From Tom Bombadil's house to the Road

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

But Bombadil's house was OUTSIDE the Old Forest ?

More like in a clearing in the midst of it, as I imagined it. Once again, though, I'm fuzzy on the details of that trip, and perhaps the hobbits are too - with the tricksy trees and Withywindle, they were quite lost as well and had no sense of direction, so there's little we can tell for certain from their trip to his house. But considering that next to no mortals know about him, and even Elves don't really seem to be keeping in touch with him, his house is definitely well off the travel routes.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

"Then suddenly the trees came to an end and the mists were left behind. They stepped out of the Forest, and found a wide sweep of grass welling up before them... The grass under their feet was smooth and short, as if it had been mown or shaven. The eaves of the Forest behind them were clipped, and trim as a hedge. The path was now plain before them.....There was Tom Bombadil's house, up, down, under hill. Beyond it a steep shoulder of the land lay grey and bare, and beyond that the dark shapes of the Barrow-downs stalked away into the eastern night."