The Rivendell Elves were terrible. I suspect Elven magic kept the books dry... I did like the valley a lot, though, and some of the Art Nouveau-influenced interiors.

Rohan was meant to be a plain with long grass, as I've seen in Mongolia. The NZ landscape was too rocky with too short-cropped grass, and not at all horse (as opposed to pony) country.

The buildings of Edoras were ok, but the hill fort had far too small a hill. (We have a set of hill forts locally, and they're nothing like that.)