Tag: Exploring Second Life 2024

My Second Life café hopping continued recently when I bounced into the Burnt Toast Café and Tavern, occupying some 20,400 sq metres of the Full private region leveraging the land capacity bonus (although at the time of my visit, a portion of the land appeared to be either undeveloped or undergoing redevelopment by the holders and so closed to general access).

Those land holders are Emilly Jaynesford and Lee (lisa5791), and together have created a most pleasing little corner of Second Life, packing a lot into the setting without ever allowing it to feel overcrowded. Rather the reverse, in fact and the trails and paths winding through it between the various locations give a sense of space and openness.

A friendly welcome awaits all at the Burnt Toast Café and Pub! Bring friends or make new ones. Drink coffee in the gazebo or have a pint in the pub!

– Burnt Toast Café and Tavern About Land description

The landing point delivers visitors to the top of a stone stairway leading down and away from the broad terrace on which the tavern stands. This terrace extends outwards from one of the curtail walls of rock separating the setting from the neighbouring parcel and helping to prevent structure, etc., from these intruding into the landscape or skyline. The pub faces out over open waters from which it is separated by two wide wooden decks, the lowermost of which extends out over the shingle shoreline, the pair of the decks offering comfortable seating under parasols and warmed by wrought-iron log-burning fires.

The stone steps descending from the tavern’s terrace to split, one arm reaching down to where a carousel turns on a ground-level terrace also overlooking the shoreline, whilst the second stretches down under a stone arch to grasp the tail of a path which teases the way onwards.

Passing an old clock tower sheltering wooden benches under its eves, the path can be used to reach the café itself as it sits within a wildling garden complete with (wishing?) well and a broad, bed-like platform slung beneath a balloon and ready for chats, cuddles or a taking a short ride. On the far side of this garden, a small cabin sits beside a pond to offer an cosy annex to the café, its porch offering a vantage point for observing the ducks on the quiet waters of the pond and the carp swimming beneath its surface – although closer views of both might be had from the leaf-shaped raft also floating on the water. Those with a keen eye will also likely spot the gazebo hiding under boughs and amidst bushes to one side of the garden as well.

Running in the opposite direction to the café, a remaining branch of the path runs through a stone pergola providing access to the west end of the setting and the large wooden pavilion raised within the walls and gardens of an ancient structure –  perhaps the land remnants of an old abbey or castle – the pavilion offering itself as a larger dance and events space.

Then there is the orangery, tucked alongside the western edge of the café’s garden and separated from the pavilion in its ruins by hefty nub of mossy rock. With wisteria dripping from its rafters and cosy sofas and armchairs occupying its floor, the orangery presents another place into which visitors can retreat and spend time.

Between all of these points, considerable care has gone into shaping a setting rich in the colours of nature as flowers bloom and shrubs blossom, giving the sense that what might have once been a barren, rocky landscape has been tamed by the growth of plants, shrubs and trees, becoming a more welcoming location than it might once have been; a place with the vegetation have in turn become subject to gentle husbandry to encourage their growth without allowing them to run totally wild.

Care has also been taken to try to blend the vegetation with the curtains of rock forming the borders to the land, such that the artificial nature of the latter is at least softened, if not completely obscured, making them far less intrusive than might otherwise be the case, and the setting even more natural in look and feel as a result.

For those who don’t like walking, or wish to quickly hop to a particular point within the grounds, a network of teleport disks is supplied. Again, care has been taken to try to avoid having these stick out too much, but they are easy to find – and they will be needed to reach a further location: the local beach.

Located over on the west side of the region, this presents a cosy beach house raised above soft sands and with a pool and deck to one side. At the time of my visit, the beach was isolated from the rest of the café’s ground by the intervening parcel which may be awaiting (re-)development as mentioned above, thus making the teleport disks the only easy means of reaching it.

All told, Burnt Toast Café and Tavern is an expressive and charming setting with a sense of welcome and an allure that encourages tarrying.

SLurl Details

• Burnt Toast Café and Tavern (Southern Marvel, rated Moderate)

A whimsical café & library built on its own serene lake with lots of areas to explore and relax. The library is stocked with short stories for readers to get lost in. Bring your friends and family or come alone and enjoy a meal, relax with a warm drink, read some books, or just lounge around and take in the scenery. It is all ages and newcomer-friendly!

