Traffic free

It was a real pleasure to discover that Cadent's work there had closed Ham Street to through traffic and being able to walk along the wide flat road rather than the narrow uneven pavement.

Public Bar

The current refurbishment of The Hand and Flower has revealed another little piece of its history, signage for the Public Bar on a door that has not been used for many years.

New garden

The long and extensive work to 31 Ham Farm Road seems to have been completed with the planting of the gardens. Unlike number 29 (top-right corner) they have created a lawn in the strip that is part of Ham Common and only planted shrubs in the private area.

Truncated tree

I do not know what this tree in Broughton Avenue did to deserve this fate but it has been sawn down to about one metre with the tape suggesting that some unexpected incident was involved.

Green and yellow

The Hand and Flower has gone green and yellow which is a very different look from the former grey and white.

There is work ongoing, including to the former door to the public bar and to the illuminated sign, but the basic mood has been set.

Building something

Something substantial is being built in the access lane off Broughton Avenue that runs behind houses in Lock Road. It is hard to tell yet whether it is a garage at the end of the lane or a building at the back of a garden.

Remains of a pond

A few months ago I commented that a pond in Ham Common Woods had almost vanished and, unsurprisingly, it has now gone completely. The greenery suggest that this is a damp place, one of the very few remaining in the Woods, possibly the only one.

Shaped hedges

Wates Estate is delightfully littered with small open spaces, like this one on Broughton Avenue opposite Mariner Gardens, where the shaped hedges are an unusual and attractive feature.

Scorched

Ham Common Woods looks a different place after several weeks of extreme heat and no rain. The vegetation has either wilted or turned brown making a walk through it more disturbing than delightful.