15 February 2026

A proper path


The remade path that goes past St Richard's Church, to cut off the corner of Ashburnham Road, looks very good. 

As a fairly regular user of this path, I appreciate the wide entrance to it from this side and also the resurfaced pavement next to it.

14 February 2026

Ladder and skip


It is hard to miss this building project as the house sits prominently on the corner of Dukes and Dysart Avenues and also because the work is at roof level so it can be seen from some distance.

13 February 2026

Two statues


Two very white and active statues of Venus and Mercury stand either side of the central entrance to The Wilderness behind Ham House.

12 February 2026

28mph


A speed display sign is often deployed alongside Ham Common and while it is noticeable that some cars do slow down towards the official 20mph limit it is equally noticeable that many do not and it is not unusual to see a speeding car being overtaken.

I have posted this picture not because the speed, 28mph, is unusually high but because it was the first occasion that I could take such a picture with no cars in it and I was not going to wait for a bigger number, 28mph is enough to make the point.

10 February 2026

The Manor House in Petersham


The Manor House sits on a prominent position on Tommy Steele Corner (I still call it that) and the only way to appreciate it properly is to cross the busy road to stand by the main entrance to Montrose House.

It looks as though the work being gone is just minor maintenance but I will cross the road against once it is finished to see the end result.

9 February 2026

Beaufort Court aftermath


Having taken a picture of Beaufort Court while works of some sort were in progress I went back to see what had changed and, frankly, I cannot see anything different. 

In particular, the render on the balconies still looks weathered when this seemed to be what they were working on. They certainly could have done something while the scaffolding was in place.

8 February 2026

Working on Beaufort Court


I take work-in-progress pictures like this because I want to record thigns that change and the materials of the works are a change, even if temporary, and they also hold the promise of future change once the works are completed.

Whatever is being done to Beaufort Court looks substantial with scaffolding towers on all of the blocks that I could see,

7 February 2026

Four chairs


These four delightful chairs are next to the entrance to Ham House, where you can sit and admire the four identical chairs on the other side.

6 February 2026

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.