Category: Reviews

Update, December 29th: Lambie has closed!

Lambie is a new Homestead region design by marinestella that offers something of an escape from the deep snows of winter, with a minimalism that – at the time of our visit – was still so new it was still being worked on, so details may have changed a little between what you see on a visit and what is noted here.

The simple aesthetic of the design in some ways offers a distant echo of one of SL’s popular and missed regions: Roche, in its original form (see this article from 2012 and this one from 2015); although this echo is purely coincidental, rather than anything deliberate.

This echo comes from the lay of the land: the large central lake surrounded by a path running around it bordered here and there by buildings. However, It is only in this similarity of the design that the echo of Roche can be found; for the rest, Lambie is its own design.

Sitting between the path, with its smattering of snow, and the lake is a ring of denuded trees, their lack of leaves and the colour of the water pointing to this being something of cold place, if not one caught in the depths of winter. The trees are broken in four places by broad gaps that sit almost like the cardinal points of a compass to allow unhampered access to the waters of the lake.

The buildings around the ring of the island comprise a little farm hut, an open-sided barn and outhouse and a bus stop shelter. To the east of the island is a small, time-worn beach, little more than a ribbon, the fence-like line of concrete flood barriers separating it from the rest of the landscape (other than for a single gap), while just offshore stand the remains of overhead power cable pylons. These are mirrored on the west side of the region by more broken pylons, the positioning of each set suggesting the land once extended much further outwards than is now the case.

The overall setting is both suggestive of cold air and passing gusts of light snow, and also of warm times and sunlit opportunities for photography. It’s the kind of place that encourages people to cuddle up to share one another’s warmth – or perhaps share a warming drink of hot chocolate or similar.

There’s also a feeling of age to the setting: the building look careworn, the grass and trees have a sense of being long used to the changing seasons, while the lake offers its own detritus to match the broken outlying pylons: a Ferris wheel car long separated from its wheel, an old pier with a broken section that lies canted and partially sunk a few meters away.

Lambie does suffer from some issues in its design: the track around the island doesn’t feel like a natural part of the landscape and has physics disabled, causing visitors to sink into it for example. However, finished with a subtle sound scape and with a smattering of sea birds wheeling in the sky, this is a region that is easy on the viewer as well as on the eye. For those in the mood, a pedal boat rezzer is available on the west side of the island for trips around it.

SLurl Details

• Lambie (Miranda, rated Moderate)

The Rusty Nail is a new Homestead region designed by BadboyHi offering a mix of photogenic setting open to the public and four rental opportunities for those seeking a Second Life home. We were pointed to it by Shawn Shakespeare, and were also welcomed by BayboyHi (aka Busta), who has been keeping himself busy with a number of designs of late.

For The Rusty Nail, he presents a rugged, hilly island that has a sense of being somewhere in the tropics, although the fauna clearly indicates it is very temperate in climate. The coastal areas to the south-west and along the western side of the region offer shale and muddy flats deeply cut by inlets that are crossed by low wooden bridges and board walks and are home to a smattering of trees and bushes.

The landing point is tucked into the south-western corner of these lowlands, where a shack sits on a raised platform over a mud flat, the shale before it presenting space for music and dancing. A path runs eastwards from here, spanning one of the inlets via two of the aforementioned board walks and bridges, a careworn path on the far side of the bridge running up a shallow channel that appears to have at one time been cut into the rocks there by water action. The path ends at the gate of one of the rental properties – so please avoid trespassing further if the house appears to have been rented.

The rentals should be mentioned here as they have clearly been selected with care to match the environment. All four sit on decently-sized parcels and are all unique to one another in style. They are separated such that it’s possible for any occupants to feel as if they are the only ones living on the island. Three of the houses are perched just above the south, east and north coastlines of the island, presenting seaward views, with two having direct private access to the water.  The third sits up and back from the water, with a short finger of public waterfront between it and the sea –  although given the lay of the coast to the west of it, it is unlikely explorers wandering to it will be a problem.

The fourth house sits more inland compared to the others, occupying the shoulder of an east side island that affords it good views over the open sea to the south and east, and which is particularly notable for being located above the island’s river valley. The latter is home to a café bar sitting on a deck overlooking the clear waters of a quite broad stream that bubbles up from a pair of springs nestled at the foot of the hills closing off the inland side of the cove, before flowing out to meet the sea.

Presenting a slightly oriental look, the café is open to visitors and residents of the island and offers a convivial meeting point. A ladder that dips into the waters from the side of the deck suggests swimming in the stream is allowed – a low-slung bridge at the stream’s mouth ensures it is not open to water vehicles – although the water looks a little too cold for casual dipping. Board walks on either side of the cove provide access to two of the rental properties, so again, do be aware of the risk of trespass if exploring beyond the café and its deck.

