Lovely house

I took a work in progress picture of this house in Cedar Heights just over a month ago and it was good to go back and see how it finished, which is just as good as I hope it would be. This is a lovely house and such a contrast to the new monstrosity opposite it.

Cycle shed

I have no excuse to go to Russell School any more (my boys left there fifteen years ago!) so I have to spy on the new school buildings from public paths. From Meadlands Drive you can see the new cycle sheds.

These are very welcome though it is a little disappointing that they are nothing like as striking as the new cycle storage units at the German School or Grey Court.

More path repairs in The Copse

A year ago work, led by Ham and Petersham Association, was done to repair the path in The Copse to encourage more people, especially school children, to walk through there; and this year the work continued with more bark being put down.

Preparing the site

There are two similar and neighbouring construction projects projects that I am watching at the moment. In both cases a set of little-used garages is being cleared to make way for new homes.

One project lies between Dukes Avenue and Maguire Drive. This one is in Craig Road.

It is an awkward shaped site that narrows significantly at the far end so this digger easily fills the full width of the plot.

The work has begun

Yesterday (though not taken yesterday) I posted a final picture of the garages lying between Dukes Avenue and Maguire Drive and I am glad that I did as they have been hidden behind hoardings so will never be seen again. They have probably gone already.

Just before the passageway was blocked I had a look at the Maguire Drive end of the passage and was pleased to see that as part of the development of the site that the house on the end had gained a rather nifty new fence.

A last look

These garages in the eastern of the two passages between Dukes Avenue and Maguire Drive are due to be demolished and be replaced by houses. They look a little nervous as if aware of their fate.

Stained class in Lock Road

I have featured 56 Lock Road before because it has a lovely garden. I mentioned then that I love the stained glass so here is a close up to explain why that is. No further words are necessary.

Lost trees in Lawrence Road

When I last posted a photograph of this corner of Lawrence Road, back in 2008, there were three mature trees there. I am obviously disappointed that they have gone but I presume that there were good reasons for this. I am even more disappointed that they have not been replaced. There is one tree there but it looks like a much smaller tree than the one it replaces.

Colourful door

This front door in Riverside Drive, at the Ham Street end, is exactly the sort of thing that I am looking for when I out exploring. The door having grabbed my attention I then noticed the welcome heart, tiling below the door and painted stump. It is all very jolly and brightened my day.

My favourite view of Ham House

Yesterday I posted a simple view of rear of Ham House (its best side) and I thought that I would follow that with my favourite view, taken close to the rear gate to the kitchen garden. 

A standard view of Ham House

This is one of the standard views of Ham House, which is one reason why I have not taken it before. I was finally persuaded to do so this time by being there early on a grey mid-week day when the only other visitors were in the Orchard cafe and so there was nobody to interrupt the symmetry of the view.

5 mph

The branding refresh for Ham House includes these rather neat 5 mph signs on small posts along the driveway leading across the front of the house.

BenForrest

BenForrest has been on the Parade for a little while, almost five years, and has earned a new coat of paint. The new colour is slightly bluer than the old and it looks nicely crisp.

Fergus

A family of green rabbits has moved into Ham Parade and you can find them in the windows of several of the shops there. Apparently it is a scheme organised by Studio 432 with the aim of getting people to hunt for all of the rabbits and in doing so it learn about the different shops on the Parade.

I chose Fergus simply because his positioning in a charity shop was the most interesting and colourful. He was still there the last time that I looked but those clothes and shoes had gone.

B&M Carpets-Flooring

The unit that was occupied by Taylors, before they moved to a more central location on the Parade, is now B&M Carpets-Flooring. The shop is open now but I am posting a picture from a few days before it opened because I managed to find it without a car parked in front.

Ham Parade had a carpet shop before, The Carpet Library, but that closed in 2008.

Unwanted path

For reasons that escape me, somebody thought that it would be a good idea to cut a path through the woods in Ham Lands North to continue the path that runs in front of Ham House to create what I believe they call Great River Avenue.

