Interesting objects at Petersham Nurseries

I no longer go to Petersham Nurseries to buy things for the garden because they do not do much of that these days, preferring to focus on the food and drink side of the business, which means that I do not go there very often.

When I do go it is to look for interesting things to show in this blog and on my most recent visit I found some. I do not know how much care was taken in assembling this collection of objects, lurking by what was the entrance to the garden shop, but the combination works for me.

Stafford Cottages in late Summer

I last posted a picture of the garden at Stafford Cottage back in June and I have visited it almost every day since then as it forms one of my regular walks around Ham Common. In those two months the garden has grown taller and, if anything, is even prettier than it was before.

The garden does its best to hide the house and to hide it with a carefully planned mix of leaves and flowers which are kept in place by paved paths. The effect is stunning.

New entrance to The Old Vicarage in Petersham

I posted a picture of the new entrance to The Old Vicarage in Petersham in June after the construction was completed but before the planting was done so I have revisited it to show the finished article, and very impressive it is too. 

Richmond Chase is coming

The redevelopment of what was Latchmere House has now got a name, Richmond Chase. The name and the logo are obviously trying to tie the development firmly to the nearby Richmond Park while conveniently forgetting that half of the development is technically in Kingston.

It also seems a little odd to call it a chase, which means an unenclosed area, when the sign is next to a substantial wall that forms the north boundary to the site.

Sun dial flowerbed at Teddington Lock

The gardens in front of the office on Teddington Lock have, for a long time, been one of the reasons that I keep going on there despite there being only one entrance/exit which forces me to retrace some of my steps. The raised flowerbed immediately behind the office is pretty too but beyond that there is a long expanse of grass with just a couple of trees to liven it up.

There is also a small sun dial in the middle of the lawn and the lock keepers held a competition to design a garden for it. They had many suggestions and some of these are displayed on the rotating noticeboard by the entrance/exit.

The winning garden has been planted and does the sun dial proud.

As well as being a thing of beauty in its own tight, it gives encouragement to walk further on to the lock which helps visitors to appreciate the scale of the artificial island and the engineering required to maintain a steady flow of boats along that stretch of the Thames.

The sundial is also one of the three PokeStops on the island, which is another good reason to visit it.

Behind the new flats Cave Road

I have been watching the progress of the new flats at the end of Cave Road (where there used to be garages) since February 2016 and after seven months the work is almost complete.

The front of the block is still being worked on but the view from the back is finished. From this angle, seen from the foot and cycle path, the block has a distinctly industrial look due to the few small windows and the grey top floor and I like it like that.

The block faces on to Riverside Drive and the front looks very different. I'll show that once it is finished.

Petersham House, 143 Petersham Road

My flimsy excuse for not posting a picture of this neat little sign before is that I assumed that I had already done so. There was some doubt in my mind so I took a picture of it anyway and a simple search showed that it had not been included before. Now it has.

Bright entrance to Milton Court

I have featured the entrance to Milton Court before and have been forced to do so again because it has been even better this year.

I walk along Parkleys regularly and I love the way that it bends gently around Milton Court so that its entrance is visible from a distance.

This is my favourite view of the entrance. The only problem is that there is a post right here which meant that I had to stand one side of it while holding my camera on the other. The slight awkwardness was worth putting up with to capture this colourful and uninterrupted view.