[Guinevere]

I’m trying to catch up ..... well, what can I say after all these great posts ?

This has always struck me - the 'Englishness' of the world of the Shire - to the extent that I was deeply surprised that readers from other countries could relate to the story at all

For me (although English isn't even my mothertongue) this Englishness of the Shire and its inhabitants is an essential part of the charm of this chapter and I enjoyed very much reading the Squatters excellent posts. Kudos !

This chapter is, of course, accompanied by a map depicting a part of the Shire, and I would like to point out how Tolkien's knowledge of English onomastics plays a part here. All of the names you will see on that map either are or could be real English place names.

That's what makes the Shire so real, the names don't sound "made up" at all !
One of the reasons why I find the German translation so disappointing is that all the English names (of places and persons) which have a meaning, have been translated. That does not only take the "Englishness" away but never sounds so convincing and real, since no translator can have Tolkien's abilities. In addition, the various styles of speech of the characters which makes them so "alive" got also lost in the translation.
As Tolkien himself wrote in letter 190

"The Shire" is based on rural England and not on any other country in the world. (....) The toponymy of The Shire is a "parody" of that rural England, in much the same sense as are its inhabitans: they go together and are meant to. After all the book is English, and by an Englishman, and presumably even those who wish its narrative and dialogue turned into an idiom that they understand, will not ask of a translator that he should deliberately attempt to destroy the local colour.

The things that Hilde Bracegirdle mentioned (umbrellas, clocks on the mantelpiece etc) also caught my attention.
I agree with Heren Istarion in his last post on the Prologue-thread that the hobbits and their way of living and thinking are really an anachronism in the ancient and heroic world of Middle-earth. And I think too that this is so that the reader can identify with them. After "The Hobbit" was such a success, I guess Tolkien saw that the readers needed such a "bridge" .
And also :

A moral of the whole (….) is the obvious one, that without the high and noble, the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple und ordinary, the noble and heroic is meaningless.

( from letter 131)