Light in white satin, frosted trees on the hill
Cakes for the eating, ’til you’ve had your own fill.
Beauty in gentle mist with soft whimsy before
Fun for its own sake is here to adore.
OK, so that’s not precisely what Justin Hayward wrote at the tender age of 19 whilst penning Nights in White Satin (which coincidentally reached No. 19 in the UK charts when first release as a single in 1967), but given the title of the region design I’m featuring here and its nature, can you really blame me?
Lights in White Satin is the work of ChimKami and Leica Arado as a whimsical winter setting that is intended to be enjoyed for its light-heartedness and sense of joy. Folding within it charm, memories of childhood, holidays in the sunshine and on beaches lapped with surf and crisp winter’s nights when the snow crunches underfoot and the silver crescent of the Moon hangs amongst scattered jewels of stars.
This is a place where logic and detailed descriptions can, frankly, be thrown out the window – it is whimsy and delight should be experience first-hand. From Chocolate tumbling down the sides of tall peaks and turning some of the satiny snow brown, through trees growing like Magnum® ice cream, and paths formed by icing-tops biscuits and chocolate blocks broken from some giant’s bar, this homestead region offers vignettes and settings where time might be spent.
The latter are spread all around the region, far enough apart to offer a little privacy where seating is available. The seating comes in a wide variety of forms, from chairs cut from pieces of fruit to those of a more regular variety. Some are watched over by Disney-esque characters, others are home to unicorns or penguins, elephants or deer; but this alone is an insufficient description.
This is a place where lollipops and gum crops form the trees alongside ice creams and ice cream cones, wish fish and sea creatures swim underwater and under dome; where lanterns float and mushroom drip icing like stalactites, ladders climb trees and little worlds and puffs of little clouds hover in the sky, possibly ignoring all that passes below.
To put it another way and partially repeat myself, this is a place to put away grown-up thoughts and let your inner child free and simply enjoy the whimsy, the contradictions, the little wonders. Of course, if you want, you can hop around via the teleport near the Landing Point and thus find the horses waiting to be ridden or the little RHIB waiting for you to putter (or zip) around the island or the rowing bow moored for you to relax upon – but where’s the fun in that? Better to roam and find.
Also waiting to be found are a host of references similar to the touches of Disney mentioned above. From a certain ogre and his sidekick to Hergé’s heroes or broomsticks hinting at games of Quidditch, all might be found here, together with opportunities for ice-skating, dancing and those simple opportunities to relax and have fun.
As already noted, Lights in White Satin isn’t a place to be written about – it is a place to visited, explored and experienced – be sure to mouse-over things carefully or you might miss a few smile-raising things. So instead, rather than banging on about it here, I’ll just invite you to pay a visit. And, before closing, express my thanks to Sam Rougefeu for his blog post that led me to visit.
SLurl Details
- Lights in White Satin (Dreamworld Mermaid, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 