A paradise on Middle-Earth

[Aganzir]

We were given a painting assignment: paradise. No need to mix there your personal beliefs, the teacher said, think rather of a place that you could call a paradise.

Lommy and I agreed that our paradises are in Middle-Earth. But where? Valinor is a sure bet but maybe a bit too obvious. There are many wonderful places in the Hither Lands as well; places one could call paradise.

We spent that class discussing and sketching (though more the former). Nevrast where Tuor tarried for a summer? Doriath, with Lúthien dancing in the shadows? Or what about Lothlórien? In the summer or winter? Or the gardens of Lórien in Valinor? It would be a little too ambitious to try to paint Taniquetil, wouldn't it? The Shire? The Old Forest, or even Fangorn?

Eventually we ended up with Melian and Thingol meeting in starlit Nan Elmoth and Eithel Ivrin where Túrin was healed of his madness, but the decisions weren't easy to make. The Middle-Earth itself is a paradise, in a way.

I think my paradise would be the Pools of Ivrin (although I'm not the one of us who's going to paint that). The main reason, I guess, is this association: there's a small lake just next to my summer cottage and that's what I imagine the Pools to look like - the gleam of the sun on the lake is so... Faelivrin. Also, the forests surrounding the place could be straight from Middle-Earth. Even though Ivrin has never been described that accurately, my image of it has thus mixed with the image of a place I love in my subconscious, and that's enough of a reason for me to call it a paradise.

So, if you had to choose a place in Middle-Earth; the most beautiful or perfect place, a place you could spend the rest of your life, what would that be? Some reasons would be nice as well (I haven't started painting yet and am still ready to change the motif if I find a better one ). Also, please define your choice, ie. don't say Gondor if you only mean Dol Amroth.