The Destination Guide recently gave me cause to drop into a four-region estate operated by Clare (Clare Loring) and Dean (Dean Xochitl), forming a unified and engaging visit which simply put, is an absolute delight.
The primary region within the group is Emerhaus, a Full private island region utilising the Land Capacity bonus offered by Linden Lab. Its description alone offers a warm invitation for people to drop in:
Step inside and leave the rush of everyday life behind. A place to listen to live music, meet friends, explore, or simply find a quiet corner and stay awhile, or take photos.
– Emberhaus Destination Guide / About Land description
Emberhaus sits at the southern end of the estate, and is neighboured to the west by Thimblewick and to the north by Oakmere and Teapot, to which it is joined by an old and long disused railway line.
Thimblewick is also a Full region and home to the small town of San Virello, which also appears to be open to the public. However, as I didn’t come across a means of crossing one to the other during my visit (or at least not one I spotted!), I’ll leave that for possible future visit.
A Landing Point is set for Emberhaus, delivering visitors to a point no far from the middle of the region, located on a large wood deck. This sits before a grand row of what might have once been warehouses and one point, but which have been combined and converted into an engaging hangout space, complete with a miniature underfloor garden with little childhood remembrances scattered through it.
Where you go from here is entirely up to you; there is much to discover throughout the region, from the store and park office just across the deck from the warehouse-hangout, to the waterfront facing San Virello to the old track pointing north to Oakmere and Teapot.
This is a setting offering a balance between rugged woodland, water, and human habitation. The waterfront area on the west side of the region is marked by the local pub and a large terrace open-air event space with the old railway lining running beside both.
Directly on the waterfront and facing Thimblewick are a series of nautical businesses – although I rather think the local boatwright might have an interesting time when it comes time to launch the boat he has up on the stocks!
The southern half of the region sits as a group of islands; a large body of water crossed by bridges and connected to the open waters at their eastern end by reedy wetlands, separates them from the rest of the region.
This area is notable for the roughly rectangular island sitting within the channel separating it from the rest of Emberhaus, and for being the home of a local café and a large greenhouse through which the landscape flows, the glass roof perhaps offering shelter from rainy weather for the deer within. The smallest island has the remnants of a garden sitting on its back, perhaps best seen by the pier extending out from the café’s island.
Within all of this there is a lot to explore and discover, including places to hang out and wildlife to see, so to be sure to take your time wandering.
Taking the route north along the old rail lines will bring you first to Oakmere, and herein comes a word of warning: there are three residential units to be found along this ribbon island as it connects to Teapot, so whilst it is open to visitors to wander, do be aware of them and try to avoid trespassing!
Sitting furthest to the northern, Teapot has its own Landing Point sitting on a little bridge, together with its own Destination Guide entry and description.
Teapot is a welcoming community cantered on creativity, conversation, and acceptance. Explore peaceful gardens, discover scenic spots for photography, relax with tea at the café, and enjoy live music and art in a friendly atmosphere.
– Teapot Destination Guide / About Land description
This is a rugged little island which is ideal for getting away from everything and just relaxing. Scattered across it are multiple hideaways and decks for hanging out – including the one that gives the island its name!
When approaching via the rail lines, the island is reached via a covered bridge with a tunnel facing it. Whether you head through the tunnel into the heart of the island or swing to the right and around the coast to head inland is entirely up to you.
As with Emberhaus, there are good opportunities for photography to be found across Teapot. There’s even a touch of Halloween to be found here as well, although me being me, I preferred some of the other places to sit and watch the world go by 🙂 .
There are one or two rough edges in the landscaping, but this is down to the fact Dean and Clare have been making one or two alterations, so will likely be be cleared up. I gather a horse riding rezzer should be making a return to the setting in the near future, and a kayak rezzer is due to get positioned – maybe for paddling to Thimblewick? I also understand from Dean that the estate could be seeing a further region added, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for that as well!
All three regions – Emberhaus, Oakmere and Teapot – share the same overall environment (I assume this is true for Thimblewick / San Virello, but as noted that will be for a possible future visit). This gives a nice sense of natural continuity between the three; no suddenly roiling skies and galloping Sun as the environments transitions 🙂 .
An engaging visit to a engaging setting and well worth the time taken to explore.
