To quote Shatner, “Get a life!”
And I thought that the guy who had the Star Trek apartment was bad, and the guy who had the bridge of the Jupiter 2 in his basement was bad, but both of those things pale in comparison to an entire high-end LOTR themed housing development!
I’m wondering which “rural English villages” the architects got their cues from. They look more like ski-chalets than the stereotypical English cottage.
I’m sorry, I think I just had a geekgasm. I love it, sincerely.
LOTR or not, looks pretty nice.
That’s about three miles from where I live. Bend’s such a small town, I never thought I’d see it on the SDMB. As far as I know, I’m the only BenDoper (hey, I live here, I get to make up the name for it, okay?).
The amusing thing is that the housing market has pretty much collapsed here. Most of those houses are going to stand empty for a long, long time… and when they sell, the manufacturer’s going to take a bath on 'em. There’s only about sixty geeks in town, and most of them work in my office.
How is this LOTR themed? The word “shire” wasn’t made up by Tolkein.
It seems to me like it’s trying - and as Dominic Mulligan commented, mostly failing - to create an Old English-themed village. There’s no reference to LOTR on the site that I can see.
I dunno–they’re pretty nice houses, but they also remind me of Thoman Kinkade paintings. On the one hand, I’m all for better craftsmanship in homes, on the other, these are really twee. However, if someone wants to give me one…
Umm…that’s because they are Thomas Kinkaide paintings! 
Look harder. They’re shooting for a Bree feel.
Nice ideas on some of the homes though.
I retract my statement. I should have looked further:
On the other hand, if it weren’t so obviously a marketing scheme, I might think it was a good idea. There are worse people to model your lifestyle on. I’ve always liked hobbits.
For slightly more than 3/4 of a million dollars the Swordsman’s lodge is everything I’ve ever wanted in a home – Now, I have something new to cry about never getting.
This is actually a wonderful idea!
If they built one like Bilbo’s house, I’d be there in a minute!
The security guy’s a real dick. I was out for a walk one night and decided to cut across the theater grounds, when all of a sudden he jumps out at me and shouts, “You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun!”
I said, “I just wanted to get a Coke out of the machine over there!”
“YOU CANNOT PASS!”
Looking at the pictures of the place, I must admit that I envy the inhabitants. I can only imagine how many medieval-themed soft porn movies will be filmed there in the future.
Wow, these builders were building with me in mind.
First check out my location. I have had that in there since January.
Second check out the Green Construction link.
I currently have a solar Panel system on my roof, I like their attempts at green housing. Oregon would be a nice place to live.
Maybe I can retire there, the pricing is in line with the value of my house. It could work. I wonder what the village will look like in 20-25 years.
By the way Tuckerfan, I am both a TOS Trekkie (though only 1 convention back in 1986) and a Lord of the Rings fanatic and I have a very good life, thank you for asking. 
Jim
Well, I can only imagine poor old Tolkien’s reaction–he’s not only spinning in his grave, he’s clawing out the eye he has left after having already clawed the other one out when he saw the ads for replica Sting daggers that glow blue at the touch of a button.
Of course, I guess pretty much everything in America would horrify Tolkien…
We could all move there and make it a Doper community!
Having grown up in a neighborhood called “Hobbit’s Glen,” I am hardened to this sort of thing.
Lightnin’, don’t forget to look down in the valley for us WillameDopers.
As Shoshana mentions, the oldest neighborhood in the world with street names taken from Tolkien is probably Hobbit’s Glen in the village of Harper’s Choice in Columbia, Maryland. All the street names come from The Hobbit. The streets were named when the houses in the neighborhood were built in the early 1970’s, I believe.
I’ve been there, does that count? Spent my 21st birthday at the Deschutes brewpub (I think that was the name) while on a geology field trip in the Cascades. I loved Oregon!
As for the OP, there’s no way I could live in that little Shire-town. It would make for a cute little tourist attraction or vacation community, but I couldn’t stay there more than a week before I’d gag on the cute.