Tag: BellaSwan Blackheart

I was off to Bella’s Lullaby (now at a new in-world location) once again to see how Bella (BellaSwan Blackheart) has dressed her Homestead region for the 2022 summer months.

Bella’s Lullaby is a place were nature breathes. Wander among flowers and animals and find your inner peace. Also there are plenty photogenic spots, perfect for those who love to have lots of nature and colours in their pictures.

– Bella’s Lullaby About Land description

As with previous builds, the August 2022 iteration of the region presents a relaxed, rural visit which is tranquil in both tone and look, surrounded by offshore island and under a rich blue sky. From the landing point sitting within a stone-built gazebo on the southern edge of the region, the landscape stretches northwards as a flat island with a largely shingle coastline and two smaller, and likely tidal, islands abutting it, one the the home of a windmill and the other the local lighthouse.

The general tone of the island is suggestive of a vacation retreat that is now well beyond its heyday, the handful of buildings and small structures scattered across the island looking as though they could could do with some TLC – with one exception: a recently-sold prefab home overlooking the setting’s large pond.

This is such an easy setting to explore, from the waterside café just a short walk from the landing point to the northern extremes of the island that describing it is to spoil the experience of wandering and seeing for yourself the level of detail Bella has (again) brought to her work. From the local birds and wildlife through the the flowers, cabins and caravans to the central run-down trailer home, this is a place awash with little touches that make ideal for the keen-eyed explorer and a haven for the Second Life photographer.

Nor is that all. Scattered through the setting – close to the buildings, out long the trails, on the shingles of the coastline and even over the waters, are multiple places to set and relax, either on your own or with someone close to you. the local soundscape adding to the sense of peace and restfulness.

This being the case, I’m not gone to drone on any further here. Instead, I’ll leave you with a couple of further images and encourage you to hop along and take a look for yourself.

With thanks to MorganaCarter and Shawn Shakespeare for the pointers. 

SLurl Details

• Bella’s Lullaby (Chihauhua, rated Moderate)

BellaSwan Blackheart is the creative mind behind Bella’s Lullaby, a place I’ve frequently visited and written about down the years; so when Tara (TaraLiaMe) forwarded to me the Landmark of another of Bella’s creations in May, I knew I had to take a look – although admittedly, it’s taken me a while to get to see it and to write about it.

Occupying a 4096 sq m parcel on a Full region, Bella’s Nocturne is a sky build, offering a setting which presents a corner of what might be a little town somewhere in Europe (going on the general aesthetic of the buildings, at least). The Landing Point sits within an enclosed square, what is clearly a communal space in which can be found a fountain, places to sit and enjoy ice cream and appreciate music.

It is the piano within this square that perhaps offers the best clue to a definition for the setting.

nocturne
nŏk′tûrn″

An instrumental composition of a pensive, dreamy mood, especially one for the piano.

For this is indeed a dreamy setting; a place caught under the cloud-reflected light of a lowering Sun (thus removing it somewhat from the other definitions for nocturne), giving it a n air of calm.

A narrow alley points away from the square to lead to a broader road sitting at right angles to the alley, but equally caught between tall shops and houses. Walking from alley to street, it is not hard to imagine the melodies of the piano flowing gracefully off the walls of the buildings and over the lengthening shadows, spreading a sense of peace along alley and street, giving cause for cats to snooze on benches and birds to join in with the music as they sing to the closing of the day.

That the buildings are façades makes no difference here; it is the little details along the the street, down the alley and around the square that are important; they offer a sense of place and – more importantly – plenty of opportunities for the photographer. To assist in the latter, the parcel has open rezzing for visitor to allow for props; but (and as I generally remind people) please be sure to pick up you items when you are done!

At the far end of the street stands a DJ’s twin deck, suggesting a street party might be in the offing, while tucked into a corner of the square sits a little gate, the sign fixed to it giving away the secret that lies beyond: a quiet retreat of a wild garden, a place where bees are encouraged amongst the richness of flowers, and a shaded couch awaits those seeking retreat.

Small without feeling crowded; rich in detail without feeling overloaded and designed to be enjoyed with draw distance dropped down, Bella Nocturne is a cosy, comfortable visit.

SLurl Details

• Bella’s Nocturne (Starry Isles, rated Moderate)

It was back to Bella’s Lullaby for me recently, after Shawn Shakespeare let me know the setting has a springtime rebuild by holder Bella (BellaSwan Blackheart) – and given its been around 6 months since my last visit and the fact that it has since moved to a new region – it was actually about time I dropped by again!

