When Peter Jackson returned to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien to film The Hobbit trilogy, he understandably wanted to reconstruct the set for the pint-sized village of Hobbiton. Based on the first movie's huge opening weekend, the structures and greenery that make up this real-life Hobbiton look to be safe for a few years.

But Jackson wanted to go one step further and set up the movie set as a year-round tourist attraction for fans who weren't satiated by almost three hours in his magical IMAX 3D High Frame Rate wonderland in theaters. It features The Green Dragon Bar from the series, all the cute Hobbit Hole houses (although you can't go inside of them), and of course a cafe and gift shop for all the owners' moneymaking needs.

What takes this standard theme park fare to the next level is the year-round working vegetable garden growing bok choy, onions, broad beans, brassicas, artichokes, and silver beet according to tipster and honorary hobbit gardener and horticulture student Daniel from New Zealand's Waikato Institute of Technology. He also describes the careful maintenance of the gardens and shrubbery must be done to look like the work was performed in a pre-industrial era.

Visitors can also visit the nearby sheep farm located on the Alexander Family Farm where Hobbiton was constructed. A petting zoo where you can bottle feed a lamb and hand feed a sheep? Sold.

via TreeHugger / photo courtesy of dannychopsnz