I have many objections to this; the woods have been severed to create the path, the path goes nowhere and whatever the path is it is certainly not Great or anything like in the same class as the other Ham Avenues.

I was hoping that having created the path that people would forget about it and the trees would be allowed to slowly grow back but that is not the case and the rudimentary and pointless path is being maintained.

Battling the river

The trees along the water's edge fight a constant battle with the water that rises twice a day to claim the land around them. A compromised is reached and some of the trees make their homes in the river. It seems to work.

Blocked path

This Spring's heavy winds have brought down a few trees and one of the more prominent casualties lies blocking one of the main paths from the towpath into Ham Lands. The board advertising some of the delights of Ham Lands sits among a tangle of broken branches.

Resurfacing more of the towpath

Last Summer the section of the towpath from Ham Street to Thames Young Mariners was resurfaced and now the work has extending to Teddington Lock.

This section was full of potholes and was often muddy too making it quite difficult to pass at times so it is good to see the path improved in this way. The new surface looks substantial and I am hopeful that it will survive the heavy battering that the weather and the river will give it for a good few years.

Main road through Richmond Chase

The main road through Richmond Chase, leading down from Latchmere House, is now all but complete. On my last visit there it looked as though some were occupied and in the others there were tradesmen doing, I presume, the final plumbing, wiring and painting etc.

The road does look quite nice though it will be less so once the clean sweep of the buildings is interrupted by the large cars that will fill every parking place.

All of the properties had gained two hanging baskets since my previous visit and they certainly help to brighten things up though their presence is perhaps an admission that the frontages needed brightening up and that the properties are not selling as well as hoped.

Spring transformation

I keep walking up and down Sandy Lane, on both sides of the road, looking for interesting things and am often disappointed. There have been some building projects (good and bad) that have peaked my interest but otherwise there is not much to see. Spring changed that by making a big difference to the appearance of this house.

It is the scattering of the colours that attracts me. There are subtle yellows and pinks amongst the leafy foliage, two clumps of blue in the planters and the massed blooms of the Magnolia.

LS53 YKL parks on the pavement

This example of bad parking almost leaves me speechless. There is simply no excuse for parking on the pavement like this.

Looking tired

This house, or pair of houses as it was originally, in Arlington Road is one of the more distinctive in the area, particularly when compared to its immediate neighbours (it would look less out of place in Ham Farm Road). Sadly it is looking fairly tired.

There was scaffolding there when I last posted a picture of it in November 2018 and I was expecting that to lead to some noticeable improvements but the house looks as shabby and even more in need to a coat or two of paint as it did when I first photographed it in May 2008.

Above the shops

The access to St Richards Court is via an unwelcoming grilled and locked gate next to Tesco and all you can see through the gate are some bleak steps. The view from the top of those steps in unexpectedly cheery.

This is a neat and well kept collection of homes that benefits from the privacy provided by that locked gate. The communal space is clearly used and visiting every front door as I did (delivering the Ham and Petersham Magazine) I was impressed by how well each property was presented.

Spring blossom

Spring blossom arrived suddenly this year and there are many fine examples of it across Ham. I chose this view because of the contrasting shapes and colours surrounding the blossom.

Progress at 59 Ham Street

I suspect that I am enjoying the construction of the new semis at 59 Ham Street more than I am going to enjoy the finished result. I like the business and the clutter of the construction but am fearful of the blandness behind it.

The new wall is taking its cue from the fairly new wall next door, the Huf Haus at number 57. This is a good thing. The substantial wall means that it will be hard to see the houses once they are completed so I will be making the best use that I can of the gaps in the wall while they are still there.

Modern garden

As a general, and possibly unfair, rule the front gardens in Wates Estate are pretty boring and they often consist of little more than a small square lawn so it is nice to see somebody do something different. Other gardens in the area have gravel, pebbles and stones but not usually arranged as interestingly as this.

By the Lock

I love the area around Teddington Lock for all sorts of reasons. One of them is the water rushing over the weir.

Another reason is the industrial feel to the Lock. There seems to be work going on there all the time, which make sense for such an old mechanical machine; it was just the same when I worked at a coal-fired power station.