Category: Exploring Second Life

I was surprised to realise that it’s been around 18 months since my last visit to the Burrow Coffee Co., an engaging location held by Harlow (Truly Fabulous) and Harvey (Forever Fabulous). At the time of that visit, the coffee house was in a location with landscaping by Aria Christen together with Harlow and Harvey. And even then, truth be told, I’d likely not have noticed by for Harlow contacting me and inviting me to hop along to Burrow’s new location in Second Life and explore the new setting for myself;  something I was only too happy to do.

Now relocated, Burrow once again sits on a Full Private region with the additional Land Capacity Bonus provided by Linden Lab and the landscaping by Harlow. It actually shares the region with a store (which was still under construction at the time of my visit) tucked neatly into one corner of the region. However, such is the care that has been taken with the general landscaping, there is no visually-jarring contrast between the two; whilst separate in nature, they share an overall design that allows them to blend together to the point that until you come across the path connecting the two, you might never be aware a store is nestled within the region as well.

For its new location, Burrow sits within a rugged landscape of with tall cliffs and rich woodlands through which cinder paths twist and meander, connecting the various locations awaiting discovery by those visiting. Surrounded by much taller off-region mountains and cut through by water that breaks the land into a series of island-like bodies, the entire setting sits under an EEP setting suggestive of a late summer’s evening when it is time to unwind and kick-back a little.

Having been a part of Second Life since 2009 (first as the The Pixel Bean Coffeehouse), Burrow has built a reputation as a venue for providing an 18+ safe and inclusive environment where company and music can be enjoyed, together with relaxing gatherings, poetry readings and so on. With this 2026 iteration, Burrow re-opens with more spaces in which any and all of these activities might be enjoyed, together with plenty of scope for exploration on land and on water (keep a eye out for the boat rezzer!) and is ideal for photography.

To help with getting around, there are teleport boards available – but I thoroughly recommend explorations on foot to catch the full ambience of the setting; walking really brings home the care put into the landscaping work, plus it gives a proper perspective as to where everything is in relation to everything else, obviously 🙂 .

There is no enforced Landing Point in place when visiting;  the one Harlow passed to me put me down at the setting’s Park Office – which is actually a good place to start explorations. A teleport board sits to one side of the path on arriving, and the office on the other. The latter contains posters to other regions, presented as field trips away from Burrow – and clicking on each of them will present you with a Landmark to the location in question.

Outside, the main path runs east-to west, branching at the teleport board and again a little more eastward. This latter spur descends a short distance by way of steps to where a deck has been built out over the deep gorge cleaved into the landscape as if by the fall of a gigantic butcher’s blade. Water tumbles from the cliff of the far side of the gorge, and the deck offers a place to sit and admire them.

Follow the path westwards from the office hut, and you’ll pass another branch leading to a further deck built out from the cliff tops and over a large body of water cutting into the region. This side path side between two sets of steps descending down to the feet of the cliffs, where two of the setting’s venues can be found. These take the form of The Tipsy Fox – a delightfully cosy pub-style bar on the water’s edge and, across the other side of the path and alongside the gorge mentioned above, the Petal Pavilion – which I personally think is one of the most engaging retreats / places to enjoy a romantic dance I’ve seen in a good while.

Beyond both of these, the cinder path approaches the western extent of the region and branches left and right. To the left, the path hops over an elegant little bridge to reach the rounded glass bulk of the Grove & Gambit, home to multi-player table-top games outside of which a little path runs down to a small wharf and outdoors seating.

To the right from the main path, the route passes over a bridge that has seen better days in its time, the path arrowing on past waterside decks on either side (remember my comment about boats and rezers!) to reach the Hex and Haze Cannabis Bar. For those not enamoured of the smell of weed and whatever, the path does branch again before reaching the Hex and Haze, a boardwalk allowing you to skirt the bar and then climb a short slope to the Campfire, an outdoor venue for music and conversation.

Those wishing to get directly to the Burrow Coffee House should follow the north pointing path from the Park Office as it leads the way over the gorge by way of a vine-hung bridge. The café is – understandably – the largest venue within the setting. Occupying the top of the island forming the far side of the gorge between it and the Park Office, the coffee house presents indoors and outdoors seating, decks, and a boardwalk running down to where the Starlight Stage is nestled slightly below it, surrounded by trees.

