Hobbiton opens new Millhouse venue with first second breakfast

Cooked breakfast: The Hobbiton film set is now serving the most important meal of the day. Photo / Supplied

For short folk, hobbits eat a remarkable amount.

To help accommodate for hungry "halflings" the Hobbiton model village has finished work on the Millhouse dining venue, opposite the popular Green Dragon pub.

To celebrate the opening of the new amenities, the Movie Set in Matamata has introduced a new tour experience with breakfast, as part of your healthy seven a day – meals, that is. Not fresh fruit and veg.

"The new Second Breakfast Tour is a natural fit for our offering out here at Hobbiton," says Russell Alexander, co-Founder of the film-set attraction.

The Millhouse set has been retrofitted as a working Hobbit-themed cafe. Photo / Supplied

The Hobbiton Movie Set was built in the Alexander's family farm after location scouts decided it was the perfect spot for the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings. Having begun tours for film fans in 2002, the Alexanders began making a more permanent attraction for visitors. Permanent brick and mortar buildings replaced the plasterboard set in time for Sir Peter Jackson to return and film his 'The Hobbit' prequels in 2009. The Hobbiton film set has been carefully expanding and growing increasingly real, ever since.

In 2012 the make believe village got a very real pub, named The Green Dragon after an inn in JRR Tolkien's books. The Good George Brewing company made a special range of Hobbiton beers to go on tap at the Dragon. It is a Waikato pub after all, however you disguise it.

Now the Millhouse, which was a film-set folly on the artificial lake, has been converted to a public area, with open fires and food.

The venue will be the focus of a new three-hour tour, the company is calling "second breakfast" in reference to the film. The tour incorporates a sit-down meal and fry up with your visit. You might want to skip "first breakfast", and arrive on an empty stomach.

The most important meal of the day is also the most beautiful according to Russell. When planning for the Lord of The Rings the set "was originally designed to capture the morning light during filming," he says.

Food is a big part of the Hobbiton experience and central to some of the more popular events held at the site. As well as previously holding 'Hobbit Beer Festivals' on site, there is an annual Hobbit Day Feast held on 22 September. While most of the 44 wooden doors are fake the food is decidedly real.

The Second Breakfast Tour will be held most weekends from 20 December for public bookings

We bring the world to you
travel