because people don't come here just to see the hobbit holes. They come to forget about the world they left outside, at least for a few hours.
And they leave with a sense of peace, purity, and harmony. Of simplicity.
I will certainly remember it.
Goodbye, dear and hospitable little people
See more Author Maria Radeva here
