Stokes House in Ham Street

I had visited Stokes House a few times over the years, both as part of Ham Open Gardens and also when it has been opened on its own, so I knew what to expect when visiting this time. It is next door to Bench House and so there was no point in seeing one without the other.

Stokes House has the much larger garden as Bench House lost most of its years ago to create the houses in The Bench. The garden is in sections separated by hedges and borders so these two photos are just a sample of what is on offer. They show a garden that is both pretty and functional.

Bench House in Ham Street

For Ham Open Gardens 2013 I opted for a anti-clockwise tour of Ham Common with a little diversion down Ham Street  where I found Bench House. This is one of the gardens that I had not been to before so I was keen to satisfy my curiosity.

The most prominent feature of the garden was the wisteria in full bloom on the South facing wall. It looked over a walled garden with thick lush borders.

Ham Fair will be on Saturday 8 June 2013

Ham Fair is one of the regular events in the Ham calendar and is probably the most important one. It beings all sorts of local community groups and organisations to Ham Common to show of what they do and to raise money for some good causes.

Ham Open Gardens 19 May 2013

The next Ham Open Gardens is on Sunday 19 May 2013, but you'd be hard pressed to find much publicity for it. There is one large banner on the main road, on a fence in distant Petersham, and this A5 leaflet stuck in the window of Newsbox on Ham Parade. This is exactly the sort of event that ought to be publicised on the new community board on Ham Parade, but isn't.