Category: Reviews

I came across Falling Tide in the Destination Guide recently, where the description pricked my curiosity, so off I hopped to take a look.

Falling Tide is a weathered coastal town where old songs, faded lights and quiet stories linger in the salt air. Wander the docks, paths and streets, find hidden markers, listen, remember. Take your time, explore, let the place get under your skin.

– Falling Tide description

A part of the Winchester estate operated by Clara Winchester (clarabellwinters) and Daniel Winchester, Falling Tide occupies a Full region located between, but not connected to, two other of the estate’s regions. Several of the other regions in the estate also have their own public areas, although for this article I’m focussing solely on Falling Tide.

The Landing Point for the region as given by the Destination Guide, sits within the centre of the little town occupying half the setting. A second Landing Point (neither is strictly enforced) is located on the north-west coast of the region, atop a deck built out over the water. This appears to be favoured by the teleport HUD and boards.

The town Landing Point has a giver for the Winchester Group HUD, which can be used to access other public areas in the estate, whilst equally close to the Landing Point is a teleport board which does much the same. Both are Experience driven, so do be sure to accept it if prompted.

The coastal Landing Point, reached via the TP HUD or whilst exploring, has two notecard givers in the form of empty crates. One offers the opportunity to find stories about Falling Tide scattered around the region (six in all), the other offers visitors the chance to join The Lost Playlist Hunt, which comes with its own back-story.

The town is very much as its description states: somewhat rundown and past its prime but still marching forward and offering various attractions – notably the art gallery – with the old motel offering visitors opportunities to stay a while. At the southern end of the town and extending eastwards is a row of six modestly-size cabins available for rent, so please be aware of this when exploring so as to avoid trespass into rented units.

Water forms a good part of the setting, with a large bay separating it from the region to the east, and the land breaking into a couple of islands to the north-east, reached via a tarmac road surface. However, it appears these two islands have been recently formed as a result of tidal incursion, despite the setting’s name, which has washed away parts of the road in separating the islands from the rest of the land, leaving the locals to place a couple plank bridges to cross the new channels.

It is this outer landscape to the east and north of the town which really brings home the tired beauty of the setting. The buildings, from the lighthouse to the boat repair shop all carry a sense of age and of slipping gently into retirement. Where once tourists might have roamed, birds and waterfowl prevail, notwithstanding the presence of a tramp steamer sitting just off the northern coast.

This quiet sense of age, coupled with the dour grey sky actually makes Falling Tide very photogenic – although some tidying-up of footpath / road prims around the town is in order to remove overlaps and the resultant texture flickering. The outlying islands certain offer plenty of opportunities for photography, and more can be found in following the outlying roads and trails.

Serene in its gentle aging, quietly linked to the wider Winchester estate and even with opportunities for a bit of boating on the waters, Falling Tide makes for an unhurried visit.

SLurl Details

Falling Tide (Winchester Sound, rated Moderate)

Vally (Valium lavender) sent me a personal invitation to visit the latest region design she and Dandy Warhlol (terry Fotherington) have put together. Once again, things being what they are, it took me a while to get to a point where I could visit – apologies to Vally –  but I did finally manage to do so!

Occupying a Homestead region, Sojourn – Sojourn Spring is a ruggedly handsome setting, a hump of rocky and grassy land rising from a calm sea. The western side of its back largely flat and with a single, gently-sloping incline running down to the west coast with its narrow ribbon of sand and moorings for boats pointing their fingers out to sea.

To the east, the back of the island is more elevated, exposed rock seeming to shore up the land above as it forms another plateau of grassland.

Where it the world you might like to put this setting is up to you. The trees suggest somewhere in a northern temperate zone – which would be in keeping with most of the builds  Dandy has put together down the years, many of which I’ve had the pleasure to write about. Similarly, the buildings on the island suggest more northerly / temperate climates, but where you prefer to picture this island as being is up to your imagination.

Escape into a breath-taking spring landscape perfect for unwinding and capturing stunning photos. Frame your shots with gentle flowing streams, vibrant wildflowers, and charming wildlife as your backdrop. Region Windlight settings shine here for that magic.

– Sojourn Spring About Land description

This is an occupied island – a house formed out of the split, inverted hull of an old ship sits up on the highest plateau, whilst a couple of single-room cabins lie on the lower expanse of the island’s top, together with what appears to be a long-deserted old stone cottage.

A lighthouse points towards the sky from a blunt promontory in the south-west corner of the setting, standing proudly above the western strand of beach running alongside the boat moorings and a second, slightly deeper beach on the southern side of the isle.

The old cottage, tucked into the north-west corner of the island, forms the setting’s Landing Point and offers a grand view inland over the island, a view which immediately draws one into wanting to explore.

