Is Middle Earth freely explorable in Lord of the Rings Online?

I'm a fairly big gamer, but I've never quite gotten into MMO's. The combat has rarely captivated me, and I don't enjoy grinding my way up experience trees.

That being said, I'm a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan, and therefore I've considered playing Lord of the Rings Online on several occasions. To be honest, I don't even care to level up very much, I'd mostly just like to be able to wander around the world. I want to be able to stroll through the Shire, explore the backalleys of Bree, roam the plains of Rohan, etc. I'd happily play a merchant or something similar, giving up combat for the ability to trade and build up my gold chest and explore the world as I go.

I started trying to play it one time, with a Dwarf character, but I found myself being forced along a "tutorial track" that I didn't particularly enjoy, and which greatly restricted my exploration of the world. It heavily emphasized combat and item management and other specific aspects of the gameplay, which were not terribly important to what I was interested in. Very linear, and a lot of handholding and such. I ended up giving up before long, but I've always wondered whether that was just an intro level, a roadblock before the game opened up into what I'd hoped it was.

Is it possible, in Lord of the Rings Online, to simply wander and explore? Does the map open up and allow free movement after the tutorial level(s), or can you only unlock different zones as you level up, or during instance events?