As any geek (like myself) knows, The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand and for the movie Peter Jackson built a replica of the Shire, complete with the requisite underground houses. The hobbit holes were left behind and now apparently are a major tourist attraction.
The idea apparently has caught on. A New Zealand developer has built a course with an underground clubhouse that has a grass roof. The roof is in play.
Developer Michael Hill’s course (known as The Hills, naturally), will host the New Zealand Open this week.
Hill also plans to build 17 homes on the course. Presumably much bigger than Bag End, these luxury villas will range from around 4,000 to 7,000 square feet.
Whether they match a hobbit hole in comfort remains to be seen. Tolkien tells us that hobbit holes “mean comfort.”
Hills says: “The whole idea is for the houses to merge into the landscape…If we can get them to remain nearly invisible then we’ve achieved what we want for the site.”
Its an amazing idea, and one that I’m surprised has not been thought of before.
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It is a great idea, I agree. I was expecting more “hobbit”ish look to the clubhouse from your story, but even so it is impressive.
And it is surprising for this first, you would think that somewhere there was a golf course designer that would put the 18th hole on a drop down par 3, with you teeing off from the roof of a grass covered clubhouse which would overlook the green.
In extreme climates, I think you also save on heating and cooling if you have underground structures, no?
I am going to suggest to our club that the next bathroom facility we build on our course be in a hobbit hole with a tee box on top. They will probably kick me out for the suggestion.