Buckland was a narrow strip of Shire-land east of the Brandywine, lying between the river and the eaves of the Old Forest -- the only Hobbit-country on the wild eastern bank. It was guarded along the wood's edge by the High Hay, a great hedge, and ruled in its homely fashion by the Master of Buckland from the rambling smial of Brandy Hall. There Frodo took a house at Crickhollow as a blind to cover his departure, and from Buckland his friends set out with him into the Old Forest and away upon the road to Rivendell.