The man in charge of communication between Hobbiton and the outside world wears many hats, but he promises none of them belong to a hobbit. Hobbiton Movie Set & Farm Tours media and communications manager Ian Brodie has read The Lord of the Rings 40 times, but he said his fan level had not crossed into the fanatical – he never dresses up in character. Mr Brodie, who moved to Matamata from Wanaka two years ago, was tight-lipped about when Waikato could expect to have movie stars in our midst again for the filming of The Hobbit.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” he said. “That information will come out of Wellington.”

Mr Brodie was just 14 years old when he first read The Lord of the Rings and, on a roadtrip with his family at the time, he decided New Zealand would make a perfect Middle Earth. More..