This curiosity has recently appeared just off the track from Ashburnham Road to Teddington Lock. It is clearly solar powered but I have no idea what it does with that power other than it's location suggests that it has something to do with water.
The skies may be dark and cloudy at the moment but the blossom manages to lift the spirits. These trees add a welcoming display to the section of Ham Lands by Royal Park Gate.
The bright sunshine and warm weather over the last week have brought splashes of colour to brighten the mood. Here a clutch of wild daffodils stare at the river with some flats in Royal Park Gate behind staring at them.
I could see the argument for using gravel to resurface one section of Douglas Footpath but I am rather surprised to see it being used to repair the tow path from River Lane to just beyond the new bridge to Douglas Footpath. The reason that the tow path needs repairing here is because it floods regularly and gravel is a poor defence against that.
One of the reasons for using Douglas Footpath is that it gives you this rural view toward Ham House, which is around 600m away. The white object in the middle of the picture is the scoreboard at Ham Polo.
These buildings are in the Douglas House complex that now forms part of the German School. It was the white tower that attracted me at first but I also like the side-on view of the roof in the foreground and the wild trees behind.
I really did not expect the tarmac that was laid between the tow path and the Sea Scouts to be continued along Douglas Footpath to its junction with Douglas Road (my preferred name for which, bizarrely seems to be part of Petersham Road). What was once a path fit for country rambles is now a road designed for trucks.
The stunning "new" part of the German School has a hi-tech but subtle roof. The building is on the edge of Ham Lands, there is a stable next to it and one of the Ham Avenues crosses in front of it, but somehow the newness still works.
There is far far too much resurfacing of the paths in Ham Lands but the recent work in Petersham Avenue is the least worst. The surface is hard and so easy to walk on but it is too bright and too straight and so it helps to push the countryside away rather than bringing it in closer.
The Manor House on Ham Street likes to keep itself hidden and even in Winter it manages to persuade the trees to block most of it from view.
This hedge shelters the rural arcadia of Ham Lands from the urbanity of Meadlands Drive but that shelter has been damaged, weakened, battered and shorn, which is an attack on Ham Lands itself.
Walking along Upper Ham Road late at night I was struck by the combination of the light from the street lights illuminating the tree, the light from the moon providing a focus and the lights from the houses on Ham Common giving depth to the scene.
These roof tiles look as though they have been hung incorrectly, that is going across the roof (left to right) rather than down the roof (top to bottom), but the end result is distinctive and attractive.
Bramlings sounds like a character out of Beatrix Potter but it is also the name of the house that sits a little on its own between Sudbrook Cottages and Ormeley Lodge in Ham Gate Avenue. It changed hands at the end of 2008 and the new owners are replacing the small conservatory at the back with a much larger single-story extension.
All of Ham Common Woods is quiet but the triangular section between Ham Gate Avenue, Richmond Park and Richmond Golf Course is quieter still due to the simple fact that it is hemmed in on two sides and so you cannot walk through it to get anywhere. But the fact that it is very quiet makes it attractive to those of us who like to forget that we live in the middle of a very large urban sprawl and are happy to just walk among trees; it is the journey that matters, not the destination.
This sign explains that the footpath from River Lane towards Petersham Nurseries leads you to Richmond but you have to look at it quite carefully to determine that. A new sign would be useful!
Richmond Council's chainsaws have moved along from the path between Sandy Lane and Meadlands Drive and are now ruthlessly removing mature trees from the border between Melancholy Walk and Ham Manor.
The Navigator's House in River Lane has scrumptious dark brick, pretty white windows and tidy roofs. The unusual shape of the small side window is revealed by it being open, as if it is trying to show off to passers by.
Manor Farm Stables, next to Ham Polo, reinforces the feeling that you are in the country and lets you get up close to some horses free, for the moment, from their human masters.
Douglas House looks comforted by the bright Winter sunlight, mature trees and white fence.