Category: Second Life

Update, April 2025: Chef des Champs has closed. SLurls have therefore been removed from this article.

It has been some time since I’ve paid a visit to La Clef des Champs (literally, “the key fields”), the region setting by Rose Siabonne. When last I visited, in June 2018, Rose had relocated the setting from a Homestead to a Full region (see: A return to La Clef des Champs).

Part of my reason for not re-visiting is that some time after that last visit, the region appeared to close, and Rose later offered the homestead setting of Hors du Temps (see: An Out of Time experience in Second Life). However, in the latter half of 2019, La Clef des Champs made a return to Second Life (the region details show it as returning in August 2019), and with it, Rose has once again created a photogenic, somewhat Adult-oriented  region – one that was, as the time of my end-of-year visit, still caught in the warmth and colour of summer.

As with past iterations of the region, this is a place where Adult activities are allowed, provided they are kept indoors and do not spill over into the gardens and open spaces of the region. As such, some of the buildings scattered across the landscape particularly given over to adult pursuits (notably the two white, modern houses). However, those who prefer not to witness such things shouldn’t be put off from visiting: there is more than enough to see and do without entering the various houses, and some of the buildings – such as the pavilion on the uplands to the south-east.

This pavilion, as with a number of other points across the region offer echoes of previous Les Clefs des Champs for those familiar with previous builds (in this case the piano), without ever being derivative of past builds.

Water plays a role in the overall design, with the setting split into a primary large island with three smaller isles spaced around it. The largest of these, to the north-west, has a cottage atop it, and while there is no indication the parcel is private, the décor and furnishings with suggest it may well be – so perhaps a little caution should be used when exploring to avoid undue trespass.

Elsewhere, a river cuts through the region, almost splitting it in two has it runs from a set of inland falls and to the east coast. In addition, beaches serve the two white houses, while to the south a bay offers rowing boats and a little café. These help to break up the landscape with places to sit and relax.

There are some rough edges to the design, but nothing that spoils the overall effect of the design, while the centre lowlands offer a pastoral setting, complete with farmhouse (unfurnished) with geese, chickens and goats. Between this farmhouse and the (furnished) Tuscan house set a little back from the river, horses roam the grass.

As ever, La Clef des Champs retains an eye-catching design that offers rich opportunities for photography and appreciation of the outdoors.

Currently in development, and with a planned “official” opening on December 28th, 2019, is a new development occupying the Blake’s Channel regions of Greenhouse (for so long the home of The Greenhouse, one of the oldest and most striking public spaces within the Blake Sea regions and their surrounds), and the neighbouring Mare Nostrum.

The development is the work of friend and artist, Drwyndwn (pronounced DROO-in-doon) Tyne, aka Drw (“Droo”), undertaken in cooperation with the Greenhouse’s creator, Aislin Keynes – who retains a house within Greenhouse – and with neighbour Transparent Banshee, who owns Foliage to the west, home of his Sky Hye Gallery (see: A Sky Hye art gallery in Second Life) and the Foliage air field.

Greenhouse is built along the lines of an English coastal village; and while slightly idealised in places, it is certainly reflective of places that might be found around the coastline of southern England. There’s a small parish church with an accompanying vicarage, a pub very much in keeping with many a small English pub, a memorial to those the village and its surroundings have lost to the two world wars, and a pleasing mix of architectural styles to the houses and shops.

The homes in the village are available for rent, and form a part of the estates operated by Patrick Leavitt (there’s a rental office within the village). These form a mix of houses, cottages, flats and a narrowboat – with the two largest properties also offering region-sized sky platforms for use by their tenants. All of the landlocked homes come with a slip for mooring at the Greenhouse Marina on the east side of the region.

The north end of the village is marked by a large manor house that also sits alongside the Balboa Canal. I’m not sure if this will be a public building or offered for rent (work was still in progress during our visit), but the lands around the village and the marina are all largely public spaces, as are the streets, shops, church and pub in the village – although obviously the rentals are private.

Facing the village from across the marina is Sawson Park, dedicated to the memory of Chad Sawson, the previous owner of the land, who passed away in 2019. This includes a pavilion, formal garden and open meadows backed by a bubbling brook, on the far side of which is the private home of Aislin Keynes, and more meadow lands that extend into Mare Nostrum – of which more in a moment.

Drw has taken a lot of care to create an environment that is entirely natural in look and feel; the village, marina, park and open spaces are all perfectly integrated to offer a contiguous landscape facing Blake’s Channel, and which is carefully screened from the private islands to the north whilst also blending nicely with the Balboa canal and Banshee’s land to the west.

In particular, the position of the Foliage airstrip means that the village potentially offers an ideal home for those who enjoy both sailing and flying – they can make use of a slip at the marina for their boat(s) and hop across to Foliage to rez a ‘plane or helicopter for flying. In this respect, and region boundaries allowing, I wonder if an arched bridge between Greenhouse and Foliage might not be worth considering?

But what of the Tolkien reference in the title of this piece? Well, that brings us to Mare Nostrum. To reach it, take the path through the village from the landing point I’ve given, going first west towards the church, then turning north towards the manor house. You’ll come to a crossroads, the east running path of which is pointed to by a sign indicating the way to Mare Nostrum. This will take you up by path, bridge and stair up into the halls backing both Greenhouse and Mare Nostrum and the woods of En’ Duin Forest (not sure of the derivation here, other that duin is both Sindarin and Quenyan (duinë) for “river” – so (forest) of the river?). Here you’ll come across a twisted trunk of a tree forming an arch over the path, and a sign: Warning. You are about to enter someone else’s dream.

The warning might sound foreboding, but don’t take it to heart. Follow the path on and upwards, and I guarantee that the sight you’ll see will be comparable to the wonder Bilbo Baggins felt on first seeing Imladris, the home of Elrond Half-Elven.

Perched on high cliffs that fall away sharply to the lands and waters below and over which water tumbles in slender curtains, is one of the most Tolkien-esque settings I’ve come across in Second Life. Like Elrond’s Last Homely House East of the Sea, it is both welcoming and yet clearly screened from both land and water to present a hidden realm. Within its buildings, works of men and elves are blended to offer a unique setting, and Tolkien’s writings are given due homage through art on the walls, while the natural gardens and greenswards between the trees give one room to breathe and feel renewed.

Below these high houses is a natural bay, bordered on its western side by a long stone pier. Looking down on it, it is not hard to imagine one of Círdan’s great ships slipping into the bay to moor here, thus linking En’ Duin to Beleriand as well as to Imladris. A graceful bridge connects this pier with a path that runs around an old smithy, now converted for ale and wines (a vineyard lies close by) and which feels almost Hobbitish despite its size, and thence up the hills to join with that leading up to the hillside houses.

Taken as a whole, Drw’s work at Greenhouse and Mare Nostrum is simply gorgeous – and available to everyone to enjoy (just please respect the privacy of those renting in the village!). There is a huge amount to be seen and aprreciated within both regions, as I hope I’ve indicated here, and the En’ Druin Forest offers plenty of scope for fantasy photography. Kudos to both Drw and Patrick for the development of the regions, and for wanting to make them as publicly accessible as possible.

SLurl Details

• Greenhouse and Mare Nostrum (both rated Moderate)