A further path leads away from the Starlight Stage, offering the means to visit the attractive ruins of a stone gazebo built overlooking open waters, or to make your way down to the store mentioned earlier or loop back up to the Park Office, passing by way of the local horse rezzer, should you fancy riding around the region.  A boardwalk also descends the rocks from the stage, winding its way down to a little beach and the Mossy Anchor bar.

Throughout all of this, there are places to sit awaiting discovery. These might be at the edge of the path or on the decks or wharves, within the gazebo or other roadside structures, whilst the waters offer places to take out a boat or go for a swim. As noted as well, there is the horse rezzer for those who wish an alternative means to explore (head east along the path from the Park Office if you use that as your Landing Point when visiting).

Lovingly crafted and brought together, Burrow offers a lot to see and appreciate, and I particularly love the way each location naturally sits apart from the rest courtesy of the woodlands and shaping of the landscape, such that it offers its own sense of intimacy and privacy whilst still very much a part of the whole.

Now open to visitor to explore, Burrow will host an official opening event on Saturday, June 20th, 2026, commencing at 15:00 SLT, which is also tied the Primfeed’s 2nd anniversary, within additional sets to follow over the weekend and during the week, as follows:

Date	Time (SLT)	Performer	Venue
Saturday 20 June	15:00	Lichi Moonwall – Offical Opening & Primfeed 2nd Anniversary Party	Starlight Stage
Sunday 21 June	12:00 Noon	DJ Kiss Crystal	Hex and Haze
Wednesday 24 June	16:00	Mimi Carpenter	Starlight Stage

My thanks to Harlow and the folk at Burrow for the early invite!

SLurl Details

Please note: Burrow is rated Moderate.

• Burrow Coffee House (Evermore, rated Moderate)
• Campfire
• Grove & Gambit
• Hex and Haze
• Mossy Anchor
• Petal Pavilion
• Starlight Stage
• The Tipsy Fox

Steven Spielberg is responsible for some of the most iconic films of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. I’m not going to list any of them here per se, as we all likely have our favourites. However, due to his films, Spielberg is indirectly responsible for a range of Second Life destinations which either seek to reproduce his work or use it as a leaping-off point for the imaginations of those responsible for them.

In this, perhaps his most popular film (and follow-on franchise) for SL settings might well be Jurassic Park, which has seen everything from direct reproductions of its most familiar locations through to adventure games built around its central story or mixing of humans and dinosaurs.

It is Jurassic Park which sprang to mind for me as I first broadly cammed around following my arrival at Leloo’s World: Age of Giants, a setting designed by LeLooUlf.

Now, to be fair, it wasn’t actually that film that came to mind when I first arrived; that honour went to George Taylor’s (aka Charlton Heston’s) famous outburst, “You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” And if you need to understand why, just take a look at what forms the backdrop to the Landing Point – and if you’re still unsure, go ask Google 🙂 .

However, as I did cam out and around – particularly as I first tracked around the coast – it was a specific scene from Jurassic Park, together with the truly iconic theme by John Williams (which remains part of one of my all-time favourite film scores) that came to mind as a massive brachiosaur came into view, and I found myself immediately thinking of Sam Neill’s Alan Grant and Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler and their reactions on first seeing such a marvellous beast strolling past their jeep.

Not, I hasten to add, because Age of Giants is in any way directly based on given settings or scenes from the original film or its sequels; the setting remains uniquely its own – but there are elements and motifs which inevitably bring the film to mind, be they in the mixing of Tyrannosaurus Rex with the  Apatosaurus as velociraptors look on; or in the familiar gates of the park itself (in this case leading to Leloo’s little ranges of shops oft found in her designs) or the inclusion of the  Gyrosphere seen in Jurassic World.

For the most part rugged to the point of mountainous, the setting has dinosaurs scattered around and gliding overhead in the form of pterosaurs, with signposts marking the way through for those on foot. As well as the Gyrospheres mentioned above (and which you drive yourself), it is also possible to take an aerial ride around the setting via a pterosaur.

