Category: Reviews

Enchanting Small Town is a homestead region design by Nataly Moonwall that opened earlier in the year, but which I’ve only recently managed to hop across to and see. For those seeking something of a urban setting for photography (albeit sans props, as there is no group available for rezzing rights), it could be a useful place to visit.

Step away from the stresses of life and chill in this realistic small town. A place to hang out & explore. Take great pictures. Beautiful, relaxing beach. Café, Playground, Jazz Club and more! Enjoy.

– Enchanting Small Town About Land description

Compact in size and easy to explore, the setting very much has a US West Coast vibe to it, set out as a waterfront location overlooking a sloping beach and backed by taller buildings and hills and suggest it could be part of a larger coastal setting.

The beach and the waterfront are the focal point, the latter comprising a main road that doubles as parking for the beach, being a dead end. Behind it sits a large, modern house that appears open to the public – although the sign on the main gates offers a stark warning to trespassers! The general design of the house, complete with infinity pool to the rear (which may have worked better facing the open sea), oozes wealth. But for me, it wasn’t the house – as excellently furnished as it is – that held my attention.

Bracketing it are two pedestrianised areas that caught my attention the most. One is fronted by what looks to be a recent development of boutique shops adjacent to a subway entrance and small newspaper kiosk. This area runs around to an older part of town with apartment houses and narrow streets that is fronted by a motel entrance.

The entire layout here suggests that at one time the waterfront road may have continued around to the motel, but the construction of the boutique shops prompted the broader pedestrianisation and the opening of the subway station entrance / exit.

The main entrance to the subway lies beyond the motel, where the West Coast feel starts to merge with a sense of the the other side of the United States: the signage for the station (and that over the smaller entrance / exit) would clearly be more at home in New York. While there may not be a station under the entrance, it points the way to the local jazz club, a cosy place that sits within a neighbourhood that again perhaps suggests New York than Santa Monica, further adding to the region’s mix of West Coast / East Coast vibe.

To the other side of the main house is a further pedestrian thoroughfare that leads to to a small recreational park. It is home to one of those small community supermarkets together with a bubble tea café for those needing some refreshment; it’s the kind of place someone might come to people watch, although it is currently more home to the local pigeons and doves.

Whilst most of the buildings in the region are façades, places like the café, the supermarket and jazz club, as well as the furnished house, add depth to the setting by providing places for people to go to and spend time within. Further depth is added by the inclusion of areas of the setting including props such as cars, etc., but which are not currently directly accessible, suggesting things could be moved around to present different areas to explore.

With the beach awaiting swimmers and sunbathers, a beach bar waiting to serve cocktails and opportunities for photography throughout, Enchanting Small Town makes for an easy, engaging visit.

SLurl Details

• Enchanting Small Town (NCD, rated Moderate)

We were drawn back to Lam Erin’s Cherishville on the advice of region super sleuth Shawn Shakespeare, who noted to me the region has relocated since our last visit in mid-2020, and has been redressed for the spring season.

The last time we visited, Cherishville has been given a look of tropical splendour that mixed a splash of the Caribbean with a twist of the Mediterranean, whilst also carrying a sense of timelessness. For the new setting, the region – now referred to as Cherishville II – has moved to a somewhat more temperate climate in terms of its setting. However, while sporting a new look, it retains that air of timelessness.

I say this because as you explore the region, elements pop-up that give cause to consider it to be in a certain period, but then others appear to suggest something else. For example, on arrival I felt I’d dropped into a coastal setting that is in the immediate post World War II era. A 1940s Citroen is parked at the roadside, whilst a worn-out 50’s style car is slowly being overtaken by grass and weeds. Similarly, a boat moored close by has that 40’s / 50’s styling about it, whilst across the water the ruins of a large house look as if they are the result of ordinance of some kind having struck it. But then, in looking around, other details surface that suggest the region is placed in a more recent period.

Take, for example, the ruined house; it sits on one arm of the local harbour’s cove, the east and west ends still standing, the middle long gone, the wreckage having been cleared so that the space created might be used as the outdoor forecourt to a café-bar. This sits slightly set back from the ruin as you look at it, and is of a distinctly modern architectural form – that of a giant coffee mug, complete with handle, its brickwork almost pristine – suggesting it belongs to more recent times then the post-war years. Similarly, the two motorbikes parked outside of the old walls to the property suggest they are far more recent than the 40s or 50s, particularly given the off-road looks of one of them.

These dichotomies extend to the overall design of the region, which tends to suggest it might lie somewhere along the Atlantic coast of France (allowing for the presence of the surrounding mountains, hardly a feature of the western coast of that country!), but which can also awaken thoughts of the more remote parts of the North American continent, or in my case (again allowing for the off-region mountains)  in places brought to mind thoughts of Cornwall or Ireland. Thus, a further layer of magic is added to the scene.

The bay mentioned above is home to both the landing point and a small hamlet that might have once seen fishing as a potential mainstay, although those times may well have passed. While there is a fishing boat present, it is out of the water and up on stocks; whether it is undergoing repairs or restoration is open to debate, but it’s ageing condition matches that of the buildings close by, suggesting that it and they no longer see regular working use.

