A local has written to say that she can hear ‘lots of popping explosions’ coming from the direction of the Hobbiton set, not far off over the hills. “I’ve NEVER heard these noises before so it can’t be from the quarry where explosions usually occur.”
She also cleared up something that had been bothering me: we know filming is starting up in Hobbiton this week, but we heard from extras doing Hobbit work there at the end of last year. She said that before they were doing whole-picture, scene-setting shots. The detailed work will start now.