Also, and if you are feeling brave, there is the opportunity to grab a large “bone swatter” and go full-on Fred Flintstone and calm any unruly dinos with a swift clout. If this fails (as it likely will), there is a pose opportunity for photos which has you running from a potentially irate T-rex!

I did find the Gyrospheres a little difficult to control when it came to driving around, and so would personally recommend sticking to your pedal extremities and following the paths and signs on foot. The latter are particularly handy for finding the photogenic spots.

The pterosaur tour is gentle enough, and at less than 5 minutes, it doesn’t get tiresome and will take you through and over the tree tops in a manner that will reveal the dinosaurs below and perhaps reveal a path or two you might otherwise miss. Also, if you do feel something might have slipped past without ypou noticing, keep an eye out for the teleporter stone(s).

As well as the walks, etc., there are numerous places to sitting waiting to be found, both within the main dinosaur area and “outside” of it. The setting is also rich in ambient sounds, so make sure you have local sounds available in your viewer and your speakers on / headphones at the ready.

Age of Giants is small and fun to visit, and comes complete with an odd little whimsy along the beach at and close by the Landing Point, part of which I mentioned back towards the top of the piece and the rest of which I’ll leave you to find.

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Leloo’s World: Age of Giants (Friends, rated Moderate)

With summer supposedly due any time now (here in the UK we have more in the way of liquid sunshine falling from the sky than we do the warm, bright dry type), I hopped over to Lam Erin’s Cherishville to see what has been brought forth for the summer months of 2026. The result, I have to say, is something of a mixed bag: largely pleasing to the eye but also with a couple of minor niggles.

The overall design carries something of and echo of the summer 2025 iteration of the region design, which I covered at the time – and which itself carried hints of a frequent study for Second Life region designs: America’s Route 66. In this, the Summer 2026 design for Cherishville offers something of a return to the approach to the region Lam took to for some of his past designs: building variations of a core theme.

This is not a criticism of Lam’s work; such an approach gives the opportunity to offer a sense of both continuity and renewal; the idea that – as with the physical world – we are visiting a place which is gently changing over time. A place maturing in reflection of those living within it. It gives a sense of familiarity when visiting, with the promise of finding something new tucked away here and there.

Offering a coastal desert setting, the region is bounded on three sides by rugged, sandy hills which almost, but don’t quite work when looked at for too long; the more one stares at them the more they give the impression of a portion of Mars having plopped itself into Second Life. However, the main landscape tends to draw the eyes away from the hills, lessening the need to dwell on them too much.

The region is is cut through from south-to-north by a main road, one with a single branch road leading to the coast in a similar manner to the Summer 2025 design. However, the major difference between the two is that here the side road runs past the local gas station – called, appropriately enough, Blake Sea Gas – down to a coastal hamlet where the houses and shops facing the sands of a broad beach over which rough decks and boardwalks pass and a volleyball court has been marked out to await players.

Parked along the hamlet and out on the sands just off the road leading to it are motifs from the 2025 design: motorcycles sitting in the shade of palm trees and an old car street artists have painted up, a taco van waiting for customers…

To the northern end of the beach sits a delightful little eccentricity in the form of a beached submarine which might have once served  – well, if not Jacques Cousteau, then perhaps Steve Zissou in his Life Aquatic – but which is now someone’s little home.

Further south and on the other side of the slim curtain of mesa-like rock separating the hamlet from the main road sits an old barn flanked by by old “nodding donkey” pumpjacks, their prime mover engines long silenced. Meanwhile, the main road is paralleled by a stretch of railway track with a pair of old steam trains sitting back-to-back in a push-me-pull-you arrangement. Whether or not they actually chuff along the track is a matter for visitors to decide / imagine.

Cars are certainly making their way along the main road, with some availing themselves of the local motel and burger bar; but again, where they are going or from whence they have come is up to the visitors exploring the setting to decide.

Throughout all of this are plenty of small touches helping to bring the setting to life. There are seagulls circling the local clock tower, a street market sits to one end of the end of the hamlet, a street artist’s stand is neatly tucked close to a bar for refreshments, then the cosy interior and exterior of the local café-bistro and – my personal favourite – a local dog demonstrating his thoughts about members of his species not being allowed on the beach.