Bella’s Lullaby has always offered something of an easy, tranquil visit for those dropping in, and this remains the case with the current design. Set beneath a spring sky in which the Sun’s light is enough to wash the off-region islands in a bright haze, yet overcast enough to suggest spring showers might be on the way, the region again offers a pleasing mix of land and water – in this case, two long islands split by an off-centre channel running north-to-south between them, and plenty of open spaces, together with a sprinkling of buildings and structures across both islands.

With the channel splitting the islands guarded at each end by a tall windmill sitting on its own small island and a squat lighthouse rising from the waters on four sturdy legs respectively, the two large isles are connected by a single low bridge that effectively presents passage along the entire channel by the little boats dotted along its length. Not, given the rocky, shoal-like nature of parts of the channel, that this would necessarily be possible even were it sans a bridge.

The landing point sits within the courtyard of a small café sitting upon the larger island. This is actually one of three brick-built structures on this island; to the south stand a pair of linked shops which some visitors may recognise as also having made an appearance in the previous iteration of Bella’s Lullaby, and which now rise shoulder-to-shoulder from a paved square. Between these shops and café lies the remaining brickwork, a long, tall wall that divides the land between them even whilst it starts and finishes without apparent purpose, a single door set within it.

A low, capped stone wall runs parallel to the waterway to also help connect shop to café, whilst something of an overgrown garden sitting between the latter and the brick wall also acts to draw café, wall and shops together to complete a vignette awaiting exploration. Surrounding the shops is a degree of urban detritus – a telephone box, vehicles, an aging bus stop and tram sans tracks – that help to give them a further unique sense of presence in this place.

However, these are not the only buildings to be found within the setting. Sitting over the waters of the channel is a wood-built artist’s studio, whilst on the other island sit a wooden barn and a small brick-built cottage with but a single room offering a cosy observation point – although the sign hanging above the door seems to suggest it was going to be something else. Barn and cottage sit at opposite end of their island, a scattering of birch trees and the hints of a once-cobbled path connecting them.

Throughout the entire sitting there is much attention to detail – such as a robin helping himself to a meal outside the café, the carving of a heron watching the narrow waterway, the cats lazing in the Sun, and so on. There are also multiple places to sit to be found across the landscape, indoors, and out on the water and within some of the vehicles, whilst photographers will doubtless find much to capture and frame as well.

Bella’s region designs never fail to offer something fresh and uplifting to see and appreciate, and this latest iteration of Bella’s Lullaby is no exception. The open landscape that runs over the two main islands gives one a sense of space and peace, the trees and shrubs also presenting a sense of privacy in the way they break-up the low-lying lands, whilst the generally overgrown / unkempt nature of the spaces around the buildings hints at a sense of age / the passing of time.

This is very much a setting where one can gain a sense of being able to breathe and leave worries and concerns behind, whether one opts to sit quietly or explore and spend time spotting the local birds and the other fowl that make up the majority of the inhabitants.

SLurl Details

• Bella’s Lullaby (Appletor, rated Moderate)

Note: Bella’s Lullaby has relocated, and the SLurlgiven her has been updated. Please also see Spring at Bella’s Lullaby in Second Life.

I returned to Bella’s Lullaby in September after hearing from Shawn Shakespeare that region owner Bella (BellaSwan Blackheart) has given her Homestead region a make-over. I was pleased to find that in redesigning the setting, Bella has retained much that made the region so appealing at the time of my first visit in June 2021 (see The Calm of Bellla’s Lullaby in Second Life), most noticeably the feeling of openness and sense of space, which in this iteration is undoubtedly aided by the split between land and water within the region, the latter splitting the former into three islands.

This openness allows for the largest of the three islands to be the home of a small waterfront business district that doesn’t crowd out the region in any way. It sits on a brick-built promontory that extends out over the water to provide a view to the west out over one of the smaller islands as well as being the home of the region’s landing point. All but one of the premises in this little precinct have been outfitted, giving them an added sense of presence, the one that has been left empty (the result of LI limits being reached?) doesn’t look out-of-place, thanks to the clever placement of a For Sale by Owner sign stuck in a window.

Behind the main parade of shops to the east, and at the end of the little cobbled roadway that leads around them, stand a pair of metal gates those familiar with the previous iteration of Bella’s Lullaby might recognise (one of several items carried forward to this iteration, allowing a visual sense of continuity between the two). These gates provide access to a stony path that rises to a grassy, tree-shaded trail that runs southward behind the main buildings, a friendly This Way sign marking the way, the northern end of the path being marked by an artist’s studio, guarded by a group of vociferous chickens.

A couple of places it sit can be found along the trail, whilst its southern end turns westward once more, providing access to a small cabin overlooking the southern waters, and a long headland. Here, the trees give way to a narrow meadow of wild flowers that offers more places to sit and relax, including a swing close to the water’s edge. Two small children’s windmills turn lazy sails in the breeze, while a little sail boat fashioned out of a piece of broken wood maintains remarkable calm in the face of the breakers close by.

