Tag: Frogmore

It’s been over a year since my first (and until now, only) visit to Mousehole, the second of Tolla Crisp’s regions to carry her Cornish theme (mixed with broader flavours from Europe). That visit, in June 2021 (see:  A corner of Cornwall in Second Life), was made notlong after the region had opened,  and saw it feature elements inspired by the ancient Cornish fishing village of Mousehole (pronounced maʊzəl, or Porthenys in Cornish) – at one time one of the busiest fishing ports, far down towards the very tip of England’s “toe”, on the southern coast of Cornwall.

At  the time of that visit,  Mousehole directly abutted Tolla’s Frogmore (now in its 5th iteration); however, time has passed and now Frogmore Cottage – a region given over mostly to rentals but with public paths winding through it – sits between the two.

Now sitting within a Homestead region, Mousehole has perhaps lost its more recognisable links to its physical world namesake – but in doing so it has lost none of its charm or beauty. Built by Dandy Warhlol (Terry Fotherington), in keeping with past builds for both Mousehole and Frogmore – and doubtless with a lot of input from Tolla – the region now presents itself as mix of small, rugged islands of the kind that might be found around the Cornish and Devonshire coasts, and flooded lowlands.

The landing point sits on the main landmass for the region, a squat island marked by a shale shoreline to the south from which rises an impressive rock formation which, from some angles at least, is perhaps mindful of a seal or sea lion sitting on the shore, head raised to the sky. The rest of the island points north from here, taking first the form of a flat-topped shoulder of cliffs before dropping down to lowlands where sits a tiny hamlet.  Far smaller than Mousehole, this  nevertheless recalls both the village and the June 2021 build thanks to the sign from the old pub hanging on the wall of what might have once been a fisherman’s house, but which now looks deserted.

This little hamlet, with its mix of houses that suggests both English and European influences, sits with a small harbour facing north and east towards the two Frogrmore regions.However, it is separated from them be a low-lying island which both shelters its moorings and is home to one of the region’s two large sandy beaches – the other sitting under the “sea lion rock” and the table-top cliffs of the main island.

Three further isles help complete this little archipelago.  Two sit side-by-side astride a narrow channel to the north of the main island. Linked be a wooden bridge spanning the separating gorge, they are repectively the home of a smattering of further houses and buildings, and a single little pavilion.

Westwards sits a rugged blob of an island, its flat top home to ancient ruins  whilst carrying a hint of Cornish moorlands even whilst a tall white lighthouse rises from their southern extent. Little bridges connect these latter isles to the hamlet, presetting the means for visitors to explore all of them on foot, despite the swirling waters churning the channels between them.

Throughout all of this there is, as one would expect, a wealth of detail both on land and on the water. In the case of the latter and despite the visible turbulence of white-capped foam suggesting shallows and rocks beneath, it is clear that the channels separating the islands are an important part of life here. Rowing boats are moored throughout, and Dandy has made clever use of a farmhouse design to incorporate water and moorings neatly into its layout, the overall design of the house offering that twist of European influence mentioned earlier without making with house feel out-of-place in this setting.

Those wishing to reach the Frogmore regions – or get to Mousehole from them – can do so via low wooden bridges which connect with a rocky spine rising from between Mousehole and Frogmore Cottage (and indeed, straddling the two regions). When coming from Frogmore Cottage, this slender island, windswept and battered by the tide, offers a warm greeting, a small cafe and a familiar sight across Cornwall in the form of hardy little ponies.

As always with Mousehole / Frogmore there are many opportunities for photography here, and the default EEP setting does much to help reinforce the idea that this is a part of Cornwall which is saying “goodbye” to summer skies and sunny days, and preparing itself for the arrival of the harsher days of winter. Well worth a visit.

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• Mousehole (rated: Moderate)

Update, July 20236th, 2022: The Shambles has relocated.

The Shambles is the name Tolia Crisp has settled upon for the latest of her Homestead regions designs which she broadly offered to visitors under her Frogmore Land Management group / brand. And for those familiar with the likes of Frogmore and Mousehole, there are elements here that place The Shambles within the same realm of those settings, with much to set it apart and offer a sense of mystery and surprise.

The first of the former of these is that the location is described as being “up the River Foss”; this is likely a reference to the river of that name that flows through North Yorkshire, England, rising close to Oulston Reservoir and meandering roughly south for about 30 kilometres to join the River Ouse in York. This puts The Shambles squarely into Tolia’s theme of English settings, albeit within a location pretty much diagonally at the other end of the country compared to Frogmore and Mousehole with their Cornish locales.

However, where Frogmore and Mousehole have their feet pretty much rooted in reality, The Shambles stands well to one side, a veritable potpourri of themes and ideas brought together in a surprising whole that delights the eyes. This is something that is immediately obvious on arrival: sitting behind the landing point platform and hovering over a broad channel that sits between village and an oddly denuded hump of an island, is a strange windmill, held aloft by downward-pointing rotors spinning away beneath it and the metal deck before it. In fact, with its larger sail turning slowly behind it, it looks not so much like a floating windmill as it does a fanciful flying house.

The landing point occupies a tiny islet connected to the village by a metal bridge around which tentacles rise from the coastal waters, adding a touch of Innsmouth to the setting.

