The newest Linden Homes theme – this one again for Premium and Premium Plus subscribers – was launched on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025. Entitled Aspen Ridge, it has something of the Log Homes combined with the Newbrooke Homes vibe about it in terms of the general appearance of the six styles of Home offered in the theme.
With a stone base and partial stone walls mixed with wood, the theme is described as a “new chapter” in Linden Homes, and the designs appear to leverage PBR materials. The six styles within the theme comprise:
- Parkstone – a large, lodge-style home, with a grans L-shaped main room with front and rear access, a centre-rear dogleg stairway and a small rear box room with a window to the rear aspect. Exposed beams support the ceiling, with a large, single open-plan upper floor with two under-eaves balconies to the front aspect, large windows to the rear and skylight windows.
- Ridgeway – similar to the Parkstone, but with the upper floor divided into three areas: a large landing / hall with a balcony to the rear aspect, a small box room with balcony to the front right, and a large room to the front left with roof extension with panoramic window.
- Highpoint – an A-frame unit with a large main lower floor room with front access and a smaller rectangular room with view to the front and rear opening off of it. Dogleg stairs provide access to a large, open-plan upper floor.
- Summitview – a split-level lodge-style home with the upper gallery space overlooking the main front room with panoramic windows to the front and rear aspect. Two small rooms are located under the gallery floor, both access via a short hall.
- Elkridge – a cabin-style house with a square main room and smaller box room to the front. Stairs front the main room rise to a single rectangular upper floor room.
- Crestwood – a single-storey cabin-style home with a awkwardly-shaped main room complete with two front entrances, with two rectangular rooms opening off of it, one to the rea and one to the front right aspect.
In terms of being a “new chapter”, this seems to reference the fact that the homes appear to use PBR materials as noted, and, in an interesting move, the fact that the ground on which they sit changes to match the northern hemisphere (North American?) seasons – this being spring at the time of writing. This is certainly a new tweak to Linden Homes, and it will be interesting to see if anything is done to retrospectively update past theme to offer the same – if possible.
As far as the overall design, I’ll be honest, I found them a mixed bag. If I were to go for one of them, it would most likely be the Parkstone or Ridgeway, whilst the Crestwood strikes me as a missed opportunity. But that said, the use of PBR and the magic of changing seasons likely aren’t enough to crowbar me out of my Log Home. I also had to (again) question what it is about Linden Homes and back doors – or the lack thereof in many of the styles.
It’s a question I’ve often pondered, and it came to mind again in looking at the Aspen Ridge, of which only two have doors to the rear (and they are, ironically, the two with perhaps the largest footprint for any 1024 sq m parcel Linden Home – limiting the garden space front and rear). It’s not exactly a big thing, but if your house happens to be in a position so as to encourage having both a front and rear garden, having styles that require traipsing around to the back garden from the front door tends to get … old.
And with that off my chest, I’ll note that the Aspen Ridge theme can be previewed at the BelliHub Linden Home Demo area and at the demo area within the Second Life Welcome Hub.
Retirement of “Old” Linden Homes Announced
The release of the Aspen Ridge homes brought with in confirmation that the original 2010 Linden Homes (now referred to as “legacy Linden Homes”) and their mini-continents are to start to finally be retired. This had been indicated back in 2019, when the current Linden Homes launched with the Traditional and Houseboat themes, but the actual retirement was repeatedly delayed as the older Homes appeared to remain fairly popular among those disinterested in moving.
With the confirmation the legacy Homes are now to be retired, those still holding one are strongly advised to upgrade via the Linden Homes page.
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