Were I to paint a possible back-story to the setting, I would guess that the “house boat” up on the higher part of the island is home to whoever keeps the lighthouse, perhaps together with their family. As well as maintaining the lighthouse, these folk would appear to have turned the island into something of a little homestead for raising horses whilst also keeping chickens for eggs and bees for honey, even though, giving the pizza box in evidence at the house, this place must not be too removed from all the conveniences of mainland.

Wind turbines share the landscape with the local trees, presumably providing all the power needed for the house, lighthouse and cabins – and perhaps elsewhere as well. Who might use the cabins (both of which are actually unfurnished inside) is anyone’s guess, but the multiple moorings and the presence of a little café overlooking them and close to the lighthouse suggests the island has its share of at least day-trippers – and maybe folk who want to make a weekend of it by using the cabins as places to sleep.

To this end, there are multiple look-out points and places to sit on the island – including a VW camper van some enterprising soul has brought to the setting, where it now (permanently?) sits on a narrow self of land on the east side of the island between parallel cliffs.

These look-out and sitting places encourage people to spend time on the island doing what the About Land description suggests: making an escape and simply unwinding; allow the beauty of the setting, its flora, fauna and birds to carry them away from the worries and concerns of life.

In this, the island is absolutely perfect, the details are highly photogenic and offer a lot to see and give life to the setting. I particularly like the way water has been used, from broad ponds upon which rowing boats sit to the tumbling of falls to the sea below and the meanderings and tumblings of genuine brooks – so rarely seen when streams and rivers seem to be far more popular.  No wonder the island is a popular stopping-off point for egrets as they commute back and forth with the changing of the seasons.

All of this makes Sojourn Spring a visual delight to see and an engaging place to explore. Highly recommended.

SLurl Details

Sojourn Spring (Sojourn, rated Moderate)

As I work to catch up on a backlog of invitations, I pulled up one from Myrdin Sommer, inviting me to visit his Full region build of Planet M – Tula.

The invite actually came in mid-February with a note that it would likely only be around “for a few more weeks”. This being the case, my apologies to Myrdin for not having been able to visit sooner, and my hopes that this article finds its way to readers with sufficient time for them to visit the build before it vanishes.

Planet M’s Tula is a surreal red-earth valley shaped by organic forms, roaming animals, and a ceramic studio at its heart. Tula invites visitors to wander, pause, and look — offering a calm, dreamlike environment with Room to Dream, and perhaps make a picture or two. Tula welcomes you with open arms.

– A description of Planet M – Tula

As might be gleaned from the description above, this is a strange, alien environment – albeit with many touches of Earthly familiarity. The undulating landscape is marked by strange tubular-like extrusions and rising tendrils of clay ground, some of which are bent and bulb-headed, almost as if they are organic in nature whilst others end in lightbulb forms that provide local illumination together with some of the horizonal tubulars extending outwards from hillsides. In addition, flat-topped, mushroom-like islands rise on stout stalks to provide raised platforms, and honeycombed humps provide another form of illumination for their surroundings.

Amidst all of this water flows and pools and animals from Earth graze and roam: horses, cows, elephants, cats, birds, goats – even a couple of sauropods. Some of these can be found on the ground, others keep themselves to the island-like  tops of the “mushroom” islands.

Also waiting to be found are signs of human habitation. These are located in several of the caves found below the hills (and one of which sits behind a curtain, so to speak!). These are both primitive in form let cosy in nature, with human seating, furniture and so on. One of these is also the home to an artist’s studio.

The Landing Point sits towards the middle of the region, watched over by flamingos, a nearby signpost pointing the way to various attractions. These include the Octopit (find out for yourself!), and a memorial to director David Lynch. Note that the Landing Point is on a small island of its own, but the waters surrounding it are shallow enough to wade through.

Getting around the ground level is easy enough. However, exploring the “floating” islands without resorting to flying up to them is a matter of finding the rope ladder to the first and then using the interconnecting bridges and rope ladders to work your way around the rest.  Exploration of these will also allow you a view of  a group of dogs happily gathered on a white cloud complete with its own waterfall and a rope ladder to climb up to it.

With Earthly trees, grasses and lily pads making up the majority of the setting’s flora, Planet M – Tula is, as its description states, a surreal place, complete with a Moon floating just off the ground between two horns of rock, and a series of tiny floating “suns” to add to the illumination. It is also engaging in design and discovering all there is to see does cause you to travel its length and breadth, while the habitation spaces in the caves present places to rest awhile.

In all, an interesting visit with a fair amount to see and do. My apologies again to Myrdin for taking a while to make a visit.

SLurl Details

• Planet M – Tula (Planet M, rated Moderate)