16 Upper Ham Road

The Hand and Flower has been closed for some months with little visible evidence of this other that no lights and no customers but the arrival of a crude security door confirms the fact.

It also gives the property number as 16 when it has almost always been referred to by its name. Hand and Flower, rather than the number. This may suggest a possible change of use.

Ferrymoor tree

This end of Ferrymoor may be scruffy but the tree helps to make up for that.

The garages in the bottom left have been doomed for over two years but are still there for some reason.

Two empty units

While the unit that used to be Rowleys seems to have found a new owner at one end of Ham Parade at the far end two units have become empty.

In June last year there were for sale by auction signs up and more recently a sold sign appeared, but far too briefly for me to photograph it. Whatever the new owners have in mind does not include the two businesses that were there.

Personally I will not miss Taylor Made having had various animated discussions with some of their drivers over their frequent pavement parking.

With the Hand and Flower closed and the former Gate House also looking for a new tenant, the top end of Ham Parade looks grim at the moment.

Rowleys replaced

It is almost a year (somehow!) since Rowleys on Ham Parade closed and now it looks as though the unit has found a new occupier. That should be good news but that rather depends on what that business is.

New flower bed

The corner where Ashburnham Road meets Broughton Avenue has always been an attractive and well managed space; I posted a picture of some of the flower beds there in 2015 and the tree was planted in 2022.

The latest change is the removal of a stretch of hedge along the end wall of the block of flats to create a new flower bed.

2 Ashfield Close

Cars parked on the drive had thwarted all of my previous attempts to take a full-width picture of 2 Ashfield Close following its extensive refurbishment so I was glad to finally find it car free. The house is both distinctive and attractive.

Clarendon SEND School rises

The new Clarendon SEND School building is well underway and while this is the back of the development it is also the closest that you can get to it, as it is set well back from Meadlands Drive. From here it looks to be a staunchly traditional building with rectangular walls comprised of uniform bricks.

This may not be very exciting but it is appropriate for the area and is much better than the multi-coloured panels that many schools went for a few years ago, including the Kingston Academy extension on Richmond Road in Kingston.

Another view of The Manor House

I posted a view earlier of the works at The Manor House in Petersham looking from Montrose House and this is the view from River Lane. I suspect that the house will look much the same as it did before once all the work is finished but in the meantime it looks good covered in scaffolding.

Ham Close at street level

While the scaffolding has come down on the first blocks in the new Ham Close development there is still a lot of work to do and the red digger in the middle of the picture was busy doing something then I walked past.

What I can see of the new buildings looks good and I hope that the same care is put into the landscaping. The old Ham Close was all grass and tarmac, with too much tarmac, and I am hoping for much better in the new development. Hopefully we will see some of this soon.