Build Review of LEGO LOTR The Shire (10354) and Preview of LEGO LOTR Minas Tirith (11377)

"The craft of building may have come from Elves or Men, but the Hobbits used it in their own fashion. Their houses were usually long, low, and comfortable. A preference for round windows, and even round doors, was the chief remaining peculiarity of Hobbit architecture."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: The Shire (10354) is a LEGO LOTR display set with over 2,000 pieces - and with this build, there is more than meets the eye.

A furnished Bag End interior and several side builds add real playability value, with nine LEGO Minifigure characters to place around your LEGO Shire diorama.

But with an 18+ age group, would it have been better to focus on aesthetics over easter eggs? Let's take a closer look at this highly anticipated set to see where it delivers, and where it falls short.

LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: The Shire (10354)

Price: £229.99

Release Date: Available Now

Ages: 18+

Pieces: 2,017

LEGO Minifigures: 9

LEGO Insiders Points: 1,840

Size: 20 x 45 x 27cm (H x W x D)

Gandalf's Cart: A Wizard is Never Late

You start the build by assembling Gandalf's horse and cart, which is a nice nod to the order of events in the movies. The simple 15-step build uses all the pieces in Bag 1 and by the time you reach the bag end, you'll have a cart filled with fireworks, a horse to pull it, and seated Gandalf and Frodo Baggins Minifigures.

It's a nice extra detail that the Minifigures come with interchangeable legs, allowing them to sit on the cart or stand elsewhere in your LEGO The Shire display - and for now, it's cute to have them watching over the rest of the build.

LEGO Bag End: There and Brick Again

The centrepiece of LEGO LOTR The Shire 10354 is the double-sided LEGO Bag End build, with its Hobbit Hole front wall and turfed roof, plus detailed movie-accurate interiors.

Open the round front door to step inside Bilbo Baggins' entrance hall, study and parlour. LEGO worked with Warner Bros. Discovery to get the floor plan spot-on, and there are references to several scenes from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition.

• Bilbo's writing desk with 'There and back again' book element
• Tea and cake elements for Bilbo and Gandalf Minifigures to enjoy
• Burning envelope element to transform into The One Ring

A lot of the value is hidden away inside the Hobbit Hole, but step outside and there's an open window for Samwise Gamgee to eavesdrop at, a colourful garden with a woven wattle fence, and the iconic gate with its sign that reads "No Admittance except on party business."

Bilbo's Birthday Builds: A Very Fond Farewell

Bags 13-15, about a fifth of the total build, are the 'Bilbo's birthday party' side builds. These include:

• Stage with printed 'Happy Birthday Bilbo Baggins' banner
• Tent where Merry and Pippin set off the dragon firework
• Bilbo's birthday cake on table

There's also a brick-built dragon firework effect, which 'flies' high over the rest of the scene on a transparent support strut.

We like several details in these vignettes, such as the interactive feature to make Bilbo vanish by turning a dial, and the interchangeable heads to give your Merry and Pippin Minifigures a scorched appearance after letting off the firework!

There are colourful string lights across the top of Bilbo's birthday stage - where he puts on The One Ring for the first time - and it would be easy to swap these out with a small set of LED lights so your LEGO Shire display can truly sparkle in the dark.

How to Display It

Our made-to-measure Lord of the Rings The Shire Display Case for LEGO 10354 has generous internal dimensions of 30 x 78 x 32cm (H x W x D) to fit both the LEGO Bag End build and the birthday party vignettes.

If you were lucky enough to get your hands on the LEGO Lord of the Rings: Smeagol & Deagol GWP (40761) you can comfortably fit that inside our LEGO The Shire Display Case too.

Choose our transparent case for 360-degree views of those Bag End interiors, or add our professionally printed 'Shire Sunset' background and floor for full immersion.

Final Thoughts

Like Samwise Gamgee, we feel torn in two by this set. On the one hand, it is packed with a lot of movie-inspired easter eggs that fans of all ages will enjoy discovering. On the other hand, it feels a bit disjointed, and you might prefer to swap instruction books 2 and 3 over.

This would allow you to build the birthday party before completing the parlour and exterior of Bag End. It also ends the assembly with a quote from Bilbo:

"There's always been a Baggins living here, under the Hill, in Bag-end. And there always will be."

Either way, the exterior of the Hill is a bit underwhelming. The green looks too bright (although it's not as bad in real life as it looks in brightly lit product photographs) and the Hill looks too smooth - a few more grass and foliage elements would make it look more organic.

Make It Your Own

The good news is, if you're into MOCs, there are some easy wins to make LEGO The Shire your own unique creation, including:

• Swap out some pieces for darker shades of green (e.g. Earth Green)
• Add LEGO 24855 and 32607 plant pieces to create a leafier hilltop
• Replace the tree atop Bag End with LEGO Icons Bonsai Tree (10281)

We got that last idea from Plowking in the customer reviews of LEGO 10354 on the LEGO website, and we love it - Bonsai Tree is a perfect fit on Bag End's roof and its twisted trunk and leafy canopy are an incredible match for The Shire's aesthetic.

What's Next for LEGO LOTR?

If you're looking at LEGO The Shire and thinking it's not as pretty as LEGO The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell (10316) or as impressive as LEGO The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dur (10333), we understand.

Way back in the run-up to Christmas 2025, Reddit user BrickTap posted on r/Legoleak about an 8,278-piece Minas Tirith set scheduled for a June 1st 2026 release date - and this turned out to be true.

LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith (11377) went on general sale on June 4th 2026 at £579.99, after a 3-day early-access window for LEGO Insiders.

LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith (11377)

Price: £579.99

Release Date: June 1st 2026 (LEGO Insiders) / June 4th 2026 (Everyone Else)

Ages: 18+

Pieces: 8,278

LEGO Minifigures: 10

LEGO Insiders Points: 4,640

Size: 59 x 62 x 37cm (H x W x D)

Order on June 1st-7th 2026 and you'll also get LEGO Lord of the Rings Grond GWP (40893) while stocks last, a 307-piece brick-built battering ram used to smash through the Great Gates of Minas Tirith during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Build a LEGO Middle Earth Display

With the release of LEGO Minas Tirith (11377) LOTR fans now have substantial sets from The Shire, Rivendell, Minas Tirith and Mordor to showcase alongside one another - some of the most important landmarks along the route taken by the Fellowship of the Ring.

You can even incorporate the LEGO Lord of the Rings Balrog Book Nook (10367) to include a reference to the Mines of Moria in your LEGO Middle Earth diorama.

We have custom display cases for all of these LEGO LOTR sets:

• LEGO The Shire Display Case (10354)
• LEGO Rivendell Display Case (10316)
• LEGO Minas Tirith Display Case (11377)
• LEGO Barad-dur Display Case (10333)
• LEGO Balrog Book Nook Display Case (10367) OPEN
• LEGO Balrog Book Nook Display Case (10367) CLOSED

Put them together, and you're well on your way to mapping out Middle Earth in LEGO brick format - an epic journey that begins with Frodo's first step onto the road that leads him out of The Shire.

Our Build Rating for LEGO 10354 The Shire: 8/10

We'd love to know which LEGO LOTR sets you're building this summer.