Those venturing to the north-east corner of the island will find another public space. This is home to a copper brazier in which a warm fire is blazing, a semi-circle of trunks converted into seating and a hot chocolate bar enclosing it in the arms of a cosy semi-circle. A deck steps out over another mud flat close by, the height of its legs suggesting the mud beneath it may well be flooded by incoming tides.

For photographers, The Rusty Nail offers a lot to occupy the eye and camera, while those seeking a home may find the size of the properties here (which all appear to be pre-furnished) attractive – rental information and LI allowances can be obtained from the rental boards located in each parcel.

SLurl Details

• The Rusty Nail (Fullmoon, rated Moderate)

Open for a short period over the holidays is Serene Footman’s latest creation, and for this setting he has turned his eye to the central highlands of Scotland, in the Lochaber region, home of the Grampian mountains and the Mamores ridge. In particular, Serene takes his inspiration from an area close to Stob Bàn Munro that includes the Lairig Leacach bothy.

For those unfamiliar with the term, “bothy” refers to a basic form of accommodation or shelter. In the former guise, it provided accommodation for gardeners  / workers on an estate (such as the one in the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle). In the latter guise – and how it is used within Serene’s Lairig Leacach – a bothy offers free shelter for anyone wishing or needing to use it in remote mountainous areas across Northern Ireland, Wales, Northern England and Scotland, where they are particularly common and number in the hundreds to offer shelter for those hiking or climbing in the highlands and / or temporary places from which freshwater fishermen cast fish for salmon, etc.

The mountain bothy is analogous to similar shelters across the mountainous regions of Europe, such as the Alps. But it is somewhat different to at least some of its European brethren, as Serene notes:

Unlike the ‘refuge’ or ‘refugio’ that is typical of the Alps, bothies are unstaffed, contain no supplies or proper bedding. A bothy is usually just a simple hut – often a converted farm building. It is maintained only through the care and diligence of those who use them, and the goodwill of a network of volunteers making up the Mountain Bothies Association.  

– Serene Footman, writing about Lairig Leacach

As such, the MBA describes the use of a bothy as “camping without a tent”, as you’ll need everything associated with camping sans a tent in order to stay in a bothy

In particular, the Lairig Leacach Bothy is regarded as one of the primary examples of the Scottish Mountain Bothy. It sits on the the old drovers road linking the Great Glen with the south, and is a popular stopping point for hikers climbing the hills of the Grey Corries range, and cyclists travelling through the pass. Oft-photographed, it has been maintained (and refurbished) by the MBA since 1977, and can also see use during the stag hunting season (late October through mid-February), when the public are advised to contact the local estate prior to wandering at large around the Grey Corries.

The bothy is the centrepiece for Serene’s build, caught as it is in the depth of a snow-heavy winter. Made specifically for the region by artist and mesh designer Impossibleisnotfrench (aka Harry Cover), and the detail afforded it is superb. The structure of the bothy is a faithful reproduction, and like the original, backs its way into the slope behind it. Inside, the sparse nature of the accommodation is also reproduced (those staying in the bothy during the colder months are advised to carry coal for stove!), and Serene has included some excellent touches to his – the MBA sign on the door, and further information sheets from the MBA framed on the walls inside.

As with the original, the bothy sits close to a bubbling burn (stream), but here the landscape – due to the constraints imposed by region size – diverge from the actual Lairig Leacach area around the bothy. While there are woodlands Lochaber, they are not as close to the bothy as seen within the build. The placement of the trees is interesting.

On the one hand, when compared to the open, rolling glen in which the actual bothy sits, they might appear to be something of an incursion, and interrupt the landscape when compared with photos such as the one by Chris Bowness shown earlier in this article. On the other, however, Serene’s build is inspired by the bothy and its surroundings, not a one-to-one reproduction; therefore the trees help to offer an alternative setting that in no way spoils the finished region. Indeed, given the noted constraints imposed by region size, the trees help break up what might otherwise be a limited sense of depth between the bothy and the off-sim peak that represents the 999m high summit of Stob Bàn Munro.

The fact that this is a setting inspired by Lairig Leacach rather than a reproduction also leaves room for some of Serene’s little touches, such has his signature placement of chairs in his builds. There’s also the large frozen pond of the landing point that perhaps reflects Serene’s reference to the region as a “vacation” region as it seem to invite visitors to perhaps try a little ice skating (but bring your own skates!).

Overall, however, Lairig Leacach once again demonstrates Serene’s mastery of the art of representing physical world locations within Second Life. The region is captivating in design and in detail – and makes for a worthwhile visit given it winter appearance.

SLurl Details

• Lairig Leacach (Tor of Ironhall, Moderate)