Very high tide

I have seen many high tides at Teddington Lock, and elsewhere locally, but never quite as high as this one. Previously I have seen the water on either side of the weir at the same height but this time the water was visibly flowing upstream over the weir at some pace.

Jude Gate

I am pleased that the house that has replaced Jude Gate on the north side is also called Jude Gate and it has a sleek sign to prove it.

It was also good to have a quick word with the new owner and to talk about the old house and previous occupants that we both knew.

Hammertons Ferry sign

I posted a picture of the other sign of the Hammertons Ferry sign, which shows the operating hours, earlier in the year and I missed the opportunity to show this side with its pleasing design; an error that I am glad to rectify.

Ham House

Over the years I have posted several pictures of the back of Ham House explaining why that is my favourite view of it and I thought that, in fairness, I should post one of the front too. 

From this distance it looks grand and imposing with neat geometry. It is when you get closer to the house and the details start to become obvious that I find it overly fussy which detracts from the neatness of the overall design.

Business as Usual

While this sign next to Teddington Footbridge may claim that businesses on the other side are open as usual, I suspect that the significant works being done to replace the ramp at the Teddington end have had an impact on Flying Cloud as the cafe is almost hidden by the works which also make it a less attractive place to sit.

A collection of windows

In anticipatng what this remodelled house would look like, I never considered this. The grey windows were not a secret, a shame but not a secret, and the roof extension was not much of a surprise either, but the positioning and the number of windows in the roof was.

Most dormer windows are in the rectangular part of the extension facing away from the central ridge of the house but these are on the triangular sides. There may be other windows, particularly as these are facing north east, but because of the position of the house, alongside the footpath to Teddington, these are clearly visible and it will take some scrambling around to check for others.

Trench to Jude Gate

The section of Ham Common trapped between the main road and the access road in the north west corner is bit of a mess with quite a lot of tarmac compared to the area of greenery and it was made more messy when this trench was constructed to bring services to the rebuilt Jude Gate.

Tree at risk

One of the planning applications submitted for the various works at Gordon House is 24/T0614/TCA which is for the removal of a few trees, including this one. It would be a shame to see it go as it has a positive impact on that part of the Common.

New sign for Fox and Duck

Fox and Duck is under new management and one of the first signs of this is the new sign, and it's cute.

I like the simplicity of the picture and the large amount of black that makes it clear what the picture is. I also love that they dropped the word "the", clearly following my recommendation from four years ago!

Parkleys Sewage Pumping Station

The works at Parkleys Sewage Pumping Station have finished and the associated machinery and fences have gone leaving a little sign that they were ever there, just a sizeable patch of bare ground.

White railings

While the future of former Brewery Tap remains uncertain (I would love to have the old pub back but that's not going to happen) at least the neatly decorated railings are still there to enjoy.

Trench in Ham Village Green

While the main work on the Ham Close redevelopment is west end of the site a small area has also been cordoned off at the east end on Ham Village Green. The reason for this was to enable some pipe work which included a trench curving away from Ashburnham Road.

OWL

I have no idea what OWL is, or stands for, and that does not matter as it is vibrant sign that demands attention which is all that is needed to get posted here. If I had to guess I would say it is directions to a location where they are filming something and "owl" is an acronym or abbreviation of its title.

The sign is on one of the gates to The Russell School on Petersham Road.

New gates at Malden Oaks

I did not post a picture of the previous gates at Malden Oaks simple because they were not interesting but changes are interesting (to me at least!) so the new gates do get a mention. The old gates were solid and, not surprisingly, sat between the gate posts, whereas the new gates are a less intimidating mesh and have been set back a few metres.

35

The new Jude Gate on Ham Common has yet to confirm that it is keeping its former name but it has made its number, 35, clear for those that need to know. It is easy to read but is a little too simple for the grand house it announces.

Greedy Hare closed

Greedy Hare, which only opened in March, seems to have closed; it has certainly missed the 15 July reopening date promised here. This is something of a shame but in the few months that it was open I only went there two or three times and it needed to attract more people like me more often.

The previous occupier of that unit, Lahore Brasserie, was short-lived too so I hope that the next shop there has a better idea of what the area wants.

Blocked path

The path across Petersham Meadows is just outside of the usual geographical range of this blog but I could not resist postng a picture of these cows obstructing the way. 

A few people are killed by cows in UK every year so I took as large a detour as I could and I took it gently to avoid spooking them, something that I am used to doing with deer in Richmond Park.

Footpath Closed

One of the footpaths across Ham Village Green is closed because of the works associated with the redevelopment of Ham Close, except that is not the whole story. The footpath is closed but there is access to Ham Street and Ashburnham Road still simple by walking through the play area.

The layout of the sign intrigues me too: the capitalised "Or" looks wrong, it is on its own and the "to" above it is not capitalised; and "Street" has been abbreviated to "St." despite there being plenty of space. I would have written it as " No access to / Ham Street or / Ashburnham Road".

Working on the stables

Manor Farm Stables, next to Ham Polo, is having some work done, the nature of which is not obvious from this angle. Sadly the thick vegetation alongside Petersham Avenue prevented me from taking a decent picture of the long side of the building.

Dead trees

A few dead trees along Ham Gate Avenue have been marked for removal.  Situated next to the path and road it clearly makes sense to get rid of them. 

I am curious however, to see to what extent they are actually removed as looking at dead trees that have already been worked on there is a mix of short stumps and branchless trunks of around 3m. The debris is also a mix of left on the ground in once piece, left in chopped up sections and removed completely.

Coloured masking tape

This chapter on the replacement of windows at St Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church on Ham Common is drawing to a close with the third central window back in place and being painted. I like that the masking tape is in three colours giving the window a temporary artistic and asymmetric look.

Vandal at work in Royal Park Gate

The green corridor through Royal Park Gate deliberately natural looking with a defined wildlife corridor and the other grassy areas lightly managed to allow grasses to produce seeds and flowers to produce pollen. As I walked through I could see butterflies seeking that pollen.

That is how the area is meant to be.

One resident has other ideas and decided to spend several hours mowing the area to reduce it to this with not a flower in sight. Such wanton destruction is baffling.

Luckily nature can cope and just a couple of days later the grass areas were back to where they were, as anyone who tries to maintain a neat lawn will appreciate.

Bakehouse border

When I last mentioned Bakehouse on Petersham Road, back in June, I wondered about what would become of the front boundary, and now we know. Where a low white brick wall once stood are some tall railings with an even taller hedge behind it.

There is not a consistent style to the borders in that section of Petersham Road so while the previous low border was possibly slightly more in keeping with its neighbours the higher railings and hedge are not out of place, provided the hedge is kept trimmed to a reasonable height.

Busy lock

Teddington Lock is a busy scene at the moment due to all the work going on around Launch Lock and it was made even busier by the passing of a large boat through Barge Lock.