Art in the wrong place

Even though one mission of this blog is to capture changes I have deliberately not reported any graffiti before because I do not want to encourage the people doing it by giving them more publicity. Graffiti is normally just a meaningless (to most people) tag consisting of a few large letters with no artistic merit but this is something else and is worth recording. 

That said, it is still graffiti on a wall that deserves better and so I will not say where it is.

New grass

A desire path has been between Kingfisher Drive and Riveside Drive has created a muddy scar across the grass which someone is trying to repair by planting new seed and putting up a barrier to allow it to grow. 

That seems to be working for the moment but desire paths are there for a reason and the muddy line is likely to return.

Wrapped roof

I am always interested in new construction projects locally and this one has the advantages of being almost on my doorstep and of being on a corner making it very visible.

Odd one out

This is one of those cases where I fail to understand both why someone wanted to do this and why it was allowed to happen. Once upon a time this was a neat terrace of four houses in Woodville Road, now it is a mess.

Dividing the path

The shared path through Royal Park Gate was clearly divided into separate lanes for pedestrians and cycles when it was first created but nobody paid any attention to them, mostly because the path is too narrow for two lanes, and the lines were allowed to fade in to oblivion.

Now someone has decided to repaint them and I am sure that they will be ignored again.

 

For reasons I am not going to attempt to guess at, the new line stops at the junction with Horsley Drive.

Le Look Image is 30

Le Look Image hairdressers was already well established when I moved to Ham in 1996 . The time has flown by for both of and now they are celebrating 30 years.

Walking Ham

I thought that I would share my CityStrides Lifemap so that you can see the paths I have walked in Ham. There may be a few paths missing because I do not always map my walk but it gives you a good idea of where the paths are and how much walking I have to do to try and keep on top of changes locally.

One of the things is shows very well is just how many paths there are in the north-west section of Wates Estate.

LS08 BCF

Lost ways?

One of the things that I most love about Ham is the way that it is so permeable, that is there are lots of paths that let you more across the area in most directions for most of the times. The worst enemy of a street walker is a dead end.

While most parts of Ham are good in this regard some of the paths through Wates Estate, particularly in the south-west corner, have been blocked off. Sometimes this is very obvious and in other places I am not so sure, and these are three of those.

A lot of the garage areas have a separate pedestrian exit and I think there may once have been a way through here from Mariner Gardens to the set of garages in Watermill Close nearest Broughton Avenue.

This is the view from the other side and there is certainly space for a path here.

Similarly, this gate looks as though it blocks a way also from Mariner Gardens to the set of garages on the bend of Watermill Close.

 

22 Sandy Lane

It seems like every house in Sandy Lane has had substantial work done to it in recent years and the latest one to be revamped in number 22.

Regular readers will know that I was enticed into taking this picture by the piles of building materials but I also want to mention the "22" sign by the front door that is wonderfully readable from the pavement.

Pots and more

I like to celebrate the gardens that cheer me up on my walks and this one in Lovell Road certainly did that with its splashes of colour.

Ham Close needs redevelopment

Whatever the merits of the individual blocks in Ham Close, the area needs to be redeveloped because it is very poor use of the space. In the picture above a vast amount of space has been wasted on a large car park and the landscaped areas are just grass.

Ham is noted for the landscaping in Wates Estate and Parkleys but Ham Close lets the area down by doing almost nothing with the spaces between the buildings.

At least there are a few trees in this picture (I have absolutely no idea why there are not lots more) but the scene is still dominated by another underused car park, a wide road and a flat lawn.

The new Ham Close development promises to be an awful lot better than this and will be a real boost to the area.

Rear terrace at Ham House

The rear terrace at Ham House is rather special. In one photo there are flowers on the lower border, a charming wall, grand pots on the terrace, imposing Ham House in the background and another pretty border on the far right.

Rendered

I have been following the works at 29 Ham Farm Road for two years and they looked to be drawing to a close when they took an unexpected turn with the rendering of the font and right-side walls. Previously these were brick and very much in keeping with the rest of the road, particularly its neighbours.

The new garage on the right and the new extension on the left (just about visible) are still brick which makes the decision to hide the other bricks more strange.

Clifford Road signs

It is hard to tell but this is the sign for Clifford Road on the east side of its junction with Sandy Lane.  I am surprised that nobody has thought to clear it. I sometimes take secateurs with me when out walking and if I had had them I would have done something.

Just about of it can be seen through the vegetation to show that it is an old sign with a bold sans serif typeface.

 

Originally I was only going to post the obscured sign but as I am now looking at road signs more carefully I took a photo of the one opposite. For some reason this is much newer.

It also claims that Clifford Road is in Petersham but I am not convinced. The only area that I will concede is in Petersham is the conservation area.

80 and 82 Meadlands Drive

I like old fashioned gates like this one and I like this one even more as it has the two house numbers included in it.

Daffodils at Ham House

The Kitchen Garden at Ham House is always worth a visit, and not just because the cafe is there, though that helps. On this visit the daffodils were in fine form.

