Category: Reviews

Pleasure Ò Raigàin (vVEdanaVv) is one of the creative minds (and chief builder) behind Carrowmere, a Homestead region I visited with great delight back at the start of 2022 (see: A trip to an Irish corner of Second Life). Whilst that region is still active in Second Life, Pleasure has turned her mind to other projects as well, and recently invited me to pay a visit to Vue Sur Mer, a new parcel build she has opened to the public.

Occupying just 4096 square metres, this is one of those landscaping designs I tend to like because it demonstrates the fact that people don’t actually need a full-sized region (Homestead or otherwise) to create something special for themselves or which can be shared with others as a public space. Sitting within the north-east corner of its parent region (hence the reason for the parcel’s name), this is a parcel with a very distinct and cosily engaging theme, offering as it does a slice of Regency England in reflection of the US TV series Bridgerton.

I confess to knowing next to nothing about the television series – I’m actually not a great fan of period dramas for assorted reasons; but that hardly matters here. Whether or not you are familiar with the show – or indeed Regency England – Vue Sur Mer offers an enticing and romantic corner of Second Life that is highly photogenic and easy to appreciate.

Whilst formally regarded at the period 1811 to 1820, when by Act of Parliament, George, Prince of Wales became Prince Regent as a result of his father’s (George III) worsening mental health and ending when the Prince ascended to the throne as George IV, the Regency period can more broadly be regarded as the final third of the Georgian era, spanning the years 1795 through 1837. It was a time of sharp social divide within the United Kingdom between the haves and the have nots, with the former enjoying a period of cultural and social growth (aided by Romanticism straddling the era and the early Victorian period), and seemingly oblivious (or uncaring) about the hardship faced by the labourers of the country.

In its celebration of the period as seen through the likes of Bridgerton, Vue Sur Mer quite marvellously captures the grace and beauty that lay within the houses and gardens of the well-off. This is a setting where, to draw further on the period) Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet would find little amiss.

Presented as semi-formal garden environment in which is located a small summer house and even smaller pavilion, both constructed of neatly cut and squared white stone, it is not hard to imagine Vue Sur Mer as a places tucked away within the wildlings beyond the more formal gardens of a grand estate, a place where the romantically-inclined can slip away to for courtship conversations, unobtrusively observed by footmen; or which the estate owners might host a young artist or musician or poet, thus earning themselves further social kudos.

Behind the summer house sits a shaded pond where courting couples might sit or a poet seek his (or her!) muse under the natural arch of two bent trees, this time watched over by Andromeda and Perseus. To the side of the house tea might be taken under a beflowered gazebo set over a carpet of pale blooms, the discussion perhaps revolving around Ms. Austen’s writings, given the books perched on the table. Nearby, the pavilion sits purely as a retreat for the menfolk, being set out with a range of brandy and whiskey bottles which share their table with a box of cigars.

Between pavilion and gazebo lie stone steps rising under a stone arch to reach a wildling garden protected by a snowy owl; a place where a budding painter might decide to set their easel should they tire of the confines within the little greenhouse on the far side of the little beach, converted as it is as a tiny art studio.

Compact yet packed with detail (I’ve not really mentioned the care with with Pleasure has set the décor and furnishings within the house), and finished with a gentle soundscape, Vue Sur Mer is a veritable painting in its own right. And I leave it to you to decide whether or not to do so in period attire!

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• Vue Sur Mer (Ambrose, rated Moderate)

It’s been over a year since my first (and until now, only) visit to Mousehole, the second of Tolla Crisp’s regions to carry her Cornish theme (mixed with broader flavours from Europe). That visit, in June 2021 (see:  A corner of Cornwall in Second Life), was made notlong after the region had opened,  and saw it feature elements inspired by the ancient Cornish fishing village of Mousehole (pronounced maʊzəl, or Porthenys in Cornish) – at one time one of the busiest fishing ports, far down towards the very tip of England’s “toe”, on the southern coast of Cornwall.

At  the time of that visit,  Mousehole directly abutted Tolla’s Frogmore (now in its 5th iteration); however, time has passed and now Frogmore Cottage – a region given over mostly to rentals but with public paths winding through it – sits between the two.

Now sitting within a Homestead region, Mousehole has perhaps lost its more recognisable links to its physical world namesake – but in doing so it has lost none of its charm or beauty. Built by Dandy Warhlol (Terry Fotherington), in keeping with past builds for both Mousehole and Frogmore – and doubtless with a lot of input from Tolla – the region now presents itself as mix of small, rugged islands of the kind that might be found around the Cornish and Devonshire coasts, and flooded lowlands.

The landing point sits on the main landmass for the region, a squat island marked by a shale shoreline to the south from which rises an impressive rock formation which, from some angles at least, is perhaps mindful of a seal or sea lion sitting on the shore, head raised to the sky. The rest of the island points north from here, taking first the form of a flat-topped shoulder of cliffs before dropping down to lowlands where sits a tiny hamlet.  Far smaller than Mousehole, this  nevertheless recalls both the village and the June 2021 build thanks to the sign from the old pub hanging on the wall of what might have once been a fisherman’s house, but which now looks deserted.

This little hamlet, with its mix of houses that suggests both English and European influences, sits with a small harbour facing north and east towards the two Frogrmore regions.However, it is separated from them be a low-lying island which both shelters its moorings and is home to one of the region’s two large sandy beaches – the other sitting under the “sea lion rock” and the table-top cliffs of the main island.

