Category: Reviews

Imagine romantic botanical gardens where you can have fun too. Visit our butterfly house and watch them flutter around you. Wander through the maze, hop on rides, or find a spot to dance, cuddle and kiss. Where romance lingers and memories are made.

So reads the description for Joyful Gardens, a simply delightful region design by Hedy Heartsong, and which is home to more than might first appear to be the case when visiting.

Leveraging the Land Capacity bonus available to Full private regions, the setting’s charm commences with the general design of its three islands. This is hardly obvious from ground level, but can be seen on the map available on the reverse wall of the landing point’s notice board or indeed, by looking at the World map, although to really appreciate Hedy’s sculpting of the land, I recommend camming overhead and looking down.  Doing so will reveal that each island has been shaped in a manner which, when taken together, summarise the inherent theme of the setting: that of nature.

This is a place where it is exceptionally easy to get around on foot, each of the islands offering its own charms and attractions. The main island and the smaller island to the south-east are connected via a zip line and a small bridge. However, to reach the second of the smaller islands, sitting up off the north-west coast of the main island, you’ll need to either fly, make use of a rezzable skiff from the small jetty alongside the main island’s lighthouse or use the bubble rezzer available at the landing point for a more sedate ride to reach it. If none of these options appeal, then the island has a network of teleporters to help guide visitors from point-to-point around the setting: just look for the tree stumps with the topiary rabbits jumping over them.

Located on the south side of the main island, the landing point is roughly equidistant from both the lighthouse and the bridge crossing the narrows to the south-east islet. It faces a walk along a narrow neck of grassy land which quickly flairs out into the main island proper. Which of the three routes you opt to take is entirely up to you; as noted, the lighthouse sits above a small jetty where a skiff can be rezzed so you can pootle around the islands on the water, whilst the south-eastern islet is the location of a cosy little house / cabin and can – again as noted above, be reached by way of a bridge.

The fact that the latter is set apart from the rest of the setting initially suggests it is a private residence; however, signs on the picket fence before it bid visitors welcome, an invitation to explore it and the grounds around it. Both  he house and its accompanying outbuilding have the look of having once been put to more work-a-day uses, possibly as barns, but have now been converted into a cosy little residence and bath house respectively. They sit within a wildling garden where the grass has been allowed to freely grow, and fruit and vegetables are being cultivated in planters watched over by ripening corn on the cob.

Steps and a deck extend down from the island’s flank and out over the waters of the cove separating it from the main island, the deck presenting both a place to sit and a chance to rez a skiff and continue onwards by water. Just above and behind this is the termination point from the zip line which can also be used to reach the house from the central uplands of the main island. Obviously, you can also travel onwards from the house via the teleport network – but if you opt to take the skiff, don’t simply motor off and around the islands – it it to the middle of the bay and have a look at what lies beneath. the waves.

Away to the north-west Bird Island (as I’m going to call it) is home to a chapel, the waters between it and the main island guarded by a pair of sharks. Fortunately, it also has a jetty and skiff rezzer (I didn’t see a teleporting tree stump there), so you can avoid being looked upon as a moving snack by said sharks as you swim back across the channel separating the two islands.

The main island in the trio is home to a number of points of interest spread across its gently rising form, including ruins up on the central uplands – which have their own weather as well as the starting point for the zip line mentioned earlier;  a maze (one of two awaiting exploration, although you will need to avail yourself of the teleporter system to reach the second (and larger) of them) and an outdoor space that seems to combine an events / celebration / reception space (the chapel is set for weddings) with a small formal terrace / seating area / pond and a brace of carnival rides and a pair of hippity-hop amusement rides.

Meanwhile, sitting under the ruins is an old mining tunnel which can be explored from one end as it dives under the hilltop, whilst the north side of the island is home to the Joyful Jardin Vert, and its exposition bontanique. Here, laid out in a small and tidy formal garden space can be found a profusion of geraniums, gerbera and nemophila flowering amidst privet brushes and shrubs, the flower beds neatly divided by paves walks offering access to a central fountain and seating area.

Shielding all this on three sides are tall glass-and-stone greenhouses, one of which is now a butterfly house, the second a teaching room for those wishing to enhance their green-fingered skills, and the third a place in which to relax and enjoy a dance or a nibble of cake and freshly brewed tea (although the bubbly admittedly attracted me more – tea and I have a near life-long agreement that we will largely ignore once another!).

