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The degree to which LotR is associated with England will naturally vary with the reader. I first read LotR (or rather, had it read to me) when I was quite young - probably about six; at that time, naturally, it bore no connection whatsoever to England in my mind. Now it seems quintessentially English to me.
I suppose it has, in part, to do with how familiar one is with England and English society. I've never been to England, but I'm something of an Anglophile. I think that to someone who is familiar with English novels and television, hobbits (in their society, their manner of speech, their attitude, their homeland, and so on) simply ooze Englishness. But when I was very young, this fact was quite lost on me, simply because I had no experience of Englishness. As a matter of fact, thinking about it, it seems likely that what initially appealed to me about other English things was their similarity to Tolkien.
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