Tag: Exploring Second Life 2017

Stony Hill Vineyard – click any image for full size

Update July 30th: Stony Hill appears to have closed. 

We were drawn to Ezra Locke’s Stony Hill Vineyard after catching it in the Destination Guide Highlights for Friday, June 30th. A homestead region, Stony Hill Vineyard offers a pleasing Mediterranean summer feel – or as Ezra puts it, “Spanish and Italian influences with a little hodgepodge” – a description as charming as the region.

Surrounded by lush green hills, the region sits as within a verdant valley, a rural setting crossed by dirt tracks which wind over and around the low-set hills and escarpments which sit around the region edges and which offer – from a eye-level vantage point – the suggestion that this land and most of the hills beyond are one.

Stony Hill Vineyard

A large villa set back into some of these uplands dominates the north-east side of the region, large terraces stepping down from it to the lands to the west, their red brick flooring contrasting with whitewashed walls. To the west and south, guarding the villa and terraces, are ranks of grape-laden vines, some of which have already been harvested. These can be pressed and stomped under the partial shade of a wooden trellis close to the landing point – just please do remove footwear beforehand!

A windmill and equestrian centre sit at the foot of the slopes which fall gently southwards from the villa, while west and north across the region three modest single-storey villas still atop grassy slopes and bluff-faced escarpments. Presented as furnished holiday homes, these are available for rent to visitors wishing to extend their stay at Stony Hill – so if any of them do appear occupied, please respect the occupant’s privacy. The villas are available at L$285 per day (L$1995 per week), with a minimum 3-day stay.

Stony Hill Vineyard

Weddings can also be held within the region, as can private parties. However, these are by arrangement only, and those interested should contact Ezra. Should you wish to rez props for photography, you can do so by joining the local group for a fee of L$250. Additional information on the region – including the local weather and the wine of the month from the villa’s cellars! – can be obtained from the Stony Hill Vineyard website.

Stony Hill Vineyard is an elegant region design which effectively suggests a feeling of the Mediterranean and gives a sense of space whilst still fitting a lot in – the main villa, the rental villas, the equestrian area and even a little waterside market spot (neatly sitting between the villa and high rocky shoulders, giving the impression that the waters beyond are a river flowing between the vineyard and the more distant hills). There are plenty of opportunities for photography, while the villa’s upper terrace offers places to sit and relax – and enjoy the local wine.

Stony Hill Vineyard

SLurl Details

• Stony Hill Vineyard (Stony Hill, rated: Moderate)

Simbelmynë, also called Evermind, has its roots in Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth. It was a white flower that grew in Rohan; now, in Second Life, it is the name given to one half of the homestead region of Isle of Love.

Designed by L E S (Lestat Heninga) with assistance from Arol Lightfoot, Simbelmyne in Second Life presents a beautifully wild landscape carrying echoes of Tolkien’s Middle Earth without intending the be representative of Middle Earth.  Covering the northern half of the region, it is entirely open to the public with the exception of the beach house in the north-west corner of the land, which is a private residence.

The SLurl will deliver visitors across the region from the beach house, in the north-east corner, where they’ll immediately see the Tolkienesque influence. An ancient ruin stands atop a set of worn stone steps and runs southwards over a series of arches spanning a shallow inlet, to arrive at an old fortification, itself in ruin. Headless and armless winged figures stand guard over the steps, and across the bridge-like arches a stone robed figure stares blankly westwards.

A mist drifts slow inland from the arches, sharing the space between tall fir trees with ferns and white flowers which could so easily be simbelmyne, to where more walls, these intricately carved, sit within a small copse. Beyond them the land opens out, pointing the way towards the beach house on the horizon, allowing the view of it to remind visitors it is a private residence.

Further south, the trees give way to a small lake fed by a waterfall. An old wooden shack sits on the bank of the lake, bracketed by a moored rowing boat on one side and a small camp on the other, across the neck of a reedy channel that points eastwards to the sea.  A track meanders by the lake, heading west to the beach (open to the public), the ground carpeted in ferns and flowers which slowly give way to grass as the sands on the beach are reached.

Across the curtain of cliffs dividing the land is Love Story – Lost at Sea, by Lauren (Daisy Kwon). This is a coastal setting with a story of its own concerning lost love, hopes, the passing of time, and a love that encompasses a lifetime. The best way to enjoy this story is to read it for yourself from the note card that#’s presents to all arrivals to the land, and I’m not going to repeat it here.

Hemmed to the north and east by high cliffs, but open to the sea to the west and south, the land presents itself as a coastal village or hamlet – where is not important, although the buildings running along the single street suggest this is somewhere along the European coastline of the Mediterranean. These buildings – a tavern, a bakery and a coffee-house – look out over a small, square harbour where sailing boats are tied alongside old wooden piers, watched over by a squat lighthouse. The latter seems needed, given the wreck brought up against the rocks to one side of the harbour entrance.

