Backs and fronts

This garden square in Fellbrook deserves to look better than it does. The problem is that the road bends at a right angle with the houses on the left facing on to the road and so their rear gardens back on to the square.

The mix of rear boundaries is something of a mess whereas the front gardens of the house on the right lead neatly on to the square, as they should.

Different views of Clarendon SEND School

Clarendon SEND School is set well back from Meadlands Drive which makes it hard to get a good view of it from there so I went into The Copse to take a look from the side. The details of the building are hidden but the size and scale can be judged.

The new building will clearly impact on The Copse because of the height and the extent of that impact will depend on the finish of the building and the cover provided by the trees.

There is not much to see from behind the school, other than construction clutter, and the final view matters less as it can only be seen from the access road to Ham Polo and the German School.

Little birds

Every walk along Sudbrook Lane is brightened by this decorated post which changes several times a year. The current display is of little birds, perhaps a portent of spring.

Blue doors

My wanders through Ham take me to some less visited places, such as behind the Meadowview blocks of flats in Ashburnham Road. Here I was impressed by the straight lines and the hue of the bricks so was compelled to take this picture.

But, before I posted it I checked whether I had done so before and was disappointed that I had indeed done so, back in 2021.

Then I noticed that the garage doors once brown were now blue so I had a reason to post the picture after all.

Extending The Cottage

I get planning alerts from Richmond Council for applications near me so I was aware that there were proposals for The Cottage on Ham Common and was not surprised to see evidence of work stating there.

New path and more

Now saved from planned demolition, 14 Cedar Heights is being visibly improved. The rather formal path to the front door is perhaps the most obvious change and it is easy to mis that where there are now brown weatherboards there used to be white render.

Two signs

My near obsession with the variety of signs in Ham has somehow overlooked these two in Parkleys, while neither is remarkable the difference between them is interesting and in the competition between the two the upper one wins because of the better colour and use of lowercase.

Clear out

The clutter in the front garden all but obscures the house behind which is clearly having serious work done to it.

Faded sign

There are a few signs like this in Wates Estate which have been rendered meaningless by their faded illegibility. I am not sure if they still apply but there is no enforcement and no attempt has ever been made to dissuade me on my many wanderings through the area