Bombings in Turkey

A serious item for a change. We spent the weekend helping our youngest son and his girlfriend get off on holiday to Turkey, then woke on Monday morning to hear about the bombings in Marmaris and Istanbul.

We were a bit panicked until we eventually heard from them by text. They're in a resort a little further up the coast from Marmaris. Oh well, nowhere's safe today, I suppose!

Medieval buildings remade for Nightlife only

While pottering on Hagrid's Hut (he gets annoyed) I've re-jigged my series of medieval thatched-roof buildings so that they just need Nightlife. A lot of downloaders don't have University, and this came as a request - a good idea. So they have invisible driveways, ready for all the horses Sims tend to use. I've also re-designed each one so that they're even easier to use (I think!!!). So if you haven't seen them, they're still on page 3 of my Lots Archive - hope you like them! ;) Here's a new pic of The Golden Hall from The Lord of the Rings:

Project: Hagrid's Hut

I've been pulling together different ideas and materials, to get ready for making Hagrid's Hut from Harry Potter (best seen in The Prisoner of Azkaban).

I do get asked to build some very big buildings - Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings or Hogwarts, or Windsor Castle! But it's worth saying they are just to big to fit onto the largest lot size, and only a kind of 'cartoon' version can be made, without proper living spaces. But the big man's hut is fine!!! ;)

2 small sets added also

By the way I've also added a set of (2) realistic "Flint Cobbles" Ground Cover, if you missed seeing them, and also a set of (6) fairly convincing flaky outdoor planking for those of you who like bridges as much as I do!!! They're under Sets in my archive .....

New pic of Weasley's House

After much revision, here's the final version of this fascinating, brain-cell-scrunching building !

Harry Potter : The Weasley's House

In a busy week with other things, I've spent every spare moment working on this. It got so difficult it became a sort of obsession! It's The Weasley's House ("The Burrow") as seen in the movie Harry Potter 2: The Chamber Of Secrets.

It's taken me three demolitions and rebuilds! I had a version which at the higher levels (my version has 10 levels) was just 2 square towers, like the model in the movie and like the little add-on towers at Hogwarts. It had split-level stairs winding round everywhere ..... but there was no room for any bedrooms! So I've expanded the house a little with a middle tower which has all the staircases, giving four nice bedrooms with 3 bathrooms.

Of course what is unique about the house design is that the front tower and the back platform veranda are built above sloping roofs. In my version the stairwell and chimney wind through the larger front roof.

Brough Castle x2

I've now added 2 versions of this real-life castle, one for Nightlife only, one for Nightlife and University.

Brough Castle (pronounced 'bruff') is one we fell in love with on our last holiday - and also its sister castle Brougham (pronounced 'broom' - isn't English fun!!!). It's now a ruin, but I've re-created it as accurately as possible as it was in the 15th century. The only change is that the real courtyard is much wider - it would need a 5x9 lot to fit in!

Apparently Wordsworth and his sister played over the ruins of both castles as kids.

The courtyard was cobbled in the 15th C, so I've made a pair of Flint Cobble ground covers for it, which will be available separately as well. They look better than floor tiles, I think! ;)

Unexpected absence - back now

Sorry to have been away again. Just after we got back from holiday, my last surviving aunt died, and I was her executor so I've been down in England sorting her house, etc.

I'm just back on Tuesday. I'd started work on a real-life English castle, which I finished up testing this morning, so I'll post more about it soon.

Back from 'tropical retreat' - not!

Just to say we're back from holiday now - I didn't have time ( = forgot) to post a blog before leaving. I'm really sorry if anyone wondered where I was .....

We took Lord Tiko (our Birman cat) to a lakeside retreat for his eleventh birthday. It wasn't tropical - just Cumbria (northen England) - but really sunny and fabulous. He met his first cow.

Tropical mountain retreats

What could be better in the summer than escaping to a mountain retreat on a tropical island, built around a waterslide down the mountain?!!!

Well, I think so, anyway, and I've made 2 versions for the next FA theme, Tropical Paradise. I've also added in a tropical starter with one of my Jungle Walkway bridges - for less than $20K ready to move in to! ;)

If you haven't tried making a waterslide, please do have a look at my Neat Waterslides tutorial which I'll work to have ready for TSR's format sometime soon.