A little snow

We do not get much snow around here so I like to take a note of when it does. That way I can compare years. This Winter (so far!) we have only had one significant fall and that lasted just a couple of days. It was bitterly cold but not very white.

I took these pictures on my usual walk to work through Royal Park Gate, you can just see the corner of the playground on the right.

I then walked along the tow path towards the Teddington Footbridge. This part of the walk is always pretty, even though I have done it thousands of times, and it still was even though the snow transformed its look.

Richmond Chase Phase 2

Richmond Chase Phase 2 is still behind a barrier but there are gaps in it so I am able to monitor progress. The biggest changes since I was last there are the planting on the front right and the wooden bin stores outside of the townhouses on the right.

Repairing paths in The Copse

The paths though The Copse are busy, my boys used to walk through there to and from school every day, and they stay muddier longer than some others due to the lack of sunlight and wind both of which are interrupted by the trees.

The reasonable solution adopted was to put down tree bark.

The bark looked good on a sunny day in Winter when the trees were devoid of leaves but it will be more useful on a wet Spring day.

Extension almost completed

I have been watching this extension, on the corner of Horsley Drive and Manston Grove, take shape over the last few months and now it is down to the finishing touches. I am still in two minds about it; I like that its appearance is largely in keeping with the rest of the house and the houses around it but the shape of the side extension worries me a little as it looks slightly detached from the rest of the house.

Welcome to Strathmore School

The old Strathmore School, next to Russell School, has this lovely sign by its entrance. It is side-on to the front door, which is to the left. To take this picture I had to scramble through the line of trees along the boundary to The Copse.

Repairing the pavement in Ham Farm Road

Ham Farm Road is one of the places that I walk the most, it makes a nice loop with Parkleys, and I have never thought that the pavements were a problem, certainly not when compared to some other roads locally. Somebody obviously thinks otherwise and extensive repairs are being done.

On another walk along Ham Farm Road a few days later the weather was much better so I took another picture, this one further along the road to the East.

Unexpected cycle rack

I have absolutely no idea why a cycle rack has been installed in the grounds of the block of flats on the corner of Richmond Road and Dukes Avenue and I have not yet seen them in use. Cycle racks are a good thing, it is just putting them in the middle of the garden that I do not understand. They do not strike me of being particularly safe and there is no cover either.

Friends of Ham Lands in action

Friends of Ham Lands (FoHL) have started working in Ham Lands to improve wildlife habitats, particularly for butterflies, on the morning of the second Saturday of each month. If you walk along one of the main paths through Ham Lands South you will see piles of cut vegetation as a sign that work has been done in that area.

In February they worked in this section clearing the encroaching scrub to protect the grassland. They also did some work on the path leading out of the middle of the picture both to make it more passable and also to clear more scrub from the grass verges.

This was not meant to be a little pick but the cans and bottles in the areas that they were working in were removed. It was a significant collection from quite a small area. Ham Lands is much better without it.

More maintenance in Royal Park Gate

The maintenance work that I first spotted along the main path through Royal Park Gate is at least as obvious along Horsley Drive.

Here the woody hedge has been cut down to the height of the wall behind it bringing the townhouses behind in Wittering Close more clearly into view for no apparent reason.

The biggest surprise was the reappearance of these railings at the junction of Horsley Drive and Richmond Road. This had been engulfed in vegetation for so long that I had forgotten that it was there.

New paving in Lock Road

I walk along Lock Road regularly, apart from anything else it is on one of my routes to work, and had not thought that there was anything wrong with the pavement but other people thought differently and  the paving stones are being replaced in a long section of the road.

The new paving stones do look good and they do seem to have made a good job of laying them flat and with no gaps between them. 

Maintenance in Royal Park Gate

I have been moaning for years about the way that vegetation has been allowed to encroach significantly on to the main path through Royal Park Gate, linking Ham to the river, and have even done some minor trimming myself, so it was with surprise and pleasure that I saw that some serious work had been done.

A close look shows that some of the branches that were cut were quite substantial, some a couple of centimetres in diameter, so this was far more than just a trim.

Given that so much work was done it seems a little churlish to be critical, but I shall. The vegetation has only been cut back to the edge of the path so as soon as it grows at all it will encroach the path again and the tall hedge has not even been cut back all the way to the edge.

Advertising Park Hill Prep School Open Day

I hope that this sign, on the pavement in front of the pharmacy on Ham Parade, has only just appeared as I have only just noticed it. The Bistro is immediately to the left and its boundary somewhat obscures the sign, particularly when walking north.

Update: I have since seen one of these adverts outside of John Lewis in Kingston (by the Thames Street junction) so it may be a case of fly advertising rather than anything to do with the pharmacy.

Crane in Lawrence Road

I was walking along Lock Road on the way to work and glancing up Lawrence Road I saw this crane at work and had to take a closer look. I do not know what its payload was, nor do I care, it was the machine itself that I wanted to capture.

New earth

I like the passageway next to Reston Lodge and I usually make an excuse to walk down there when I am in Petersham. On this occasion the new earth wire along the base of the wall demanded my attention with its newness. I presume that it will become grubby very soon and it will forget that it was even new but luckily I have the evidence that it was.

Gate to Cassel Hospital

At the back of Cassel Hospital, just off Ham Parade, is a double gate that gives access to the extensive grounds. I do not know if it had been used recently but the vegetation in front of it had been cleared making the gate more obvious.

Unusual roof tiles

One of the claims that I make for this blog is that it "it delights in the unusual" and I think that these roof tiles, in Ashfield Close, are definitely that with their sharp ridges. The effect is quite striking and I like it. 

9 Cedar Heights from Richmond Park

I hope that this is the last time that I have to show 9 Cedar Heights though if anything does happen to it that will be an improvement and I will be glad to report it. I am showing it this time as I was walking down the hill from Pembroke Lodge and it made a big, and unfavourable, impact.

It looks even worse when I zoom out a little to show some of the nearby houses, including Ham House. The other houses hide easily amongst the trees but number 9 shouts its ugly white defiance across the park.