Photo Of The Week by Larry Hurley: Tiny Houses

October 9, 2024
Larry Hurley
Inspiration, Public Gardens
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Hobbit village of Hobbiton Matamata, New Zealand

There are plenty of them in Hobbiton, although, technically, they aren’t real.

The photos were taken in Matamata, New Zealand in November, 2013. Matamata is close to Auckland. This low-key theme park was originally the movie set of the Hobbit village of Hobbiton, constructed for the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) and Hobbit movies. The home with the green door is Bilbo Baggins’ home, Bag End. One photo shows the path to the door, the distance shot shows part of the village with Bag End is under the oak tree, back, center.

A closer-up shows the oak tree with Bilbo’s green door below. The oak tree is actually not real, but was built for the films. For LOTR sticklers, like my wife, the books say that Bag End is under an oak tree, and thus must it be so. The guide said that it cost a million US dollars to build about 25 years ago.

I’m not much for theme parks, being sort of a loner, but I am a LOTR fanboy, so I enjoyed this tour, especially since it is decorated in English cottage garden style, complete with small vegetable patches. You can catch a snack at the Green Dragon Inn which is a full-sized inn that featured in the films. I should mention that the interior shots of Bag End for the film were done on sound stage. Bilbo’s house interior is only about two feet deep, so the pleasure is in walking around and looking at the little gardens.

The flight to New Zealand is pretty long, and you’ll wish you were Hobbit-sized by the time you land, given the discomfort of long plane flights. But as a once-in-a-lifetime vacation destination, it’s hard to beat New Zealand.

Besides Hobbiton, there are temperate rain forest, fjords, glaciers, lots of mountains, terrific whale-watching, volcanic areas with bubbling pools and hot springs, tree ferns, amazing (but cold!) snorkeling, giant Kauri tree forests, seals, rafting through a glow worm cave, and more sheep than people. No offense to the people, who are quite welcoming.

Larry Hurley

Larry Hurley worked at Behnke Nurseries from 1984 until the business was composted in 2019, primarily with the perennial department in growing, buying and sales.

Before landing at Behnke’s, he worked as a technician in a tissue culture lab, a houseplant “expert” at a florist shop, and inventory controller at a wholesale nursery in Dallas. With this and that, ten years passed.

When his wife Carolyn accepted a position at Georgetown University, Larry was hired at Behnke’s for the perennial growing department and garden center at Behnke’s Largo location.

In 2021, Larry and Carolyn moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family and further from traffic. After 37 years in a shaded yard in Maryland, he is happy to have a sunny lot where he can grow all sorts of new perennials, if only he can keep the rabbits at bay. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, and the snowblower.