How to Fix The Boarded-Up Doors in Tales of the Shire

In Tales of the Shire, you are a new resident in the Hobbit village of Bywater. When you arrive, you take up residence in Old Ruby’s former Hobbit hole. It’s a lovely, spacious home, but it’s been unoccupied for a while. That means there are a few things that need fixing up. When you first arrive, your front door will be all boarded up. Though your Hobbit self remarks on needing to get it fixed, it’s not immediately clear how to do it. But yes, you can open up the front door in Tales of the Shire. Here’s how to do it.

Unlocking most features in Tales of the Shire requires one of two things: leveling up Clubs or leveling up Friendships. In the case of fixing those boarded-up doors, it’s the latter. Specifically, you’ll need to get closer to Willow Took if you want to have more options to get inside your Hobbit hole.

How to Fix the Front Door

Willow Took is Bywater’s resident fixer. She lives in a workshop not too far from your Hobbit hole with her daughter, Daisy. Willow is a bit standoffish at first, but the key to any Hobbit’s heart is through food. Invite Willow to Shared Meals to level up your relationship with her if you want to fix your front door.

You can track your friendship levels with the Townsfolk tab in the main menu. Leveling up friendship with everyone in Bywater unlocks different rewards. For most milestones, you’ll just receive a new recipe to create for Shared Meals. But at Levels 4, 6, and 10, you will get something more. And in Willow’s case, that something more is your first room unlock.

When you reach high enough friendship with Willow, you’ll get a letter from her asking to help out with a problem. This is Willow’s first “Friendship Tale” and is the key to unlocking her first milestone reward. You’ll need to follow the steps of checking in with Willow and Daisy to complete the Tale.

Completing this friendship quest will earn Willow’s trust. At that point, Willow will offer to fix the front door to your home. As soon as she makes the offer, you’ll return home to find the front door open and ready to use. You’ll be able to enter your house through the side door by your garden or via the front door from now on, and guests will prefer to come and go through the repaired front door.

When Willow fixes the front door, she will also open up some of the interior doors. This will give you new rooms to decorate inside your Hobbit hole!

How to Fix the Other Blocked-Off Doors

To get the other boarded-up doors fixed, you’ll need to keep growing your friendship with Willow. Invite her to Shared Meals and complete more Friendship Tales to reach each additional milestone and unlock more rooms to decorate.

The next room unlocks will be available at Friendship Level 6 and Friendship Level 10. So, be sure to invite Willow over often and serve up what she’s craving to make more space in your Hobbit hole.

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