Wall repairs

The wall around the Ham House estate is one of the largest and most prominent locally and this section, as it passes The Palm Centre has recently had a substantial repair. It is clearly not the first time that the wall has had to be repaired, the mix of bricks shows that, and I suspect that before too long these repairs will blend in with all the others.

Richmond Chase Phase 2

While it is not possible to go into the part of the site where the construction is happening it is possible to see it from Latchmere Close. The town houses are at an interesting stage with the roof structures visible.

Wild flowers on Ham Street and Riverside Drive

I am pretty sure that I posted a picture of these flowers last year but that is no reason for not doing so again.

These delightful flowers are on the corner of Ham Street and Riverside Drive and this is the view looking from Ham Street to Riverside Drive. The flowers look great, the cars do not.

The view from Riverside Drive is better and this closeup shows the variety of flowers in the bed.

A feast of fungi

In one of my regular walks through Ham Common Woods I noticed this tree stump thick with fungi. Actually, it could be only one fungus but I am not an expert on such things. It is not the biology that interested me, it was the structures.

A neat garden in Sudbrook Lane

This house in Sudbrook Lane is pretty enough and I think the garden is even prettier. It made me stop and admire it as I was walking briskly past, which I was happy to do.

Back to Richmond Chase

Richmond Chase is a large development and it will take several years so I am making regular trips there and will be doing so for some time yet.

Only a small part of the site is accessible currently so most of my attention is on the blocks facing Latchmere Close. The blocks were finished a little while ago and now work is being done on their frontages. The fences are a good addition as they break up the monotony of the facade.

Opposite the blocks the open space is taking shape and from this angle there is a good view of the slide (centre) and the large stone (left).

226 Petersham Road

226 Petersham Road has kept me entertained for many months as I have watched progress on the house from the top of the 65 bus. I was expecting that work to continue to include the frontage on to Petersham Road, and perhaps it will, but at the moment it is a charming muddle of materials that, to be honest, I find more interesting than the house behind it.

Royal Park Gate Play Area

The Play Area in Royal Park Gate is oddly situated outside of the development (oddly because it would serve families better if it was in the middle) and has been largely unaltered since it was installed just over twenty years ago. If was probably due an update and now Kingston Council is consulting on some proposed changes.

Demolishing The Russell School

With the work on the new school building complete, or almost complete, the old building is being demolished. I will miss it. Both of my boys went to school there.

New door for Beaufort Cottage

Walking along Ham Street the other day I saw that Beaufort Cottage was in the process of getting a new door on to Ham Street. On that day the door was still raw and unfurnished.

I went back a couple of days later to check on progress and the work was completed, the door had been varnished and had acquired a name plate, a handle and a small lock.

Fox House refreshed

Fox Cottage looks much like it always did but a close look reveals that a lot of work has been done to the front of the house. The windows have been repaired, the cracks in the wall have been filled and both have been repainted.

Overgrown garden in Burnell Avenue

This house in Burnell Avenue had been empty for quite a while and the garden has taken advantage of that. The house has now been sold and I hope that the new owner takes a sympathetic approach to reclaiming the front garden and leaves many of the plants in place and just trims them enough to make the house accessible.

Early Autumn

One of the (many) pleasures in walking around Ham is seeing how Autumn changes leaves red in different places at different times. This year Langham House was the first to take the plunge.

Progress in Bainbridge Close

So far the new house in Bainbridge Close looks promising, so much more so that Latchmere Lodge next door.

St. Andrews House

St. Andrews House is an unusual building on Upper Ham Road, It is unusual in design and function, being an office. It has just been refurbished and repainted. It looks The sign on the left reveals why; it is now looking for new tenants. 

New entrance to Malden Oaks

I was working to work down Dukes Avenue when I saw work starting on building a new entrance to Malden Oaks, the site which used to be Dysart School. At first the width of it had me worried that they were building a second drive and in an awkward location.

Later that day (after work) I was pleased to see that it was only going to be a footpath with the timbers in position to hold the surface in place.

A day or so later it was (almost) done. The path was finished and there was a new fence in place. There was only the new grass to do and that is now there. I would photograph that too but grass is boring.

Monitoring South Corner

I keep a regular eye on progress at South Corner despite being often thwarted by closed gates and parked vehicles on the drive. Sometimes the view is clear and there is usually something new to see. This time it was the emergence of a garage to the side of the house.

Mother and child

This delightful couple live in the corner of a garden in Burnell Avenue. They are hard to find but it is worth the effort.

Remodelled house in Sandy Lane

This house in Sandy Lane, on the South side near the junction with Arlington Road, has been completely remodelled, either by a new owner or by a developer. The house I quite like, especially the window to the stairs, the barren garden not so much.

Poppies

There are wide spaces at the junction of Dukes and Broughton Avenues, spaces for trees, lots of grass and a clump of poppies. They were literally buzzing this evening as I walked past and there with hordes of insects make use of the flowers.

Modern house in Sandy Lane

One of the most interesting modern houses in Ham is next to the playground toward the west end of the road. Sadly it is well screened and this is all that can be seen of it but at least that is enough to show its character.

Wilmer House

This is another one of those photos that I thought I had posted years ago only to find that I had only posted one of the gate. Anyway, this is Wilmer House and it sits in the quiet bit of Church Road that runs between Latchmere Lane and Ham Gate Avenue. One of our local celebrities lives here.

Pleasant garden in Burnell Avenue

Burnell Avenue seems to go through more changes than any other road in Ham and there are always two or three houses that are being extended or refurbished. This is one of the houses that has had major works recently and while the bold blue doors may be the most striking feature it is the garden that impressed me the most, even though it was not quite finished when I took this picture.

The design is nicely modern with interesting shapes, materials, structures and colours. Pride of place goes to the driveway which is functional, pretty and friendly to the environment.

Letting the grass grow

I appreciate that the combination of warmth and rain helps plants to grow but I do not recall the grass area running through Royal Park Gate ever being allowed to grow this while. However, I suspect that has more to do with Kingston Council's miserly approach to public works.

The broad leaf weeds are firmly established and there is not likely to be much grass left when they do get around to cutting it.

The little grey mark in the middle of the picture is a "No Ball Games" sign made redundant by the ball-swallowing vegetation around it.

Landscaping at Richmond Chase

Most of the site at Richmond Chase is still off-limits as the construction continues but the work at the west end of the site is clearly visible and this includes that landscaping of the green space that was there before the building works started.

I am pleased to see that the landscaping includes building some mounds. There is a slide being installed on one of them and I am sure that small children will also enjoy the simple pleasures of running, rolling and tumbling on them.

Ham Lands

Every so often I like to post another picture of Ham Lands just as a reminder of how lovely it is.