What's new
Off Topix

Off Topix is a well established general discussion forum that originally opened to the public way back in 2009! We provide a laid back atmosphere and our members are down to earth. We have a ton of content and fresh stuff is constantly being added. We cover all sorts of topics, so there's bound to be something inside to pique your interest. We welcome anyone and everyone to register & become a member of our awesome community.

£4m house where Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

Randy

Aw, awww!
Thread Creator
Posts
3,641
Likes
110
Points
1,845
 

Quest begins to buy £4m house where Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit​

Campaign, which hopes to turn the Oxford home into a literary centre, has been backed by actors from the film adaptation Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman



Tolkien lives at 20 Northmoor Road for 17 years

Tolkien lives at 20 Northmoor Road for 17 years

Although he is one of the UK's most beloved authors, a dedicated centre devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien has yet to be created. But this might change following the launch of a campaign to buy 20 Northmoor Road, the Oxford house that Tolkien and his wife Edith moved to in 1930 and in which he wrote his most famous novels, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Project Northmoor, which is led by the Oxford-based writer Julia Golding, has just three months to raise the requisite £4m to buy the seven-bedroom house before its sellers offer it on the open market. The campaign has been backed by the singer Annie Lennox and several cast members of the Lord of the Rings film franchise, including Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman.

If the house is secured for Tolkien fans, it will be renovated into a literary centre in which guests can experience how the author would have lived during the 17 years he stayed there. The bedrooms will be designed "to reflect the cultures he invented" and the garden would be restored "to a beauty of which the inventor of Sam Gamgee would be proud".

If further funds are raised, plans also include a tree house and a pipe smoking den called Smaug's lair. A programme of retreats, writing seminars and an online programme will also invite visitors to share in the fantasy of the beloved novels.

Local planning rules mean that the Grade II-listed house must remain a residential property, and so entry for the centre will be through booking only. Project Northmoor's organisers say that the limited amount of visitors allowed to the centre will "preserve the homely house atmosphere, more in keeping with the writer himself".

“To raise $6m in three months is a huge challenge,” says Golding. “However, we need only to look at Frodo and Sam’s journey from Rivendell to Mount Doom, which took that same amount of time—and we are inspired that we can do this too!”
 
I hope they're successful, but I worry about it becoming...tacky. Tolkien was amazing, his works are fantastic, but he wrote more than Middle Earth lore, and it's not like his house needs to be turned into another Shire set. I appreciate the history aspect and going there to learn about Tolkien himself, but there are limits.
 

Create an account or login to post a reply

You must be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Create an account here on Off Topix. It's quick & easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom