Go niche

Fancy staying in Hobbiton? At Woodlyn Park, a motel complex near the Waitomo Caves on New Zealand's North Island, two hours from Auckland, you can stay in recreated hobbit accommodation, just like in the movies.

The grass-roofed rooms look as if they are built underground, with hobbit- sized doors and windows, but are actually full size and come with their own kitchen facilities.

If that’s not quirky enough, how about a sleeper train? Admittedly it’s stationary, but the Waitomo Express is a 1950s rail car, refurbished into self-contained accommodation, sleeping four.

No matter what your transport preferences, there are lodgings at Woodlyn Park to suit. The owner – a former world-champion sheep-shearer no less – has converted a 1950s Bristol Freighter aeroplane into lodgings too, and a WWII anti-submarine patrol boat which he has renamed The Waitanic.

Guests have a choice of accommodation on board, including the Captain’s Room – a three-storey unit with its own deck (remember, there’s no sea), the Olympic unit, capable of accommodating five, and, for that sinking feeling, the Titanic Room, which can sleep six.

Right next door are the Waitomo Caves, a major tourist attraction. Here guests can take a subterranean boat ride in caves illuminated by millions of luminescent glow worms, having taken the Lord of the Rings and Hobbiton movie set tour nearby of course, before retreating to your very own hobbit house – plane, train or ship – to sleep.

woodlynpark.co.nz