One more reason for me to hurry to explore another hidden wonder, The Hidden Hobbit Village just west of the Shire.
If you manage to fool the Bounders and sneak* pass Ered Luin gate unattended, following the road will finally lead you to this secluded, quiet place (alternatively, you can sneak* pass the gate in Michel Delving leading west...).
The place itself is surrounded with thick foliage of elderly oaks, which make quite a lovely sight as you approach.
Not many know about it's existence so no wonder that the knowledge about it exact location is even more rare, which suits it's shy inhabitants. As you will inevitably notice, they did not agree to pose to any of the pictures I've made.
Rare visitors can leave their mounts at the stable in northernmost part of the village (visible on the right side of the photo) and proceed to the center of the little town, marked by a huge windmill, standing proudly above the fields.
Among cozy hobbit holes a more extraordinary structure stands, clearly showing the influence of long legs architecture on the native art of the Shire folks.
Weary traveler can take a sip of clear, cold water from the village well.
But this building is unique in the whole Shire - you will not find another one like that. Even the Mathom House - itself build bearing strong resemblance to the architecture of Bree - looks totally different. I don't recall a building like that in the whole Middle Earth I've visited so far. The type of windows is unique, so are the ornaments adoring it.
In some distance to the east, digging under the hills of Little Delving, new hobbit holls are being buid. Still unfinished, and for some reason missing doors...
A campsite to the far south end of the area. Secluded, and empty. A puzzling sight, as the fire still burns brightly and the rabbit has just been prepared for roast, but not eaten yet. Who might have camped here?
As gossip goes, the "hidden" Hobbit village was added to showcase the game at E3 many years back - as Liquilla posted about the place of CM Forums (adding but you didn't hear that from me! (...and I may be wrong)).
Some old Shire preview screenshots show area bearing a striking resamblence to this village, but they are not identical. I tried hard to catch the same angle, but it has prooven impossible.
The Windmill Sight looks very alike, and at first glance it may seem that the only thing that has changed was the design of the horses in game, and that the chickens are gone. But the angles are seriously different, bushes have moved and a cart has been placed a bit off.
While trying to reshoot the scarecrow image, I stumbled upon even more difficulties. Apparently the guy has been moved altogether, and so have the fences. Also, there's no bag of grain resting anywhere in place allowing me to get the windmill and hobbit holes with the right angle.
But still, the place looks remarkably the same... Just... recreated?
My guess would be, it's either not the original E3 location, or it has been modified for some strange reason. Anyhow, the adventure was a great one!
* These passages are by no means ment to represent the actual route to Hidden Hobbit Village. It's an even longer trip, I just used Ered Luin and Michel Delving gates for RP and localization reasons.
How exactly did you get there?
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