Recently I made a second, more thorough visit to Arranmore. At the entrance landing I was offered a rules and info notecard and an Arranmore flashlight. There were the usual avatars standing in place and some running around but it wasn’t as crowded as my first visit. 
After first noticing it’s a kind of sim I like to explore and photograph, I noted that I experienced less lag than I usually do on mesh-heavy designer sims. Some things in the house did become blurry and distorted but came back into focus when I moved around.
The info notecard gives some tips for settings on the Lab viewer and Firestorm and also for use of the flashlight. The flashlight is one of the best this avatar has received in a while.
There is a group that can be joined for a reasonable fee to temporarily rez objects and also a Flickr group to share photos of the sim. It’s recommended to turn the sound up, which I did, and that adds greatly to the experience, especially the sounds of someone running rapidly up behind me.
Newbies are finding their way here and look quite effective in the new fantasy starter avatars. I got a little startle when some of them moved or started running after seeing some of the rezzed characters such as the man by the carriage in one of the above photos.
There’s a great backstory included on the info card. This is a place which sparks the imagination to create one’s own story. There are sheep and several fires on the island showing evidence of life.
From the land description: “Photogenic coastal island, Lovecraft, creepy, vintage horror, haunted house, halloween, Silent Hill, Fallout ,urban decay, abandoned, carnival, kids, neko, romantic public hangout, popular, photography, photos, roleplay”.
I’m going to guess that machinima is allowed, although according to the ToS it isn’t automatically allowed everywhere as is photography.
There are several buildings outlying the mansion to explore. I climbed the stairs of the lighthouse to enjoy the view and it’s a great photo set for the selfie takers.
The sim creator is Lauren Bentham, who also created Baja Norte, Everwinter and Netherwood.
Some of my favorite touches were the flashes of lightening and the sounds of an impending storm outdoors and the old phone ringing in the mansion.
Million Happy Endings 