The niggles I mentioned are small, but also of the kind that are hard to ignore once seen. The first is the way the region surrounds doesn’t smoothly meet the northern and southern ends of the region its, leaving somewhat jagged ends to the beach area. An attempt has been make to hide these edges from view at ground level via the use if prim boards using images of desert rocks and cacti. It works from a distance away or if shadows are disabled, but it does become painfully obvious when seen close-up. While not spoiling the overall impact of the setting, the boards are a little jarring once noticed.

Even so, Cherishville Summer 2026 offers plenty of opportunities for photograph and exploration, and so shouldn’t be missed.

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• Cherishville – Summer (Tuscan Hills, rated Moderate)

Memories of Dreams was a Homestead region design by Yxes (Yxes Evergreen) I visited back in 2024, prior to visiting her follow-up design, Memories of Spring in 2025. I very much enjoyed exploring both, as I did with Yxes Morrigan’s Roadhouse. So when I saw Yxes had opened Memories of Dreams Resurrected, I had to hop over and have a look.

You wake up from a beautiful dream, sure that you’ll remember it this time. But it immediately begins to slip away, leaving just a wisp of a memory.  Or was it only a dream….?

– Memories of Dreams Resurrected About Land description

For this iteration of the region, Yxes has chosen a rugged island setting surrounded by hills rich in woodlands and which don’t quite reach the setting, leaving it sitting within the waters of a lake. Rising dramatically from these waters, the island resembles the shape of a boot when seen from overhead, its cliffs and the steps of its sloping spine are heavy in waterfalls on their south and west faces.

These waterfalls drop into a rocky bay given further shape by a raised boardwalk running along its southern and west sides, but which entirely divorced from the Landing Point in terms of reaching it on foot.

The Landing Point sits on the deck of a wooden shack – Cory Edo’s Piper Hideaway – snuggled between the uppermost reaches of the island and raised above a small body of calm water to one side and some of the tumbling falls to another whilst looking out over the waters of the bay. A rope slide connects this deck with the boardwalk below to provide a route from one to the other.

The boardwalk offers the most practical means of getting around the island, connecting as it does with several other structures awaiting visitors. Sitting at the eastern end of the island is a somewhat run-down hut sitting alongside a decrepit timber wharf.

Together with the broad-based cypress tress rising from the water, they give the impression of swampland without the vines and water carpeting often associated with such places. A large mast spotted with microwave antennae points to the sky close by the hut, but doesn’t appear to be directly connected with it.

To reach the hut and mast, the boardwalk rises over a southern headland by way of a wide deck with the walkway splitting; one arm descends the headland to reach the hut, the other descending to reach a rather tired-looking deck and roughly-built coffee house.

Off to the west, the boardwalk swings inland to climb up between waterfalls to reach another shack, this with its wooden walls mostly covered by white adobe, its furnishings as cosy as those found within the cabin at the Landing Point. Behind the adobe-clad shack, someone has taken the time to create a little rocky retreat complete with a comfortable pool.

Watched over by a mix of cats and birds, and the cypress trees mixing easily with cork, maple and banana trees, the entire setting has a sub-tropical feel to it and is well-suited to a range of EEP settings (I used one of my own in the photos seen here). It is also, obviously, perfectly suited to photography, the various places to sit scattered around it inviting visitors to stay and enjoy the ambience.

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• Memories of Dreams Resurrected (Harmon Bay, rated Moderate)

It was time for a return to Jim Garand’s Grauland at the start of June to see what his creativity had brought forth since my last visit back at the start of 2026. I arrived to find that Jim has once more turned his mind to a sci-fi style theme which he’d entitled Spires of Sector 7.

On my arrival, I was immediately struck by the uniformity of the landscape: a rolling surround of hills covered in regolith-like material: lumps of grey rock and stone lying atop a grey covering of dust and dirt. Only the turquoise of the sky prevented me from uttering “Buzz” Aldrin’s words on seeing the surface of our Moon close-up: “Magnificent Desolation”.

Within these hills, the region itself offers a far more rugged landscape, flat-topped mesas and plateaux (courtesy of Cube Republic’s Sedimentary Rock Set, here given a new finish) rise from the undulating dusty/rocky ground, braking it up into gully and ravine-like cuts with broad, low-lying open areas.