LB06 AHC

Copse cleared

This is the east side of The Copse, next to the former Strathmore School site, where there is a narrow band of trees along the border that is separated from the main part of The Copse by a grassy clearing and a muddy path towards the German school. 

Some heavy clearance of the undergrowth has taken place and the area looks temporarily stark.

 

This might be standard maintenance or it might just be connected to the proposal to revelop the former school site as a new school.

New tree in Upper Ham Road

The previous tree in this position, opposite The Hand and Flower, was damaged back in January 2022 and it is good to see it replaced at last. It is a lot smaller than the old one and it will be quite a few years before it really makes its presence known.

Ham Vets opening soon

It is always good to see an empty shop unit being filled and so I welcome the coming of Ham Vets even though I do not have a pet. Pet related shops seem to be a thing at the moment as there was one proposed for Ham Street (Brewery Tap) and for Ham Parade (Malcolm's). 

I do not know if Ham Vets was behind either of those but the plans for Ham Street fell through with the proposed owner saying that they were looking for another more appropriate site. 

Of course that leaves Brewery Tap still looking for a new purpose and three empty shops on Ham Parade.

Easter bunnies

This jolly Easter decoration was one of two similar displays in a garden in Meadlands Drive and was just the sort of thing to brighten a walk along the street.

Ham House Meadow

The grassland between Ham House and the river is part of the Ham House estate run by National Trust and is not, for example, part of Ham Lands. It is called Ham House Meadow and has a sign to prove it.

Replaced fence

This fence in Upper Ham Road is clearly new though it is almost a like-for-like replacement and it is very similar to the one it replaced, except that the old one was taller at the right end.

The main reason that I know that this is a new fence is because the people doing the work blocked the pavement there for two days by parking their truck half on the pavement and half on the road, which has double yellow lines.

I checked on Google Street View to see just how similar the two fences are and that shows a vehicle parked up on the pavement too! Clearly someone there has no respect for pedestrians or other road users.

No Weeds Allowed

I admire the idea of a "no Weeds Allowed" sign though I doubt its effectiveness. However, what it lacks in function it more than makes up for in humour and appearance. 

Back Lane is blue

When I took a photograph of this section of Back Lane way back in 2018 I was just capturing the shops and this time I wanted to capture them with their shutters down to show the dominance of the colour blue.

The shutters provide most of the blueness but it is interesting to note that the Goddard signs have changed from blue on white to white on blue which adds a lot of blue.

Completed hedge

Thames Landscape Strategy have completed the new hedge in Great South Avenue. They built a similar one at the other end and on the other side of the avenue a few years ago and that one has been absorbed into the small patch of woodland there. This one is in a more exposed situation and it will be interesting to see how it developes. I wish it well.

Parkleys street signs

This looks like another format street sign to me though I've not done any of the hard work required to precisely compare fonts. The closest to this I have posted recently is Broughton Avenue and the "A" look different to me.

Parkleys used to be split between Richmond and Kingston so it is just possible that this is an old Kingston sign, which would explain its uniqueness.

The main point about the sign is that it is very easy to read, which is the whole point of signs after all. It also carries its age very well.

The much newer sign across the road is far less successful; the sign is too big for the text, the "A" has moved too close to the "P" and the two parts of the "K" are not connected. It may, subjectively, be prettier but it is less effective as a sign.

Large roof at St Thomas Aquinas

The large roof at St Thomas Aquinas is distinctly charming in the spring sunlight with its long sweep of tiles that through their colouring tell tales of wear from weather and vegetation, and also of gentle repair.

Replacement tree on Ham Common

It is always good to see a dead tree being replaced such as here on Ham Common. The size of the old tree can been seen from the size of the wound on the grass and it will be a very long time before the new tree is a full replacement, but that is the nature of trees and waiting a long time is part of the deal. 

There is something of a mixed blessing here as while one new tree is very welcome there is scope to plant so many more on Ham Common to fill other gaps, create a promenade along the main road and to make better use of the unused corners. 

There is a good example in the background of this picture where there is a large gap between the tree just to the right of the bus stop and the one to the left of it by Fox House. There is enough space in that gap for two trees.

Tree debris

There are several short tracks like this in the area around Dukes Avenue which give access to garages at the rear of properties. Someone has been busy in this one off Broughton Avenue and filled the far end with tree debris. I hope, and presume, that this is a temporary situation and the debris will soon be removed.

Dead end

The most annoying thing about exploring the little paths that run between and behind houses is that they often lead nowhere, they provide rear access to a few properties then stop. This section of path ends at 18 Sheridan Road where cameras wait for the visitors like myself.

I hope the owner the cameras is aware of the legislation here are the UK Government guidance makes it quite clear that, "If your CCTV system captures images of people outside the boundary of your private domestic property – for example, from neighbours’ homes or gardens, shared spaces, or from public areas – then the GDPR and the DPA will apply to you."