An old shack sits in the shadow of the lighthouse. It occupies a small space of flat land between lighthouse and rows of grape vines which step their way down a gentle slope. The shack forms a part of the story to the region, as does the gravestone close by. Looking out over the harbour, the shack is the perfect vantage point for sea views, perhaps only matched by the ruins of the old pavilion on the far side of the harbour, a place now devoted to dancing.

Set beneath a setting sun, both Simbelmyne and Love Story – Lost at Sea offer romantic locations ripe for visiting. Each has a number of spots where sitting and cuddling can take place, and both are very photogenic.

SLurl Details

Isle of Love is rated Moderate

• Simbelmyne
• Love Story – Lost at Sea

Les Reves Perdus – click any image for full size

Les Reves Perdus (“Dreams Lost”) is a public homestead region designed by Chanell (zaziaa), which Caitlyn and I were drawn to visiting after seeing a photo by Wurfi, a fellow photographer and blogger. Described as “an original world of dreams and creativity, with the atmosphere of nature,” it is a place visitors are invited to enjoy and photograph, and it does indeed present a relaxing landscape in which to wander and spend time.

Placing the region is a little hard; there is a touch of provincial France about it, together with a little twist of Tuscany, thanks to the villa occupying part of the region. The low-lying parts of the island, however, could be representative of just about any temperate coastal / marshland area in the world. Nevertheless, the theme works, and everything comes together to create a charming, photogenic scene.

Les Reves Perdus

A visit starts on the low-lying part of the island, at the end of a dirt track which gently undulates along an avenue of trees, leading the way to a set of stone steps which rise to the highland reaches of the region, of which more anon.

Mostly grass-covered, this lowland is home to grazing sheep and horses, with the greenery broken up by bright splashes of rapeseed and wild flowers.  It is also split into two, linked via stone and log bridges, with some marshy outlying areas sitting a short distance across the water to the north and north-west. Over the bridges, the land is more divided between grass and sand, the former giving way to a widening arc of the latter, offering plenty of places to sit and enjoy the view out over the open waters to a sailing ship lying off the coast, or inland over a shallow bay, fed in part by a horseshoe waterfall, to the cliffs of the highlands.

Les Reves Perdus

A lone outcrop of rock rises from the south-eastern end of the beach, a wooden cabin sitting on its flat top. A rope bridge spans the narrow neck of water separating it from a promontory on which sits another cabin, the two offering a cosy place for couples. From here, it is possible to climb up onto the higher ground – but I don’t recommend it: there is neither a path for doing so, nor is the immediate landscape designed to be seen from this side.

Instead, the best way to appreciate the upland area is via the track and stone stairs near the landing point. These will take you up to a broad, largely flat plateau where the Tuscan villa sits, a tide of wild grass and rapeseed washing around it and held at bay from reaching the pool in front of the villa by bushes and bright flowers. Deer roam this wild garden, while the villa’s dining room is set for a formal meal, and its outhouse offers a lounge area with light refreshments. Climb the stairs of the villa, and you’ll enter the realm of an artist, whilst beyond the walls of the villa, the land grows wild on one side, and offers a small orchard on the other, an old pick-up truck offering another place for couples to snuggle.

Les Reves Perdus

Les Reves Perdus makes for a charming visit, and the default windlight offers plenty of scope for photographs and the region as a whole presents plenty of scope for those who like to use their preferred windlights or like to experiment. This is an ideal place to visit if you’re seeking some quiet time on your own or with a friend. Caitlyn and I took certainly found it relaxing to sit on a hammock chatting, while looking out over the water to where the little folly sits amidst the pinks and greens of the marshy outlands.

SLurl Details

• Les Reves Perdus (Borneo Isle, rated: Adult)

Le Sixième Sens – click any image for full size

We first visited Le Sixième Sens (“the sixth sense”) in January of 2017, at a time when the region was popping up in blogs and photo streams. As I didn’t get to write about it then, I recently found myself hopping back to see what had changed and to catch-up on my own write-up for the region.

Designed by Natacha Haroldsen, the region presents itself as a little corner of Tuscany, where “a plaza surrounded by old shops that give you a rustic feeling,” sits beneath a pale azure sky, and a vineyard climbs the slope of a hill, beckoning those who stand at the archway of the plaza to explore the land before them.

Le Sixième Sens

Six months may have passed since Caitlyn and I first followed the track down from the boutique shops gathered around the landing point and out over the arched back of a stone bridge, but little has changed in that time. Le Sixième Sens retains a wonderfully relaxed feel, offering the kind of setting you hope to find whilst travelling on vacation; a place that calls on you to stop, explore, run your fingers lightly over the delicate curl of flower petals and watch the water slip slowly under bridge and bough.