Two of the larger plateaux have solar arrays standing to attention on their backs, three abreast on one with a third standing ahead of them on another mesa. All with their photovoltaic wings angled to the sky as if on parade. Slightly further away, the round face of a large antenna scans the sky from the top of another outcrop, the turning of its large dish suggesting it might be a radar system rather than a communications array or radio telescope.

The group of solar arrays and radar all appear to serve a squat, square blockhouse hunkered down between the rock formations, a long stairway descending one of its sloped sides from the landing pad sitting on its flat top.

The stairs make their way down the side of the structure alongside of a large opening above which an illuminated sign states Sector 7. Whether this is in reference to whatever planet / moon / planetismal on which the blockhouse is sitting as a whole, or simply referencing this region of said body is up to visitors to decide.

The massive pressure doors to the building stand open to reveal its interior offers a large garage area, together with modular units which together make up a research facility, a medical bay and living quarters. The fact that none of the modules is equipped with an airlock and the heavy pressure door into the blockhouse is open suggests the atmosphere of this world is breathable by humans.

The blockhouse is not, however the only sign of human habitation to be found here; off to the north-east stands a lone solar array looks to the sky. It sits above a glass-walled prefabricated habitation unit offering a comfortable residence away from the more techno-looking facilities within the blockhouse.

However, it’s not the signs of human habitation which give the setting its air of mystery; it is the vegetation and standing stones which occupy much of the landscape.

The former sit nestled between or sitting upon the rocky clusters, their vibrant reds and purples flowing over the grey landscape as if parts of it are on fire. Together with the rocky pools of water, they prove without a doubt that this place is far from arid and dead; that just below the rough, powdery and stone-strewn ground, life may well be abundant. Indeed, the presence of the water holes adds to the feeling that this is a landscape formed by the passage of water in times past, its passage resulting in the gently rounded sides of the mesas and plateaux, and its remnant now trapped in the pools, perhaps added to by rainfall or perhaps from subsurface springs.

The standing stones, meanwhile, speak to life of a different kind; one that most likely came along well after the water had shaped the landscape. They stand in ranks and groups right across the setting, both down on the stony ground and up on the raise tops of the rocky outcrops.

Whilst lacking perfectly vertical sides and geometric forms, these stones are far too regular in their shape to be the result of happenstance and erosion; they have more than likely been placed here. This is a view supported by the fact that five of them, clearly cut and shaped, sit atop smoothly rounded columns of rock to form a line resembling stone-cast torii gates or a marching line of henge trilithon.

Exactly who or what shaped and placed these stones is, alongside the study of the plant life, likely the reason for the research being carried out inside the bunker. There are no obvious clues to the creators of the stones – although the presence of hewn stone steps rising between and around some of the larger rock outcrops suggest those responsible for making and placing the stones may have been bipedal.

It is these kind of touches which so often make Jim’s regions designs so engaging; they add to the overall design by offering snippets of a back story not fully formed, inviting visitors to fill in the blanks and weave a tale to suit the landscape as they see it.

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• Grauland (Liberia Isle, rated Adult)

I received a personal invite from Tripty (triptychlysl) to hop over and visit the latest (at the time of writing) iteration of her Full region design, Reality Escape. This is a destination I’ve enjoyed visiting ever since I first dropped in over three years ago, so I was only too happy to grab my camera and hop over as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

As I’ve noted in writing about Reality Escape in the past, this is a setting which always delights in the way it presents something new to see and enjoy with each iteration, but which also retains certain elements and motifs from design to design which give it both a sense of continuity between iterations and also a sense of welcoming familiarity. These elements and motifs are appropriately summed up in the regions sub-title: Books, Coffee & Chairs – something else I’ve likely mentioned in the past adds to my attraction to the region: one of my favourite pastimes is curling up in my “reading armchair” with a good book and a nice big mug of coffee with the beans freshly ground and the milk suitably steamed!