Having read these words via the Destination Guide, it was back on one of my café hopping expeditions in Second Life for me as I set out to visit the Woodland Café and Library, the work of Sienna Skye (Sienna Foxdale). And as I quickly discovered on arrival, they offer just a hint of what this thoroughly relaxing setting has to offer visitors.

Nestled within the enfolding arms of the Briarwood residential estate, Woodland Café occupies its own Homestead region, and is largely separated from the rest of the estate by the surrounding lake, thus eliminating the risk of accidental incursion into someone’s house or garden. The one route into the estate on foot is presented by two bridges passing by way of one of the small islands sharing the waters close to the café island, making it possible for the local residents pop in.

Those teleporting to the Woodland Café will find themselves delivered to the island on which it stands, arriving roughly equidistant from one of the bridges leading back to the estate, a stone-and-wood pavilion (one of Cory Edo’s always excellent designs) and the path leading up to the café itself. Like me, Sienna  appears to have a fondness for Cory’s designs, as the café is another design from Trompe Loeil, whilst another of the little islands sitting alongside the café is home to Cory’s Jetje vintage caravan.

This little islet can reached via stepping stones spanning the short neck of water between it and the café’s island; just follow the shingle cover shoreline as it curve around the side of the stone pavilion to find it. Warmed by a log fire and lit by lanterns and strings of light, the pavilion presents a comfortable retreat in which to relax or join friends (and strangers!) in quiet conversation whilst partaking of the refreshments offered on the tea trolley.

For those seeking a little more entertainment, a gravel path branches from the foot of the route up to the café proper. Skirting between the flat-topped mushroom of rock on which the café sits and the raised location of the pavilion, to provide access to a wooden deck where people can engage in Greedy Greedy, again warmed by a wood-burning fire and with refreshments taking the form of an espresso machine and frosted cupcakes.

Once up on the rocky “mushroom”, visitors have a choice of taking the wooden steps leading to the café’s balcony and outside seating, or scrambling up a rocky lip to a wild garden area where someone appears to be cultivating mushrooms. Sadly, no places to sit are on offer in the garden, which is a bit of a shame as a blanket and some nibbles to enjoy would make it a nice little place for relaxing as well.

Fortunately, the café makes up for this by offering plenty of places to sit and relax or browse the web (sort-of! 🙂 ). Downstairs the counter with its temptations of drinks and waist-expanding goodies is imaginatively set is if in a woodland glade, the tables and chairs before equally set upon grass-like rugs to enhance the glade-like atmosphere. Mushrooms can also be found here, although there are far more decorative and functional / playful in nature, and Tiny visitors might well appreciate the mushroom fort with its cushions and opportunity to avoid being trodden on by oversized, clodhopping humans!

The upper floor reveals why the café is also a library: interactive bookcases line two walls. When touched these will offer a menu of books, plays and short stories by the likes of Shakespeare, the Brother Grimm, and other available to read on the web, although here they take note card form and the selection is apparently updated weekly (note that these can also be obtained from the bookcase tree trunk outside of the pavilion). The seating on the upper floor is also set out so as to suggest or invite discussions or perhaps a reading circle.

People who desire a little more solitude are also catered for within the setting; a little rowing boat with mixed singles and couples poses is anchored in the lee of the islands, whilst the route towards the rest of the estate passes by a shaded hanging chair overlooking the little model boats sailing on the nearby pond. There is also the tiny island mentioned above, with its caravan and outdoor seating, whilst another rowing boat has been turned into a cosy sofa for those who are willing to seek out its semi-hidden location.

To call this setting delightful would be an understatement; there is a natural blending of charm and nature (including local wildlife) throughout which is thoroughly engaging and photogenic throughout and well worth a visit.

SLurl Details

• Woodland Café and Library (Mistwood forest, rated Moderate)

There are many beautiful regions in Second Life presenting all manner of settings and environments and put together with care and love for the enjoyment and appreciate those who visit them. It has been my privilege and joy to visit many of them over the years, and to write about them. Some have faded away with the passage of time, but remain in photos and memory; others are reinvented periodically to offer something new and enchanting or mysterious or fun to visit, and some – and their designers – have become established in a growing catalogue of places I regard as personal favourites; places I will happily revisit time and again.

