Bree is the chief village of the Bree-land, a cluster of four villages about Bree-hill. Staddle lies on the north side of the hill, Combe in a deep valley eastwards, and Archet on the edge of the nearby Chetwood. Surrounding the villages is a small country of fields and tamed woodland only a few miles broad. In past years, before the return of the King, the lands beyond were wild and untamed, long bereft of settlement or law.

The Greenway runs north-south just to the west of Bree between Fornost Erain and Tharbad. Since the great flood that destroyed Tharbad and the fall of Arthedain, the Greenway fell into disuse, a pitted mud track through the wilderness. The restoration of order and the rebuilding of Tharbad has brought many settlers, migrating northwards to the restored capital of Arnor. Bree has benefitted considerably from this traffic.

Likewise traffic has increased on the East-West road, and after years of comparative isolation Bree finds itself a prosperous crossroads town once more. Migrants are generally discouraged from settling in Bree-land itself, but the Bree-landers are more than happy to accommodate the weary travellers and relieve them of some of their burdensome coins.

"For Bree stood at an old meeting of ways; another ancient road crossed the East Road just outside the dike at the western end of the village, and in former days Men and other folk of various sorts had travelled much on it.

. . .

The Inn of Bree was still there, however, and the innkeeper was an important person. His house was a meeting place for the idle, talkative, and inquisitive among the inhabitants, large and small, of the four villages; and a resort of Rangers and other wanderers, and for such travellers (mostly dwarves) as still journeyed on the East Road, to and from the Mountains."

- Fellowship of the Ring