HOUSE DESCRIPTION

[THE EYE OF SAURON]

"But the forest is queer... And the trees do not like strangers. They watch you. They are usually content merely to watch you, as long as daylight lasts, and don't do much... But at night things can be most alarming, or so I am told. I have only once or twice been in here after dark, and then only near the hedge. I thought all the trees were whispering to each other, passing news and plots along in an unintelligible language; and the branches swayed and groped without any wind."

The Old Forest was a large woodland on the eastern border of Buckland near the Shire.

It is bordered in the east by the Barrowdowns and in the west by The Hay, a large hedge which the Hobbits of Buckland grew to protect their eastern border.

The Hobbits believed the trees of the Old Forest were in some manner 'awake'. They sway when there is no wind, whisper at night, and mislead and waylay travelers. In a notable incident, trees from the Old Forest moved right next to the protective hedge; the Hobbits in turn cut down and burned them in an enormous bonfire. Ever since then, the trees were more hostile -- some perhaps were Huorns. In any event, despite being an ancient and "awake" forest, no Ents tend to this woodland and it seems to be avoided by Elves as well. Old Man Willow held sway over most of the trees here, causing all the paths to either lead to him or the Barrowdowns.

It was also the home of Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry. The merry Tom had absolute mastery of the forest, and was the only person capable of truly navigating through the perils of the trees and tempering Old Man Willow's wrath, for many living things respected him.

Tom Bombadil, the master of wood, water, and hill in the Old Forest, lives in a simple stone house adorned with beautiful flowers and lush gardens. Travelers in trouble may hear his merry singing and be granted refuge in the home of the River-daughter, where an ancient strength keeps the shadows of the Barrow-downs at bay.

Aside from the trees, a valley lay at its center and the Withywindle river flowed through it. The Withywindle, as told in Hobbit folklore, was the center of queerness in the vast queerness of the forest. At the south-eastern edge of the forest, on the bank of the river Withywindle, stood the house of Tom Bombadil- the only constructed dwelling in the forest. The home of Bombadil rested in a glade near the Withywindle- a sunny spot with green grass and bright trees.The pathway through the Old Forest known by the Hobbits was near the bonfire grove, although when the company arrived there, it appeared to have shifted. The southern edge of the forest was primarily oak and ash, being much more dense than the pine and fir-filled north.

This is the lodging of the strange and powerful Tom Bombadil and his wife, the River-Daughter Goldberry.

"There was Tom Bombadil’s house before them, up, down, under hill. Behind it…the land lay grey and bare, and beyond that the dark shapes of the Barrow-downs stalked away into the eastern night."

"Away to the east side of the forest, Old Tom Bombadil has lived in the forest with his wife Goldberry since the time out of mind. There's some tall tales about old Tom, and I have to say he makes me feel kind of young and small when he talks to me, but the one thing you can be sure of with Tom Bombadil is that there's no harm in him, and nothing for any hobbit to fear in his company."