Where is your Middle Earth?
 

This is my first attempt at starting a topic and only my hundreth posting so sorry if I make mistakes.
I got to thinking about where in the world that you think matches places in Middle Earth, not influenced by Peter Jackson but personal feelings.
Two of my own examples would be Cragside House in Northumberland (England) as Rivendell. It's a mock-gothic affair at the top of a wooded valley with a proper bubbling stream at the bottom. If you continue past the house and up into the woods you eventually come out onto the rather bleak Cheviot hills (moors really). All the land and stuff are open to the public. The other place is some caverns I visited in Croatia when I was eleven. They were near Lubijana and were a perfect Moria.
Any other locations you've been in and suddenly thought, wow this is Middle Earth?

Happy Centenary posting! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I think that my own home is a lot like a cross between the Shire and Bree.

Hmmmm.... well, I am familiar with the landscape of the US, so here are my thoughts using them:
~Rocky Mountains = Misty Mountains
~I think that Kentucky of Virginia may have good places for the Shire (or the U.P of Michigan).

Wow, this is harder than I thought!

When my class went to england I saw pretty much landscapes that I could assosiate with the Shire.. usually, I can see the sea very near to where I am living, so I think that is my assosiation with the Grey Havens, mostly..

Um, no idea really. I've been to lots of gorgeous places but nothing that really shrieked "Middle Earth" to me. Though if you don't mind the cold, Siberia in the middle of February did strike me as being rather close to the bleak, cheerless Emyn Muil, albeit slightly flatter.

the forests of oregon are like mirkwood. deep and green and mysterious.

and then, of course, there is always the sea!

I would say that the barren(spl?) back lands of Iceland would be perfect for the wasteland of mordor. In some places all that grows is mold on the rocks. Theres no dirt in some places just rock. The marshes would be in Lousianna in the bious(spl?). okay thats all [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I grew up in the cotswolds, in the West Midlands of England, and i see the shire in the farmland and fields of gloucestershire, fangorn forest in the woodlands and the general landscape of middle earth in the beautiful rolling hills. Quite poetic really. Theres even a village called Bamfurlong near where i lived - a familiar name!

I am very fond of all the big forests in Sweden (I live there). Some look like Mirkwood, some like Lothlórien.. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Then some places in the north of Sweden..could be a bit of Emyn Muil, and the Dead Marshes. It looks really cool! And then the rivers up there, ah..
Then I thought some places in southern England looked a bit Shire-like.
Tenerife..reminded me of Middle Earth, but I can´t point out what it reminded me of..
And then we have the sea... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Wow, this thread highlights the corners of the world that use this site and how well travelled everyone is. I now have a wanderlust to visit Sweden and Iceland. I have seen the Rocky Mountains in the mist and agree. They were very atmospheric and majestic. Hmmm, the Cotswolds for the Shire sounds good, they're not too far from me.

I feel surrounded by middle earth just where I live! Just a few minutes drive from the city and your surrounded by rolling hills, fields, mountains, rivers...its just beautiful. And that's just Perthshire in Scotland. The rest of the country, especially up north is just as lovely. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I walked into the small 'woods' across the street from my Pennsylvania house and was suprised to find myself suddenly in ME. We just got a ton of rain, so the woods was very green, and there were small white flowers everywhere. It was esp. cool cause my friend and I were going back there to take pictures and we were both in elf costumes [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] (I have no idea how Galadriel kept her feet from getting all muddy and gross :P)

I have a field that is about 5 miles from my home witch to me is the perfect shire countryside. I once took the lotr soundtrack and just repeated track #2 concerning hobbits

Hmmm. Woods after the rain. Takes me back to my old job. As for Galadriel and the muddy feet, I suppose she just kind of floated, like Legolas on the snow, never sinking in. Useful trick if you can replicate it.

How I wish I could see anything resembling ME around here! Hmmm, maybe I actually live in Bree... My city IS a border town, and, uhhh, there lots of bars... Ok, ok, there's nothing around here that really screams 'Middle-earth!" at me.