For summer 2026, Tripty presents an island setting into which the surrounding waters have made their way. The result is a rocky-edged landscape broken up by broad bays reaching into it, the waters seeping into the low-lying areas to form wetlands rich in pond grass, frogbit and floating islands of marsh vines. Whilst none of the land is truly broken up into individual isles – tongues of grassy rock connect one to the next with steps providing routes between the mores elevated parts of the landscape and those loser to the water – travel over the waters is facilitated through the use of stepping stones and little bridges of various forms.

The Landing Point, sitting on the south side of the setting, once again takes the familiar form of a deck leading up to a little coffee house, with Tripty’s welcoming signs greeting new arrivals. This all sits on a little headland of grass-covered rock which the encroaching waters have tried very hard to separate from the rest of the land only to be frustrated by a dry causeway pointing northwards and inland, a dirt-topped path along its back inviting visitors to follow it.

On the west side of this headland lies the largest body of water to work its way inland, a fallen tree trunk forms a makeshift bridge (complete with warnings about drinking and driving and not parking on its narrow width!) to pass over the water alongside the coffee house, connecting as it does to stepping stones dancing their way across the mouth of the bay to reach a further low-lying headland.

This second promontory is curtained into two halves by a tall trelliswork hanging with vines. To one side, where the stepping stones connect to the land via a novel means, the waters become shallow enough for the pond grass and frogbit to grow, giving the water’s edge that wetland feel. The hull of a large boat sits low in the waters here, its interior turned into a garden space whilst its hull helps to shelter the shallows and encourage the plant growth across the water’s surface. Whilst the ground closer to the promontory is largely dry, two hippy-like gnomes look like they are trying to encourage the wetlands to spread, a hosepipe held by one ready to release tap water. a VW van serving as a flower planter sits in the grass close, but whether it once belonged to the hippy gnomes is up to you to decide.

The far side of the vine-draped trellis offers a further flat-topped space where a garden party, books, and even a quiet snooze on a hammock might be enjoyed, the trellis work with its vines combining with a curtain wall of rock to give this western side of the setting a sense of peaceful separation from the rest. However, it is at its northern end connected to a broad ribbon of beach running back eastwards to join with the rest of the region. Backing this beach and facing the bay as they look back towards the Landing Point coffee house, are the chair arches which are another motif that links each new iteration of Reality Escape with its predecessors.

Further to the east the land is again mixed, tongues of low-lying, flat-topped rock providing grassy walks around and across another inlet cutting its way inland, together with elevated plateaux forming the region’s “highlands”. Here again, bridges and stepping stones help to keep the feet dry when exploring – the most visible of the former reached on one side by the most novel of chair stairs. This latter bridge overlooks a large structure mindful of both an A-frame building and a greenhouse, under and within which everything is set for a tea party, although the sole guest is a Siamese cat rather than the Usual Suspects one so easily associates with tea parties…

The cat is one of several quietly keeping an eye on Reality Escape, recording all comings and goings with that attitude of curious indifference domestic felines so casually exude. They are not the only animals to be found within the setting, and Tripty’s considered use of wildlife and birds within her designs always bring them further to life, adding both a deeper sense of nature and at time little touches which help bring a smile to one’s face.

Nor are animals and birds the only touches which help bring Reality Escape to life; there is obviously the unique use of chairs, but there are also numerous small touches and elements awaiting discovery, be they the the crescent Moon sitting on the water or the hints of witchcraft and magic present on a table and below the angled rocks of a cairn (and so easily missed as attention is inevitably drawn  to the large tent close by, within which fortune telling, tarot readings and even, perhaps, elixirs and potions are offered) or the many places to sit and pass the time both on the land and on the waters.

One of the many things I appreciate with Reality Escape is the sense of peace it carries within it; nothing about the region is overblown, nothing feels out-of-place. From the lay of the land through the inclusion of the familiar elements to the soft and subtle presence of the soundscape, it all just works. In doing so, it carries a sense of restorative power; a place where the mind can be cleared, the imagination lost in wonder, the heart offered peace and the chance to share. With open rezzing (auto-return set to 30 minutes) the region is also ideal for photographers looking for a location which offers an engaging backdrop for their creativity.

So, whether you are seeking a place to rest, a place to wander with the freedom of your own imagination or a place to spend time with a friend – Reality Escape is the place to visit. My thanks to Tripty for the invitation to once again drop in!

SLurl Details

• Reality Escape, rated Moderate