The Work Of Russell Lane, Bag End

Once again it gives me great pleasure to show you another fantastic work of art by master model builder Russell Lane.
Here are some images of Russ's HO (1/87) scale scratch build diorama of the Shire's Bag End from Lord of the Rings, and here in his own words is his description.
 Everything is scratch built from movie stills. A base of MDF. The earthworks is plaster mixed with paper fibre. The house front, flowerpots, stones, paving, steps, birdhouse and walls are all carved from DAS clay. The bench, stools, gate and fence posts are matchsticks and plant labels. Willow withies fence is the wool from an old jumper. The greenery is standard model railway scenic stuff and a few old sponges chopped in the liquidizer. They take about a month to build.

From Wikipedia"

 

According to Tolkien, the Shire measured 40 leagues (193 km, 120 miles) from the Far Downs in the west to the Brandywine Bridge in the east, and 50 leagues (241 km, 150 miles) from the northern moors to the marshes in the south. This is confirmed in an essay by Tolkien on translating The Lord of the Rings, where he describes the Shire as having an area of 18,000 square miles (47,000 km²).

The original territory of the Shire was bounded on the east by the Baranduin River, on the north by uplands rising to the old centre of Arnor, on the west by the White Downs, and on the south by marshland south of the River Shirebourne. After the original settlement, hobbits also expanded to the east into Buckland between the Baranduin and the Old Forest, and (much later) to the west into the Westmarch between the White Downs and the Tower Hills.

The Shire was originally divided into four Farthings. The outlying lands of Buckland and the Westmarch were formally added after the War of the Ring. Within the Farthings there are some smaller unofficial clan homelands: the Tooks nearly all live in or near Tuckborough in Tookland, for instance. A Hobbit surname often indicates where the family came from: Samwise Gamgee's last name derives from Gamwich, where the family originated. Buckland was named for the Oldbucks (later called the Brandybucks).

The Shire is described as a small but beautiful and fruitful land, beloved by its inhabitants. The Hobbits had an extensive agricultural system in the Shire but were not industrialised. The landscape included small pockets of forest (again similar to the English countryside). Various supplies were produced in the Shire, including cereals, fruit, wood and pipe-weed.