Little House on Ham Common

Ham Common (i.e. the road that circles Ham Common the, er, common) has several seriously attractive buildings, such as Gordon House and Avenue Lodge, but even in this exulted company Little House is a little special.

It's location helps as it sits on the corner of New Road which means that it has the opportunity to show off in two directions, unlike most of its competitors that only show one side of themselves to the public and then usually cowered behind a tall bleak wall.

Little House had some modesty itself until recently with a hedge hiding some of the wall, and with it, the name of the house itself but the gardeners have been kind and have sacrificed some of the hedge to reveal more of the sumptuous wall, the gate posts and the garden within.

Peering underground

Just as you veer off Ham Farm Road towards Church Road and pass the entrance to Beechrow there are a couple of square metal covers and it has always been a mystery to me what secrets they kept. Until now when I had the good fortune to be passing when work was being done there.

And the revealed secrets were even more mysterious than I imagined. I thought that the covers gave little more than access to some pipes or cables and something to control them, such as a wheel handle. What I discovered instead was a large room complete with machinery that looks more likely to be to do with managing water than electricity.

Pink

This pleasing collection of lines, shapes and colours can be found in Maguire Drive. Painting your front gate bright pink is certainly unusual but it is also eye-catching without being too blatant. I like it.

Ham Village Green

I really don't like this photo.The composition just does not work; you cannot see enough of the play area (that's the rocks!), a tree grows out of the sign and the greyness overwhelms. That's why I did not post it when I took it last month.

Today the weather was a little brighter, I had some free time and I was in that part of Ham so I leaped at the opportunity to take a better one but time has been cruel to me, and to Ham Village Green and the bright colourful sign has gone already. All there is to remember it by are two brown circles in the grass where the posts used to be and this picture.

GY59 VUN on the pavement

This White Van Man earned his place in the record of bad parkers by driving past me as I walked along Craig Road and then parking on the pavement just in front of me when there was plenty of space on either side of the road.

Perking up Ham Pond

Ham Pond has had a minor face-lift that should help the wildlife that has its home there. The island (if you can call something that small an island) has been enlarged, presumably to make it a more attractive nesting spot. The swans were there a couple of years ago but have been closer to the bank (and to dogs) since then.

The low rustic fence has been repaired and extended to remind children of all ages that they should keep away from the water. Sadly the dogs will take no notice and some owners are still stupid enough to allow their dogs in to the water even when the birds are breeding. I'd ban dogs from the whole of Ham Common!

Trees

Every so often I like to post a photograph that reminds me of some of the best things about living in Ham and the thing I love the most is the large areas of natural beauty. A fine example of this is these trees in Ham Common Woods which are making the most of the bright Autumn sunlight.

Mud

High claims were made two years ago for the importance of the grasslands here when St Andrews Church needed an excuse to remove the trees between it and Upper Ham Road but this was never a convincing argument and it is even less believable now that heavy vehicles have wrecked considerable damage across the area as part of the regular "maintenance".

Oak Lodge

Sometimes the wait is worth it.

Back in January I finally gave up hope of getting this picture because there was always at least one car parked there to spoil it and then I reluctantly posted a picture of just part of the house.

And now, after walking past the house many many times I eventually managed to catch it unaware with the cars away and I can rest happy with another mission accomplished.

Orange path

The works to the footpath on Riverside Drive are now complete and I am not impressed. Richmond has a thing for these ugly bright paths that already blight Richmond Park and Church Road and now this one forms a harsh boundary to the verdant Ham Lands. And to make matters even worse, this surface is difficult for anything with small wheels, e.g. kids' scooters or buggies, and hurts like hell if you fall over on it.