On the little waterfront across the bridge are hints which, together with the hovering house / windmill, help the setting lean towards the suggestion that is it steampunk themed. Cogs turn slowly on the wall of a cottage as a kind of mobile décor; a great gas boiler pumps heat into the cottage’s interior and, further along the waterfront, what looks to be the face of an old copper clock has been fashioned into a table where refreshments might be taken, watched over by a mechanical messenger owl.

However, it doesn’t take much to realise that the themes here run much broader than steampunk alone; close to the table mentioned above, for example, a poster hangs from the doorway of a magic shop proclaiming Harry Potter is Undesirable No 1, while the waterfront itself is probably awash with the engine noise from the Star Wars-esque flying vehicle which appears to have just passed overhead, zipping between rooftops and the bulbous bulk of a balloon moored by the landing point.

Enter the main street of the village, and more of this blending of ideas unfolds before your eyes in ways that are genuinely captivating. A dieselpunk tricycle, driven by a great chugging internal combustion engine turning a pusher propeller awaits a driver; futuristic lasers zap between buildings; a steampunk style airship appears to have wedged itself into the cul-de-sac of the street, neon signs and LCD panels hang from walls…

This is a place where nothing is as it seems and unique elements are waiting to be found everywhere the camera turns. Take, for example, Cordelia Curiosus and the boulangerie adjoining it. Leaving the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference in the name of the former, these initially appear to be ordinary places of business. But look again: the windows of Cordelia’s are aquariums, home to fish and corals, the water held in by a combination of window frames and – magic? Similarly the wall between the two shops is a shimmering face of water held back by something, the boulangerie a further haven for fish, turtles and aquatic plants.

More touches can be found across the street, where a host of incongruities are gathering into a little vignette that offers so much. There’s a Victorian-era Bobby standing with his back to a pub cheekily calling itself the Scotland Yard, the walls of will are posted with a reward poster typical of those times and the front page of a newspaper offering the latest on the Whitechapel Murders – and the involvement of one S. Holmes, Esq.

The Bobby himself stands between a set of very futuristic packing cases before which floats a glowing umbrella projected by an equally glowing wand, none of which seems to fluster our good constable in the slightest – and nor does the London Police telephone box very definitely from the 1960s – so very definitely in fact, that one might be tempted to ask if it really is a police telephone box – and thus the entire vignette allows the imagination to take flight.

Thus, wherever you roam, down through the village with its little stream and cornucopia of buildings, businesses and photo opportunities, or up on and between the rooftops, there is a lot to appreciate within The Shambles – far more than mentioned here. Yes, it is a little texture-heavy when loading; but it is nevertheless highly photogenic and offers more than a few places to sit down and pass the time. Those in the Frogmore group also get rezzing rights when visiting – but do please clean-up when done!

With thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the nudge.

SLurl Details

• The Shambles (The Hidden, rated Moderate)

 Hello Inara.

We have opened our newest version of Frogmore 5.0, L’étang du Moulin. We have many new areas and we have also saved some of the most popular parts of Frogmore that people love. We have maintained the sim design and integrity with designer Terry Fotherington and we have added a new village with lots of details, as well as new trails, French salons, a tiny gallery which will have regular guest artistes, and our unique to Frogmore Mill Pond. I hope you will visit soon.

Merci! Tolla

This was the invitation I received from Tolla Crisp at the end of April to make a return to Frogmore and tour the latest update to this ever-popular setting – my apologies to her for taking a while to actually take up her offer.

As Tolla notes in her invitation, there are elements within this latest design for the region that have been carried over from Frogmore 4.0 (see: Frogmore’s fourth in Second Life) – perhaps most notably the channel of water cutting into the land from the east and the waterfront cottages on the southern bank, nestled below a hilltop villa and with little café tucked behind them

These elements and part of the sandy spread to the north side of the channel retain something of Frogmore’s Cornish influences – an aspect that has helped to maintain the setting’s sense of continuity from one iteration to the next. However, as Tolla also notes, there are some French influences mixed into Frogmore 5.0; these give a sense that perhaps it has paddled its way across the English Channel to a little nook in the French coast.

On the north side of the setting, overlooking the middle channel is a broad, roughly-cobbled terrace backed by a glass-and-metal pavilion, which I believe is to be the gallery space. It also sits as the new landing point for the region, and a couple of the easels set out on it offer direct teleports to both the village area and the new watermill.

The latter is an utterly charming element sitting in the region north-east corner as a small island of shingle surrounding an L-shaped block of hard granite that has stood against the tides and time.

Aged walls suggest that this island may once have been the site of a fortification; now, however, it is the home of not one mill, as the name might suggest, but two: one at the water’s edge, where the land appears to have been fashioned around it and which gives the area its name, and the other a windmill up on top of the rocky bluff, sitting alongside and open-sided barn now converted into a little café. It forms, for me, the most delightful part of the new setting.

This being a Dandy Warhlol (Terry Fotherington) build, I will confess that the mesh / texture load can be heavy-going for some systems; so keeping shadows disabled may help when exploring and to help with texture loading ahead of taking photos.

That said, with it soundscape, views and detailed touches, this iteration of Frogmore retains the charm of its previous versions whilst offer more than enough that is new to encourage a re-visit.

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• Frogmore (rated Moderate)