A final look at 21 Sudbrook Gardens

Work has finished at 21 Sudbrook Gardens and I think that it looks fine, but no better than that. The blandness of the large rendered sections house rather detract from the neat brickwork in the central section of the house and in the wall in front of it. The gates are good too.

Flowers in the lawn

The rear garden at Ham House has been looking particularly good this year with the mingling of flowers among the grasses of The Plats. 

Decorations on the Green

Ham Village Green has been going through a whole series of small improvements in recent years and the combined effect is rather wonderful.

Not long ago I wrote about a curved bench that had been placed along one of the paths crossing the Green and now some decorative panels have been placed next to it.

A close-up of two of them reveals the level of detail in the design which makes them good to get close to. I really like them.

Back in the woods

I visit Ham Common Woods regularly, either just to be in the woods or as the prettiest route to Richmond Park, and while it changes little (usually!) I like to post new photographs of it every now and then just as a remind of what a nice place it is.

This is a typical view through the trees where all sense of the surrounding roads is lost. This is why I go into the woods.

The paths are very inviting too. This path seems to go on for ever (sadly it ends up crashing into Church Road) and you are pulled towards the vanishing point.

Studio 432

Wendy's Workshop on Ham Parade has changed into Studio 432 on a change of ownership. It has been refreshed inside and out in the process and now looks quite different.

When the Studio 432 crest above the door first arrived I assumed that the shop name would follow in big letters but this seems to be the finished look, which is a shame as the lighter grey patch gives it an incomplete look and it is hard to read the shop name even from this close distance.

Out of character

The pleasing (to me) uniformity of style of Wates Estate is gradually being eroded as house-owners do their own thing to their properties. There is nothing wrong with these new windows, door and cladding per se, it is just a shame that they do not match with the other houses nearby.

The Quiet Way crosses Hardwicke Road

Richmond Council has been implementing a Quiet Way for cyclists from Ham Gate to Teddington Lock Footbridge and this has included raising the road and widening the pavement where it crosses Hardwicke Road.

White chalet and pots

I presume that this house, on the corner of Maguire Drive and Vancouver Road, is a later bit on in-filling and that is why it looks like nothing else in the area, both the chalet style and the white paint are unusual.

The white walls are an excellent background for the small trees in the garden and I really like the mixed collection of pots and the plants in them.

Eggs

A little while after Easter this tree was still charmingly decorated with eggs.

Sadly, I have forgotten where this was! When I find out (I must pass by there again soon) I will update the post to give the street name.

Flowers on Parade

Ham has done well in Britain/London in Bloom in the last couple of years and part of that success is due to the addition of floral displays like this one at the top-end of Ham Parade.

Modernisation in Meadliands Drive

One of the short terraces of houses in Meadlands Drive, directly opposite Russell School, is having substantial work done to it with two of the houses being modernised at the same time. I say "modernised" rather than "refurbished" because they have chosen to go for coloured window frames and doors (not the same colour oddly) with small glass panels.

That they are being done together implies that they have the same ownership which could set me off on a long rant about the evils and abuses of Right to Buy, but that is a story for another place.

No horse riding

Horse riding is not allowed on most of the paths through Ham Common Woods and this restriction is enforced by height barriers. They have been there for as long as I can remember, which is over twenty years, and some (if not all) of them have been renewed recently. This is not that obvious when walking past but I know it is true as I saw some men installing them.

Owl

This charming owl can be found somewhere near the middle of Sandpits Road and it makes a diversion along there worth the effort.

All is good at Cecil House

A few weeks ago I posted a concerned entry about a large gap in the handsome wall surrounding Cecil House and I am very pleased to say that my fears were unfounded as the gaps were there to protect both the boundary and the mature trees threatening to burst through it.

This is particularly obvious in Sandpits Road where a particularly large tree needed a particularly large section of fence to accommodate its ambitious growth.

New fence in Church Road

Few things are as brash as a new fence and this new fence in Church Road is about as brash as they come. Of course it will mellow with age, and probably quite quickly, and then the simplicity of its structure will help it to hide among the trees.

Refurbishment at Orford Place

Part of the scheme of Orford Place is the refurbishment of the main part of the original house and its earliest extensions. Externally there is not that much to see, which is a good thing.

59 Ham Street nears completion

As 59 Ham Street nears completion attention has turned towards the external elements, like the walls, gates and garden.

A few days after the previous picture I was walking down Ham Street again and this time the construction of the garden was well under way; the drive was completed, the lawn half planted and some shrubs were waiting to be planted.

Next door, which was already occupied, had got further and had the gate in place. The design is standard, almost mandatory these days, but the colour make it more interesting.

Cream

The work on Malt House, Lock Road has/had been going on for a year and may now be finished. I say "may" because I was expecting the house to be painted white again and while the cream colour is pleasant enough it does look close-up more like an undercoat than a topcoat.

A different wall

I think it is a shame that this new front wall in Craig Road no longer matches those of its neighbours, as seen on the far right, with their distinctive and attractive jagged tops. I am also unconvinced that the railings are appropriate for the house.

The garden and front path I do like so it is not all bad news.

Mock Tudor in Maguire Drive

The last time that I took a picture of this house, in November 2017, part of the front garden was so overgrown (the brown area on the left) that a car was buried in the bushes. Now that the garden has been cleared the full extent of the unique Mock Tudor facade can be seen.

60 Maguire Drive

The house sign for 60 Maguire Drive is just about perfect being both functional and stylish.

New view of St Andrew's Church

This is a new view of St Andrew's Church created by the mass clearance of shrubbery from the area marked by the brown leaves.

Personally I preferred it when the church was something that you discovered unexpectedly when walking along either Church Road or Ham Farm Road. I find the new vista unpleasantly barren.

Colour samples

I have been expecting 305 Petersham Road to be painted for some time, ever since the colour samples  appeared but there is little sign of it happening and the front of the house still waits patiently for some TLC.

Personally I would be tempted to paint the house one of the two lighted greys at the top, though I might regret it afterwards. A colour sample does not really help you to see what the impact of having the whole house that colour would be.

New gate at 285 Petersham Road

I find this new gate at 285 Petersham Road a little jarring at the moment. I hope that things will get better as the wood weathers though that will not address my concerns over the shape of the gate or the relatively small gate post. It would also be useful if the house number was more visible.