Watched over by the tall white finger of a lighthouse and with the ghostly sounds of a piano playing, the headland is a restful place in which to spend time, A small deck extends out into the channel here, and the little motorboat sitting alongside it gave me cause to wonder if it could be used to reach the remaining two islands in the group – but no, it instead offers a further place to sit. Instead, the way to the other two islands appears to be a matter of wading / flying (as a landing point is set, an attempt to double-click TP will return you to it).

The central island offers low rise of grass topped by another reminder of the region’s past iteration: a trailer-built refuge that now sits alongside a small and quite spartan hut, the two perhaps set aside for a touch of fishing in the surrounding waters as well as for sunbathing down on the island’s cosy deck (and the cabin includes the essential requirement for fishing or lying in the sun: a cooler stocked with drinks!

The northern island rises from the water like a green dumpling, a grassy, rocky hump topped by shrubs, a weeping willow and an old chapel, apparently long deserted except for its own piano that will play when touched.

The best way to reach this northern island is via the shallows that sit between it and the north end of the main isle. It looks like a bridge might have once spanned this channel, but for some reason this seems to have been pulled up and dumped over the shrubs of the smaller island to form an overgrown route up to the chapel, watched over by a statue of a mother and her child. Or perhaps this wooden walk is all that remains of what had once been a more substantial link between the two islands; the story is yours to make.

Finished with a rich sound scape, with multiple opportunities for photography, Bella’s Lullaby remains an engaging visit,

SLurl Details

• Bella’s Lullaby (Appletor, rated: Moderate)

Bella’s Lullaby is the name Bella (BellaSwan Blackheart) has given to her Homestead region design I had occasion to visit in June, courtesy of another pointer from Shawn Shakespeare.

A quiet, natural setting of two main islands surrounded by off-region hills and embellished with a subtle and fitting sound scape, this is a delightfully tranquil setting that sits easy on the eye and most likely will soothe troubled nerves.

The larger of the two islands is home to a variety of trees scattered across its low form – Scots pine, fir, oak, linden, and so on, giving it a temperate feel. Between the trees, and occasionally shaded by them, is a smattering of small buildings – cabins, sheds, Tuscan style house – that give the suggestion this may once have been a farm smallholding, but which has now become a retreat of some kind.

Nor do the trees or buildings dominate the island; there is plenty of open grass where the young shoots of the rapeseed plant (which tend to be called by their Japanese name nanohana) freely grow, giving a sense of open space and room to wander and breathe.

The smaller of the two islands sits to the west, separated by a shallow channel marked by rocks that rise above the water, and by snakeweed and water moss. Devoid of trees, it is home to  more nanohana and grass, curtains of shrubs partially lining the low hump of its pate like hair on an old man’s head.

This smaller island is dominated by an old warehouse unit – what role it might once have served now lost, although the passing trawler suggests that perhaps, once upon a time, it may have had something to do with local fishing. Now it sits as another isolated retreat, partially furnished, a little (static) boat with outboard motor sitting at the dock apparently the means to travel back and forth to the large island.

The southern end of this smaller island forms a slender finger, edged by rock, a place where the nanohana gives way to poppies and daisies and other meadow flowers that offer a splash of colour to the island and which wash around the feet of the oblate water tank atop its sturdy tower.

There are a couple of tiny islets that also make up the setting. One is a flat-backed slab of rock, is home to a small lighthouse; the second is a little more robust, a rocky table with its own sandy-shale beach. In difference to the rest of the region, this little corner sports palm trees that grow alongside what appears to be an old rail carriage long ago separated from its bogies and converted into a cosy two-roomed shack.

These two southern islets are overlooked by the region’s main landing point (although this is not enforced), sitting on a square deck built out over the shallows surrounding the main island.

Close by is a sign that draws on motto of the Baltimore Grotto: Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints (the motto itself continuing Kill nothing but time), itself a variation of a phrase from the “Leave No Trace” philosophy of naturalist all over the world. It’s a perfect sentiment by which to start an exploration of the region.

From the landing point, a rough track runs north between several of the island’s little buildings to the Tuscan style house. It’s a natural way to start explorations, although the  cabins either side of the path are liable to tempt feet away from it.

Not that this is a bad thing – there really is much to discover here without the region feeling an any way overcrowded. As such, roaming freely (if under the watchful eyes of the local cats!) is the best way to proceed.

From landing point to old ranger’s tower, and from water tower to east side patio, Bella’s Lullaby has been beautifully crafted to offer a place to explore or to sit and enjoy company and comes rich in opportunities for photography.

SLurl Details

• Bella’s Lullaby (Appletor, rated Moderate)