Throughout the entire setting are numerous places to sit and relax, opportunities to photograph the local flora and fauna and to generally appreciated Hedy’s landscaping talents. In keeping with this, do be sure to follow the trail between the trees on the west side of the Jardin Vert in order to fins more eye-catching and secluded little spots. And do make sure to travel with local sounds on to get more of an immersive feel for the setting. Photography is encouraged throughout, and should you need to rez props for your work, contact Hedy and she’ll do her best to assist you.

Genteel, relaxing and eye-catching under almost any EEP daytime setting (I’ve using the Shared environment in my images here), Joyful Gardens is a region that more than meets the promise of its name.

SLurl Details

• Joyful Gardens (Joyful, rated Moderate)

While writing about Splash the Gouache, the May / June 2024 exhibition by Onceagain (Manoji Yachvili) at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (see: Splash the Gouache at Nitroglobus in Second Life), I realised it had been a while since I last visited Onceagain’s gallery. At the same time I learned that she holds her region open to public visits, and so I made a mental note to hop over and pay another visit as soon as time allowed.

That time turned out to be sooner rather than later after Onceagain contacted me to act if I would pop over and photograph the region in its current form, ahead of her closing the region for a summer make-over.

The invite was offered without any request for me to blog the region- Onceagain was extremely generous in her comments about my efforts in photographing Second Life regions – but having spent time wandering through the landscape, I felt it more than worth the time to write about, and I believe that Onceagain is going to hold-off closing the region for its makeover for a few more days so that people can see it as I’ve written about it here.

The first thing to note about the setting is that it is a place that freely mixes art – Onceagain’s work as well as pieces by other artists and photographers active in Second Life – with landscaping; as such those familiar with exploring countryside and similar settings in-world should not expect the region of have a central theme or styling; rather, it should be enjoyed for its own innate beauty and for the art within it.

The landing point is located on the south side of the region, within a warehouse-like building which presents the first confirmations of the artistic lean, within images and pieces by a number of SL artists. Also to be found here is the teleport up to the main gallery space. The latter is going through a state of flux at the moment as Onceagain makes changes; nevertheless the range of art on display is more than worth the time taken to visit.

Outside of the landing point the landscape sits under the custom EPP setting, which I would suggest is the best way to view everything (World → Environment → Use Shared Environment), although admittedly, I’ve blended skies in the images used here.

Where you wander once you do set out is simply a matter of letting your feet take you towards whatever catches your eye; scattered across the landscape are several more buildings which are home to displays of art, whilst 3D pieces can be found outdoors as well as indoors.

The art offered throughout is captivatingly broad, but I will confess to being particularly drawn to a collection of Onceagain’s own work located within a raised building on the east side of the region. Here she has used her art to illustrate a series of poems (touch each picture for a copy of the poem it represents). Alongside of this (figuratively speaking, as the two are in different buildings) is another selection of pieces by Onceagain which frame quotes on art by artists.

All of the buildings across the region are open to the public, with the possible exception of the house located in the north-west corner. Whilst not formally marked as private, it is a visual ode to the kind of home Onceagain would love to have in the physical world; a place set behind hedgerows and at the end of a well-set Zen garden.

Sitting within its own parcel, the house combines a place to live with a home studio any artist would probably love to call home. As it is separated from the rest of the setting by hedgerows and gates, I would advise staying outside and gently camming around if you want to take a peep, rather than potentially intruding. That said, the Zen garden is available to spend time in, and makes for a restful space in which to spend some time.

One of the reasons I found the region so inviting on a personal level lay not only in the flow of the landscape and the blending of nature and art, but also in the fact that Onceagain and I share a similar taste in design aesthetics and Second Life creators. We both have a fondness for the work of Alex Bader, Sasaya Kayo, Kriss Lehmann and Krystali Rabini and for the architecture of Marcthur Goosson – all of whom are represented within my main island home. Thus, in walking through the setting, I felt a certain kinship, although her region and my island are vastly different in terms of look and feel.

Calm, inviting and with a superb selection of art, Onceagain’s gallery and region is well worth a visit by anyone appreciative of art, photography or simply visiting a creative, well-designed region in Second Life.

SLurl Details

• ONCEAGAIN Art Gallery (Fading Shadows, rated Moderate)