Alert Ringer Kimi sent this in:
“I was just listening to a program on National Radio called “Country Life”. They were interviewing two fibre farmers from Wairarapa (fairly near Wellington) when an unexpected mention of LOTR made me listen harder.
Their farm is called Stansborough Station, and they breed Gotland sheep (along with alpacas and some other types of sheep), and also weave fabric. Their Gotland sheep are grey in colour. They mentioned that early on in their venture they got a large order. The order was from Three Foot Six, and was for 900 metres of fabric from the grey Gotland sheep.
Elven cloaks from Lorien, perhaps?”
Cool. One day I’d love to compile a list of local cottage industries that got this kind of windfall out of the LOTR project. So far I’ve heard of glassmakers, woodworkers, silversmiths, potters and possum-skinners but I bet there’s a whole lot more.
