Rivendell or Imladris in the Sindarin Elven-tongue is an Elven refuge hidden in a deep valley, formed by the current of the river Bruinen, known in the common tongue as the Loudwater, in the western foothills of the Misty Mountains. The valley climbs eastwards into the Misty Mountains and winds away southwest towards the flatlands of Minhiriath.

When Elrond and many Eldar fled the destruction of Eregion they came upon the hidden vale of Imladris and therein established the house known as ‘The last homely house west of the mountains and east of the sea’, an allusion to the departure of many Elves over-sea and the beauty of Lothlórien east of the mountains.

The house of Elrond itself is a large building with a series of out-buildings including stables, forges and halls. It has been gradually extended over the thousands of years since its founding. The nearby forests are rich with wildfowl, wild boar and elk for the hunting, and some late summer days a fair Elven-host can be seen riding to the hunt. The kitchen gardens and salmon-rich waters of the Bruinen provide much of the seasonal provender favoured by the residents.

Frodo was now safe in the Last Homely House east of the Sea. That house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, ‘a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all’. Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness.

- Fellowship of the Ring