Three further isles help complete this little archipelago.  Two sit side-by-side astride a narrow channel to the north of the main island. Linked be a wooden bridge spanning the separating gorge, they are repectively the home of a smattering of further houses and buildings, and a single little pavilion.

Westwards sits a rugged blob of an island, its flat top home to ancient ruins  whilst carrying a hint of Cornish moorlands even whilst a tall white lighthouse rises from their southern extent. Little bridges connect these latter isles to the hamlet, presetting the means for visitors to explore all of them on foot, despite the swirling waters churning the channels between them.

Throughout all of this there is, as one would expect, a wealth of detail both on land and on the water. In the case of the latter and despite the visible turbulence of white-capped foam suggesting shallows and rocks beneath, it is clear that the channels separating the islands are an important part of life here. Rowing boats are moored throughout, and Dandy has made clever use of a farmhouse design to incorporate water and moorings neatly into its layout, the overall design of the house offering that twist of European influence mentioned earlier without making with house feel out-of-place in this setting.

Those wishing to reach the Frogmore regions – or get to Mousehole from them – can do so via low wooden bridges which connect with a rocky spine rising from between Mousehole and Frogmore Cottage (and indeed, straddling the two regions). When coming from Frogmore Cottage, this slender island, windswept and battered by the tide, offers a warm greeting, a small cafe and a familiar sight across Cornwall in the form of hardy little ponies.

As always with Mousehole / Frogmore there are many opportunities for photography here, and the default EEP setting does much to help reinforce the idea that this is a part of Cornwall which is saying “goodbye” to summer skies and sunny days, and preparing itself for the arrival of the harsher days of winter. Well worth a visit.

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• Mousehole (rated: Moderate)

Occupying a Full private region utilising the LI bonus, Cap Thunderbird is held by Buzz Thunderbird (BuzzFlashMcQueen) and offered as a public setting for all who wish to visit. It is a location of two distinct halves, separated by a high curtain of cliffs cutting almost completely across the region from west to east, but each half nevertheless equally accessible to the other, and both fully open to visitors to appreciate and explore.

The main landing point sits within the southern half of the region, which has been designed by Buzz as a wedding venue and parklands. Whlist the wedding setting offers plenty to see, it is northern part of the region on which I wish to focus. This can be reached by teleporting over the cliffs – there is no hard-and-fast landing point – or by crossing the bridge from the main landing point and then heading west, past the wedding pavilion before re-crossing the stream and following the path under the stone arches and around the western feet of the cliffs.

This northern part of the region is presented as a romantic park with something of a water theme. It is rich in detail and – for me at least – somewhat mindful in part of places such as Yorkshire’s Fountains Abbey (even though there is no direct similarity), thanks to the large ruins sitting along the west side of the region. Built using elements from The Chapel Ruins from The Looking Glass (and a personal favourite of mine, having frequently adorned my island home).

Buzz’s build makes good use of elements from the Chapel, allowing an extensive structure to be put togethe without any sense of repetition. It sits before a body of water cutting into the landscape, the drowned pillar and walls of more ruins (also re-uses of the TLG Chapel Ruins) rising above the waves as if gasping for air.

Nor is the abbey the only gathering of ruins; across the waters of the inlet and over the grasslands to the east sits a further ruin. Its thick walls suggest it may have once served a defensive purpose – although the wide window bays say otherwise, as do the buttresses that still support parts of its remaining walls, both speaking to this having also been a religious building. These ruins are abutted by the remnants of a water mill. Of wooden construction, it stands roofless but with wheel intact and steadfastly turning in opposition to the waters of the stream passing below.

Offering a step-by-step description of what to see / where to go isn’t really useful here, given teleports within the region are so open – but there are various points of interest that should be noted. The first is that the main landing point can furbish visitors with a teleport HUD.

Whilst somewhat on the large size, given its functionality, the latter allows visitors to hop to a number of points of interest in the region, including the Hidden Gardens and the Underwater setting, located beneath the waters of the inlet. A further location available via the HUD and also directly via a board at the region’s main landing point, is Desolation, a small diorama sitting in the sky.

Birds and waterfowl have clearly made this park their home and can be found throughout, whilst deer roam the grasslands. Across the landscape lie pools and lakes of flowers adding broad swathes of colour to the setting, some of them caught in the shimmering fall of beams of light.

The latter fall from a sky which (together with some of the wildlife) betray this place as not being a part of England’s northern counties, but somewhere otherworldly. Cloud-like in form, this sky is cut by an arc of brilliant white, whilst beneath the cloudly backdrop hang sparking points of light, perhaps stars set againts the cloudy grey of a nebula, whilst as the time passes, so the arcs of Moons (or other planets) can at time be seen.

Those wishing to explore this land via other means than using their pedal extremities can do so using the teleport HUD already mentioned, or by using the little motorboat to putter around the waters, or partake of a flying bubble available from the rezzer hidden amongst the trees, or via a sedate ride in a hot air balloon. The latter two offer the means to hop up and over the cliffs separating the two sides of the region, thus offering an alternate means of exploring both.

With multiple places to sit and relax, and finished with a suitable soundscape, Cap Thunderbird offers a relaxed and romantic setting with multiple opportunities for photography and – of course- an engaging wedding venue. My thanks (as ever!) to Shawn Shakespeare for the landmark!

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Serena Riviera is rated Moderate

• Cap Thunderland main landing point
• Cap Thunderbird Park (mind the snappy squirrels!)