From the little piazza, visitors can wander across this gentle, rocky landscape, passing over the waters which divide it into three islands, and meander among the sunflowers, poppies and trees, going wherever their feet my take them.

Le Sixième Sens

There are, of course, the vines mentioned above, paraded in neat rows up the slope of a hill to where a villa-style farmhouse sits. The lower slopes of this hill are covered in tall grass, on which horses graze and sheep roam and chickens cluck their way around another, smaller farmhouse. On this northern headland, extending out from the vineyard’s hill, sit old ruins which both face the piazza of shops across the water to one side and shelter moored rowing boats on the other, before the land ends in the broken finger of a lighthouse.

South and east, separated from the other island by bay and channel, sits a tall rocky plateau. A path rising from the trees below it forms a switch-backs up one of the otherwise sheer cliffs to where a small studio, gracefully called The Writer’s Workshop, sits. It commands a view out over the water, and offers the perfect vantage point for a painter. Linked to the rest of the land by a single bridge and with its screen of trees guarding the path from that bridge, the plateau gives a sense of tranquil separation from the rest of the region without ever feeling apart from it.

Le Sixième Sens

Throughout this landscape, filled with the sounds of birds singing, can be found numerous places to sit and relax, or share a cuddle or a dance. A picnic blanket awaits under the shade of bushes in one direction, a chess set and sofa can be found among the farm’s outbuildings, the ruins hide a swing chair, while the rowing boats offer their own places to sit and contemplate the world – or one another. And that’s just the start; much more awaits those who take the time to explore.

Wherever you roam in Le Sixième Sens, there is something to be found and enjoyed, whether you are seeking a place to relax or a location to photograph (join the region’s group and you’ll get rezzing rights as well). The default windlight setting presents the region under what might be one of the cooler days of late summer or autumn – the hay bales in particular adding to this autumnal suggestion; but this is a place which invites tweaking and playing with windlights, and I couldn’t resist taking some photos suggestive of warmer summer days.

Le Sixième Sens

SLurl Details

• Le Sixième Sens (Le Sixieme Sens, rated: Moderate)

Chess Wonderland – click any image for full size

Chess Wonderland, is a fascinating Homestead region which caught my eye a couple of weeks ago after seeing images pop-up on  Twitter and Flickr, marking it as a place to visit as time allowed.  Designed by EgyptRocker, it is a surreal place with the focus – as indicated in the name – on chess, which is seen not so much as a game of strategy but as an eternal melee of close-quarter fighting.

Visitors are presented with an undulating landscape covered in the black and white tiles of a chess board, which rises into chequered monochrome walls surrounding the region. These walls in turn rise into a roof high overhead, giving the region a gigantic, room-like feel, heightened by the great ceiling light suspended from high overhead which casts a glowing aurora over the top of a great tree occupying the centre of the region.

Chess Wonderland

This aurora is mirrored by softly rippling sheets around the edge of the landscape as misted pools slowly turn between the hills, and sheets of ocean mist drift beneath the boughs of gigantic trees. Unmissable due to their size, the trees are matched in height by massive chess pieces – knights, rooks, bishops and queens – apparently standing guard over the region while candles cast additional ghostly light.

The battle between black and white is located across the region from the landing point, where Mistero’s Hifeng’s chess pieces have been placed on the tiles of the land. Far from presenting a genteel game of carved pieces on a flat board, they are engaged in a vicious a battle involving blade and arrow.

Chess Wonderland

Close by sits a huge table, braced by two equally huge armchairs. The table holds a traditional chess board and pieces, and the armchairs smaller copies of themselves suitable for avatars to sit in. The chess board is playable, offering those who sit in the smaller armchairs the opportunity to engage in a more traditional match or two.

Further around the region, guarded by a pair of giant chess kings, sits a castle. Possibly the point of contention between the warring pieces, it also appears to be the location for events – on our visit, a fair few people were gathered with its walls.

Chess Wonderland

Mistero Hifeng isn’t the only artist represented here, both through his chess pieces and several other sculptures. Sitting close to the landing point is Cica Ghost’s chess player from Strings (which you can read about here), while the string quartet and their pianist from the same installation can be found further around the region, playing under the cover of a fold in the land.

Chess Wonderland is a surreal, beautiful region, unusual in form, softened in look through the considered windlight and use of auroral effects (probably best appreciated with Advanced Lighting Model enabled in the viewer). The presentation of the art pieces by Mistero and Cica – two of my favourite 3D artists – is both imaginative and eye-catching, making for a fascinating and rewarding visit.

Chess Wonderland

SLurl Details

• Chess Wonderland (Egypt, rated: Adult)