Category: Reviews

Pendle Hill – click any image for full size

Pendle Hill, the latest Homestead region design by Lauren Bentham, takes its name – as the introductory note card offered to visitors on arrival states – the hill of the same name located in east Lancashire, England.

England’s Pendle Hill is steeped in history. Standing just 557m (1,827 ft) above sea-level, it is somewhat isolated when compared to the Pennines as a whole. In the 17th century George Fox climbed it and had a vision that resulted in him founding the Religious Society of Friends – and to this day, the name “Pendle” has strong connotations for Quakers. The hill is also the site of a Bronze Age burial ground; while again in the 17th century (and perhaps most famously), it was the location for the  trials of the Pendle witches. Because of this event, it is still regarded as one of the “most haunted places in Britain” in some circles.

Pendle Hill

It is in reference to Pendle Hill’s notoriety as a haunted place that Lauren – who is also responsible for the another haunting region in the shape of Arranmore (which you can read about here) – has created Pendle Hill in Second Life. She’s actually done so quite cleverly as well, touching as it does her love of the north of England (as seen through her marvellous Netherwood – which you can also read about here, whilst also offering echoes of the physical world Pendle Hill.

As a ghostly / haunted region, Pendle Hill has opened in time for Halloween, but isn’t intended to be purely for the Halloween season; like Arranmore, it will hopefully remain available the year round for people to visit and enjoy. And I have to say that like Arranmore, it is exquisitely atmospheric in its haunted presentation and feel – do make sure you have local sounds enabled when visiting.

Pendle Hill

The echoes of the physical Pendle Hill can be seen in the way the region is surrounded on three sides by high peaks while remaining apart from them – just as Pendle Hill stands apart from the Pennines. Within the region, black figures hover among the wizened, weathered trees, a possible allusion to the spirits of the Pendle Hill  witches of Pendle Hill, while to the north-west of the region a stone henge can be found, possibly echoing the bronze age history of the hill.

But this is not a place designed to emulate its namesake; nor is it intended to stand in a single moment of time. It has its own unique character, one that spans centuries, from the ancient stones of the henge, through to the wreck of the man-o’-war lying in the shallows off the coast, then forward to more recent times, as evidenced by the sunken and abandoned trawler sitting on the water close by and the tower of a lighthouse with its single, almost baleful eye surveying by turns land and sea. On the land is further evidence of this mixing of times as bent  Victorian gaslights looking like crooked old men are accompanied by the poles of electrical power lines.

Pendle Hill

There are several routes from the landing point, offering by turns routes to the ancient henge, the lighthouse, an apothecary / magic shop and a hunted house. There is the inevitable cemetery, while skulls hang from branches of trees or even make up their trunks, malevolent green eyes that glow through the mists and darkness staring outwards in menace whilst also drawing visitors to travel beyond the haunted house and the lighthouse and out to a headland. Nor are these green eyes the only ones watching: owls and vultures are in the air or perched where they can, the latter looking as if they might be hoping one or two visitors receive a shock severe enough to keel over … and provide a meal.

As with all of Lauren’s builds there is wonderful attention to detail throughout. Catch the monkey from Stephen King’s The Monkey for example. Other hints / reminders of horror flicks can be found as well; even Hogwarts (which can be a spooky place after all) gets some visual references.

Pendle Hill

Lauren’s region designs always make for an engaging visit, and Pendle Hill is no exception – although I strongly recommend that for best results you have Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled in your viewer (Preferences > Graphics > enable ALM), particularly if you’re going to use the supplied torch, as it uses projected light. If you can also manage the region with shadows enabled, so much the better – but this is not an essential requirement for enjoyment of the region.

Photographers can join to local group for a single payment of L$175 and gain rezzing rights to rez props (do please remove them after use!), and a Flickr group is available to those wishing to share their pictures with other visitors to the region. Should you appreciate Pendle Hill, please consider making a donation at the landing point towards its continued presence in Second Life.

Pendle Hill

SLurl Details

• Pendle Hill (Sweet illusion, rated: Moderate)

Malaika Park – click any image for full size

Malaika Park is, according to region holder Leroy Voorhees, “A happy place, and home to a very few people . The ground area and the mystical waters underneath are for exploring, photos and fun.” He goes on to note that changes may occur at time in décor, but visitors are invited to embrace and enjoy the setting.

I can vouch for the fact things change at Malaika Park; we’ve visited this full region numerous times over the past few months – although it has actually been around since 2014 – and each time there have been changes both large and small in the current design: a building moved from one side of the bay to the other here, the addition of a piece of art there, the arrival of a car… and so on. All if which have piqued curiosity and encouraged return trips.

Malaika Park

There is a certain eccentric look and feel to the region, marking it as a delightful curio among Second Life regions. Oriented north-to-south, it presents a island with a somewhat Mediterranean feel to it due in part due to some the architecture used, but which also feels a little as if it has been lifted from a storybook with its tall, slender houses rising like multi-hued bristles from the back of a hedgehog as they climb the island’s rocky hump.

The southern end of the region forms a small bay marked by an outstretched rocky promontory on one side and the long arm of wooden decks on the other as they stretch forth from the rocky coast, offering mooring for boats and yachts. A café and an open-air bar face one another across the inner face of the bay, where stone stairs step their way down to the water’s edge – and then under it, as if daring visitors to follow them below – although it wasn’t an invitation to be accepted at the time of our visits; the steps only led to the sensation of getting wet 🙂 .