The hamlet’s presence spreads beyond the curve of the region’s inlet, extending eastward from where the café bar sits on the northern coast. Here again, the buildings offer a sense of age as they huddle around the foot of a narrow hill to reach an old stone built farmhouse. The flank of the hill directly behind this farmhouse has neat rows of lavender marching up it, as if going to war against the remnants of an ancient fort the crowns the hill. With its circular walls standing without evidence of ever being part of a larger structure, this put me in mind of the promontory forts of Cornwall and Devon – although similar ruins may well be found elsewhere in Europe.

While the slope from farm house to fort can be climbed, the best way to reach the latter is via the road that points south from the harbour and the landing point before meandering its way around the landscape. This is ideal for exploration on foot or – if you have one – via a wearable horse.

Running under tree and beside more lavender neatly arrayed in a field, this is one of those roads that, while you know you are confined to a single region, has the feeling of genuinely going somewhere. As you follow it, the bay and the buildings around it are gradually and naturally obscured by the trees and the lie of the land, whilst what lies ahead is similarly gently revealed as you explore.

It’s possible that at one time the fort offered a commanding view over the bay and the surrounding landscape, but the passage of years have seen the slopes around it become the home of trees that now match and exceed it in height such that whatever command it once had has long since passed. Now it sits with stones worn by weather and moss, a memento of a bygone era and, perhaps, the setting for lover’s trysts.

Beautifully laid out and presented, this iteration of Cherishville ensures the region retains its reputation as a photogenic highlight of Second Life.

SLurl Details

• Cherishville II (London Village, rated Moderate)

Sitting within the GEL residential community that spans some 40-ish regions, GEL Park is billed as an all-mesh public amusement park that offers some 26 different rides for the enjoyment of all who visit. It grabbed my attention after appearing in the Recently Added section of the Destination Guide, so over the weekend, I suggested to Caitlyn we hop over and take a look.

Utilising the entire ground level area of a Full private region and extending into the air overhead, the park is laid out in the manner of many a physical world amusement park – as anyone who has been to the likes of Disneyland, Six Flags Alton Towers and so on will likely recognise. There’s the familiar “main street” style of entrance next to the landing point, complete with mini arcades and store spaces (some of which are available for rent), with the rest of the region divided into five areas: Space, Adventure, Imagine, Yesterland and Funland.  There’s even a cable car to help give the sense of arriving from a distant car park.

Most of these areas carry something of a theme to them. For example, Space has a distinctly futuristic look to it and features rides related to rockets, etc., that culminate in the region’s version of Space Mountain. Meanwhile, Yesterland takes a trip into the past with rides themed on ancient Egypt, Vikings and Atlantis. However, there is some degree of cross-over: Funland for example, includes Torgon’s Space Ride, whilst it is hard to miss the Stagate franchise references in a couple of Yesterland’s ancient Egypt themed rides.

While there is a lean towards rollercoasters, the park does offer a good mix of rides large and small, and anyone who enjoys amusement parks in the physical world will feel right at home among the dodgems/bumper cars, drop rides, pendulums and spinning rides,  and so on to be found here.

The rollercoasters themselves come in both of the common varieties: those with cars on the track and those with cars suspended from the track. Some have apparently been specially built for the park, others are commercially available and some have a touch of history to them. Torgon’s Space Ride, for example, first appeared at SL13B, and I can recall riding it there and am pleased to say it is as enjoyable now as it was then.

There are a number of different approaches taken in how the different rides operate. Several will start automatically, waiting a number of seconds before setting off; some require you manually start them either via chat or the use of a supplied HUD, and some are triggered through the use of a local experience.

The latter are generally the rides that are located on sky platforms above the region, the experience intended to move you relatively seamlessly between ground and ride and back again. You’ll be asked to join it the first time you pass into the ground-level entrance for one of these rides (indicated by an area of deep shadow you’ll need to walk through); thereafter the experience will freely move you back and forth as required without any prompting or clicking.

The best way to appreciate most of the rides is to switch to Mouselook view, as this gives a more realistic sense of actually being on the ride (screen allowing), although a couple can result in a certain motion-induced giddiness, so a little care might be needed. Some rides will automatically drop you into Mouselook when you sit on them, others may require you to toggle it yourself.

This being SL, some of the rides can have the odd case of the jitters or have one or two small oddities (one rollercoaster is so compact, part of it seem to slice through you as you ride it!) but none of these hiccups actually prevent enjoyment of any given experience. My only real niggle was that I found the Haunted House ride in Adventure to be just that little bit too long (but then, I also feel the same way about LL’s annual Haunted House ride that rolls out each October).

Should the rides all get a little much, the north-east corner of the region presents Imagine, a garden space to wander within. This is home to paths, sculptures and water features, with places to sit and just unwind for a bit. It is also home to the Imagine Theatre, which I assume is home to dance productions and events – there is a auto-subscription board to one side of the theatre stage for the Imagine Dance update group (touching the board again will allow you to unsubscribe).

Amusement parks are not new in Second Life (I’ve covered a number previously in these pages), and can be hit-and-miss events for visitors. However, GEL has a clean, open design that makes for an easy, fun visit, and aside for the minor hiccups mentioned above, all the rides worked for us.

SLurl Details

• GEL Park (GEL Community 38, rated General)