The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power Available from Friday Amazon Prime
Ed Grenby - 20 August 2022
Want to journey amid the otherworldly beauty you’ve seen on screen in those epic Lord of the Rings adaptations? Try just outside Slough. That’s where season two of The Rings of Power will be filmed (at Bray Studios), but if you like the landscapes in the first series or Peter Jackson’s cinematic trilogy, you’ll have to venture a little further afield – to New Zealand. Producers have been coy about exact locations from the smallscreen prequel, but there are literally hundreds of well-documented sites used by local boy Jackson for his movies, so here are a few of the very best…
MATAMATA
Only one set from the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings films still exists, and that’s Hobbiton itself, home to those half-pint heroes Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. This is the bucolic idyll Tolkien called “The Shire”: gently rolling green hills; slowpaced village life revolving around the local mill and inn ; and, of course, those round wooden doorways into the “hobbit holes”. The North Island town of Matamata is only a few minutes’ drive away, and several companies offer tours.
SKIPPERS CANYON
Remember the scene when Gandalf and elf-princess Arwen conjure a flood of beautiful white horses to drown their enemies? That’s not even the most dramatic thing to happen at Skippers Canyon. New Zealand is the world HQ of daft adrenaline sports, so this serene stretch of the Shotover River near Queenstown is home to multiple white-water rafting and jetboat trips. For some peace, try nearby Kawarau Gorge, backdrop for the towering CGI statues that welcome Frodo and friends to Gondor.
MOUNT NGAURUHOE AND TONGARIRO
Even if you’ve never seen the films or read the books, you can probably still work out that “Mount Doom” and “Mordor” aren’t going to be the prettiest places on the planet. The former was played on screen by 7,500-foot Mount Ngauruhoe – a dramatically dark-silhouetted volcano – while the surrounding Tongariro National Park stood in for the deathly wastes of Mordor. The peak itself is considered sacred by local Maori, so climbing it is discouraged, but the 12-mile Tongariro Alpine Crossing takes walkers past the mountain’s foot and is hikeable in a day.
KAITOKE REGIONAL PARK
If there’s one location from the films where you’d happily book a fortnight’s all-inclusive (you know they’d have a great spa), it’s Kaitoke Regional Park – or Rivendell, home to the elves. True, there are worrying shades of “mindfulness retreat” about its ethereal tranquillity and timeproof changelessness, but its ancient forestry is as beautiful in real life as it is on screen. Many of the native Rata and Rimu trees are over 1,200 years old, which is even more remarkable considering you’re only 40 minutes from the capital, Wellington. And though there’s nothing left of the sets, signs and maps pinpoint the sites of specific scenes.
THE REMARKABLES
Named with characteristic Kiwi understatement, the Remarkables mountain range is one of the most dramatic sights in the Southern Hemisphere, and provided a backdrop to multiple scenes in Tolkien’s film and TV adaptations. The range rises at Lake Wakatipu, on New Zealand’s South Island, and runs for 25 miles. But if you’re looking for one particularly dramatic spot, head for Deer Park Heights at the northern end: this chunk of private parkland offers a scenic drive, animal encounters – and Rohan, the kingdom of open plains that is home to Tolkien’s horse-lords. You don’t get that in Slough.
Want to journey amid the otherworldly beauty you’ve seen on screen in those epic Lord of the Rings adaptations? Try just outside Slough. That’s where season two of The Rings of Power will be filmed (at Bray Studios), but if you like the landscapes in the first series or Peter Jackson’s cinematic trilogy, you’ll have to venture a little further afield – to New Zealand. Producers have been coy about exact locations from the smallscreen prequel, but there are literally hundreds of well-documented sites used by local boy Jackson for his movies, so here are a few of the very best…
MATAMATA
Only one set from the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings films still exists, and that’s Hobbiton itself, home to those half-pint heroes Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. This is the bucolic idyll Tolkien called “The Shire”: gently rolling green hills; slowpaced village life revolving around the local mill and inn ; and, of course, those round wooden doorways into the “hobbit holes”. The North Island town of Matamata is only a few minutes’ drive away, and several companies offer tours.
SKIPPERS CANYON
Remember the scene when Gandalf and elf-princess Arwen conjure a flood of beautiful white horses to drown their enemies? That’s not even the most dramatic thing to happen at Skippers Canyon. New Zealand is the world HQ of daft adrenaline sports, so this serene stretch of the Shotover River near Queenstown is home to multiple white-water rafting and jetboat trips. For some peace, try nearby Kawarau Gorge, backdrop for the towering CGI statues that welcome Frodo and friends to Gondor.
MOUNT NGAURUHOE AND TONGARIRO
Even if you’ve never seen the films or read the books, you can probably still work out that “Mount Doom” and “Mordor” aren’t going to be the prettiest places on the planet. The former was played on screen by 7,500-foot Mount Ngauruhoe – a dramatically dark-silhouetted volcano – while the surrounding Tongariro National Park stood in for the deathly wastes of Mordor. The peak itself is considered sacred by local Maori, so climbing it is discouraged, but the 12-mile Tongariro Alpine Crossing takes walkers past the mountain’s foot and is hikeable in a day.
KAITOKE REGIONAL PARK
If there’s one location from the films where you’d happily book a fortnight’s all-inclusive (you know they’d have a great spa), it’s Kaitoke Regional Park – or Rivendell, home to the elves. True, there are worrying shades of “mindfulness retreat” about its ethereal tranquillity and timeproof changelessness, but its ancient forestry is as beautiful in real life as it is on screen. Many of the native Rata and Rimu trees are over 1,200 years old, which is even more remarkable considering you’re only 40 minutes from the capital, Wellington. And though there’s nothing left of the sets, signs and maps pinpoint the sites of specific scenes.
THE REMARKABLES
Named with characteristic Kiwi understatement, the Remarkables mountain range is one of the most dramatic sights in the Southern Hemisphere, and provided a backdrop to multiple scenes in Tolkien’s film and TV adaptations. The range rises at Lake Wakatipu, on New Zealand’s South Island, and runs for 25 miles. But if you’re looking for one particularly dramatic spot, head for Deer Park Heights at the northern end: this chunk of private parkland offers a scenic drive, animal encounters – and Rohan, the kingdom of open plains that is home to Tolkien’s horse-lords. You don’t get that in Slough.
ED GRENBY