Malaika Park

Instead, it is better to climb the hump of the island, either by taking the steps up the the terraced café and its rooftop pool or, for a longer walk, up the broad road leading uphill between the talk ranks of the island’s houses and they stand to attention behind what might be a gentleman’s club close to the waterfront.

None of the brightly coloured town houses are actually furnished, but this doesn’t mean there is nothing to appreciate within the town. Follow the road to the top of the hill, and an ageing, pavilion-like house awaits, the path down to a beach off to one side while just behind it, the north side of the island falls away to the sea. This isn’t, however, the highest point on the island.

Malaika Park

This is reserved for a high table of rock rising to the north-west of the island, the location for a studio and workplace set out by Gabriel2009, who along with Leroy, Sangi Phaeton, JJ Goodman, and WayneNZ (responsible for the former Toru homestead region – see here and here for more, and a curator of the former Holtwaye ArtSpace gallery), form the team responsible for the look of the region.

Below this, between it and the café by the bay are a couple of Mediterranean style buildings. One offers itself as a spa with swimming pool and the other a place of table-top and other games, a playable chess set sits on the cobble path outside the walled courtyard setting. Art can also be found at various points across the island, in the studio building up on the north-western plateau, and via sculptures by Mistero Hifeng and Lucas Lameth which sit both on land and in the water.

Malaika Park

And talking of water whilst also returning to our starting point: those who fancy a little on-the-water fun might try the bumper boats available from the deck on the west side of the island’s bay.

Malaika Park makes for a slightly different visit for those who enjoy exploring Second Life; there is no central theme, but enough hints in building styles to give it a certain air of familiarity. The setting is photogenic, and can make an ideal backdrop for photography (join the local group to obtain rezzing rights for props, but do please clean-up behind you.

Malaika Park

Stop Press

Malaika Park will be hosting a special Halloween setting, opening on Wednesday, October 10th, 2018 in the sky over the region.

It will be an adventure style thing, an explore and enjoy, thing, all of that plus a hunt with some fun toys and Halloween goodies!

Malaika Park co-designer Sangi Phaeton

So, if you fancy a few Halloween scares as well as a visit to a delightfully quirky and eye-watching region, make a note to visit Malaika Park this October!

Malaika Park

SLurl Details

• Maliaka Park (Malaika Park, rated: Moderate)

SilentRane – click any image for full size

Update: SilentRane has closed, and the region is now privately held. SLurls have therefore been removed from this article.

A bell chimes forlornly against the susurration of tide over shingles and the steady beat-like passage of the wind. More distantly, an owl can be heard hooting softly, as if worried by the darkening skies, while the squeal of rodents perhaps put the teeth on edge. On the high wooden deck, its planks aged, weathered and broken, oil can bonfires add their own basso voices to the air, while a conspiracy of ravens circles ominously overhead, perhaps eyeing the wreckage around the deck and its steps suspiciously.

Such is the greeting for visitors to SilentRane, the atmospheric Homestead region designed by region holder Quinn Holsworthy (Zoey Drammond) and Bailey Button Rowman (Bailey Delwood) and presented as an “apocalyptic” setting. It’s not clear what may have happened but there is absolutely no denying the “creepy” and “Halloween” epithets appended to the region’s description are deserved, and the general state of the place does suggest some kind of event has overcome it.

SilentRane

From the landing point, a raised wooden deck extends a finger out over the water and forms the bar of a shallow “T”, thanks to a short length of deck reaching for the land. Waves break against rocks and the tide clashes with itself as it rolls both towards and away from the coast.

Stepping down onto the railed board walk reveals the landing point and its derelict junk – which includes the wreck of an aeroplane lying in the water – is in fact located on a small off-shore knuckles of rock, a place suggestive of having once been a venue for entertainment.

SilentRane

Once on land, the path offers a choice of routes: along a ravaged, broken path where a fire burns between a tall cement wall and a tired fence, or under a rocky arch and up into the wilds beyond, where the hooting of the owl is even louder and the sound of chimes can be caught in the wind.

The lower path leads by way of a tall copse of pine trees to and fishing wharf, suggesting this may once have been a thriving place of commerce. A large warehouse sits on the shore while fishing boats are moored at the wooden piers. However, given the ruined state of the building, and the carcasses of shark and swordfish rotting as they are suspended from lines or lie strewn on decks, it’s not unreasonable to assume this is a place perhaps now all but deserted.

SilentRane

A little further around the coast, beyond more trees and a forlorn children’s playground sits a trailer park with suggestions of occupancy. A light burns, vehicles sit parked close to trailers and a flag flies from a pole. Closer inspection, however, reveals it as a place also long-deserted, the vehicles battered and bruised and nature starting to claim occupancy of the trailers and ground.

Above this, reached via the passage under the rocky arch and a walk up a winding path, sits an old fun fair and circus. These further suggest this place may have been a vacation spot, filled with the sounds of music and happiness, patrons perhaps staying in the trailers below. But those days are long gone; the big top is faded, its canvas mottled with mould;  the lights and paths of the fun fair are broken, the rides now rusting, decaying shells. What was once a place of laughter and joy now little more than a carcass itself; one edged with a little menace, given the patrons who do remain – and who tend to suggest whatever did occur here may not have been an entirely natural event…

SilentRane

Set beneath an ideal windlight with the off-sim shadows of mountains suggesting this could be a place sitting on a lake in the wilds, SilentRane is hauntingly ethereal and wonderfully photogenic. A Flickr group is available to those who wish to share images of their time visiting, and should you enjoy yours, please consider a donation at the landing point so that others may also continue to enjoy SilentRane.