One such region was that of Winter Moon, a place I visited on several occasions between 2013 and 2020 and wrote about on three of them. A Homestead region held and designed by Dream Shadowcry, it was always a place of serene beauty and opportunities to decompress and renew. However, and for reasons unclear to me – or perhaps because the region was retired at some point; I genuinely have no idea – I lost track of Winter Moon in late 2020; so when a little bird whispered in my ear that Dream was back with a new setting (and with a new name for herself – Dream Softpaw), this time occupying a Full region, I knew I’d have to play a little catch-up.

Oblivion – for that is the name of the setting – offers all that I found so attractive in Winter Moon, but with a richness of detail which can only come within a Full region’s additional Land Capacity. A veritable tour de force of design, it is – without hyperbole – simply magnificent in presenting a place that is rich in celebrating nature’s beauty; a veritable tapestry of ideas and themes deftly woven together into an engaging whole.

The “official” landing point (not actually enforced, so people can teleport out and back in anywhere within the region) sits at the southern end of a suspension bridge which appears to have been modelled after Liberty Bridge connecting Buda and Pest across the Danube. However, rather than spanning a river, here the bridge links a large sandbar occupying the south-east portion of the region with the main landmass. Also unlike its namesake, this bridge has only one suspension span, and is not a walkway in the traditional sense; rather, it is a garden space reaching out over the water to the rocky northern tip of the sandbar, where it drops down by way of steps to ain unsurfaced path leading to a grove of fir trees crowning the highest point above the surrounding sands.

As well as suggesting the region enjoys a temperature rather than tropical climate, the trees lay gathered around and on the sandy hill in a manner which suggests the surrounding beaches – despite the deckchair and parasol placed close to the current water’s edge – might well be subject to periodic submergence by the tide; a suggestion additionally made by the fact the sandbar’s lone wooden deck extends out over the sands whilst raised well above them on stout timbers.

Both ends of the bridge are marked by boxwood hedge arches, with the northern end also having steps descending from it to a small headland of sand dunes matted by wild grasses, together with a beach where a large deck has been constructed, complete with a walled garden area and upon which comfortable chairs, braziers and parasols have been set out to allow visitors to relax and enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine, together with selections of fresh fruits, – just don’t sit on the furry occupants of one of the chaise lounge!

Westward, and beyond another boxwood arch, the path climbs the slopes of the main island, meandering through and between grasses, ferns and wildflowers and beneath the tall fingers of high fir trees and redwoods as they form a not-too-dense woodland. Branching mid-climb, a part of the path wriggles its way to stone steps as they  slip down to a further deck, this one raised over the rocks and cliffs sitting at the landward end of the setting’s sheltered bay. Meanwhile, the rest of the trail continues upwards to run along the spine of the island, skirting the edge of a wash of lavender as it adds a splash of deep colour to the greens and browns – and even the pinks and reds of the blossoming trees sitting amongst the fir trees.

Bursting clear of the trees, the path provides access to a huge glass-and-iron greenhouse, now converted into a chandelier-hung bar, a further place to sit and relax. Beyond it, on the high headland, an eye-catching floating stage reached by wooden steps and held aloft by three large balloons as it overlooks and small and slightly overgrown dance floor to outside and the cliffs that drop away to a further beach on the other. The latter is marked by a massive rock arch which itself sits close to a final sentinel at this end of the island: a stone pavilion raised at the end of a slender finger of sand – although how you reach it is a matter for you to determine 😉 .

Across the endite setting are hints of fantasy and romance gently woven into the setting to add to its beauty: a gentle voice might in places be heard singing on the breeze; an empty mausoleum has been converted to a quiet retreat; the beacon-like braziers point blades of light towards the sky; an armchair surrounded by (mostly!) quiet cattle content to simply observer whoever uses it, awaits those in a contemplative mood; a clockwork owl keeps a careful pair of eyes on the comings and goings of visitors…

Oblivion is without a doubt one of the most visually engaging, soul warming settings it has been my pleasure to explore; the depths of detail Dream has provided are wonderful to find – hence why in some cases above I’ve given hints, not directions, on what you might witness! – and the sheer natural flow form location to location is utterly sublime, while the many places to sit and share or rest in solitude further add to region’s welcome – and increase the desire to spend time within it.

Simply outstanding.

SLurl Details

• Oblivion (Avalon Shores, rated Moderate)