Jubilee Tea Party

There was a Diamond Jubilee Tea Party on Ham Common on 2 June 2012 and there is a plaque there to commemorate it. The plaque is set down in the grass and can be hard to find; the young tree at the top of the picture is a clue.

Sprucing up in Arlington Road

Last time I posted a picture of this very distinctive house in Arlington Road was just over a year ago (how did that happen?!) when I commented that it was looking tired. It would seem that the owners also thought that and now they are doing something about it.

I will try not to leave it another year before going back to see the finished results.

Guard rabbit

The choice of a rabbit to guard the front of the house is unusual and entirely justified by its cuteness.

That's better!

I thought that the two ends of the long straight path on Ham Gate Avenue had been repaired with ugly tarmac, and said so here, but I am very happy to be proved wrong. Some weeks after the original work looked to be completed the men have come back and put a neat surface over the tarmac and this matches the rest of the path.

Entrance to Orford Place

This is another one of my opportunistic pictures taken through gates that are normally closed. This is a new gate and behind it lies a new path to the front door of the old part of the house.

New paving stones in Ham Street

I am confused as to why this car was able to be parked within the barriers but that is not the story here, the new paving stones are. Ham Street is a busy thoroughfare, not least because of Grey Court School, so it is right that the pavement is in a good condition and it is nice that it looks good too. 

However, as councils everywhere are busy making more space for pedestrians and cyclists in response to the new travel patters arising from the covid-19 outbreak I would have liked them to have used this opportunity to make the pavement wider.

Flowers on Ham Village Green

One of the nice things about Ham Village Green is that its unusual shape and mixed planting produce some very different views from vantage points not that far apart. This view is from within the trees in the top-most corner (Woodville Road) and is looking almost due south toward the shops on Ham Street.

Modest yarn bomb

As yarn bombs go this example in Craig Road is rather modest and also rather lovely. I love yarn bombs for their colour, simplicity and cheeriness and even a little one like this brings me joy as I walk past.

SD10 VLN on the pavement

I was a bit annoyed to see this car parked up on the pavement as I walked down to the river one evening and was even more annoyed to find it still there the next morning.

Neat house hiding in Ham Street

This neat house is unluckily situated next to Newman House so could be easily overlooked and perhaps it is shyness that has kept it hidden from me for many years behind solid gates. It has obviously had a lot of work done to it and the side facing the garden looks entirely new but also entirely in keeping with the rest of the house.

Something ugly in Lock Road

I have posted a few worrying pictures of this extension in Lock Road before and now, thanks to the absence of parked cars I can show the full-frontal view. It is not pretty. Obviously it is still a work in progress and I can only hope that the final result will be better, but the signs are good as, for example, I suspect that the front wall is just going to be painted making the block construction obvious.

More managed mowing

There is a lot of grass along Dukes Avenue and even more where it joins Broughton Avenue. Previously this had been mown frequently like most garden lawns until this sign announced the introduction of a "natural approach". Good news indeed.

I can even forgiven them for the "Crane Park" reference.


A close up of the tree in the north-west corner shows how proud and tall the grass has been allowed to grow. The lone poppy adds the final touch.

I have been calling for less mowing for more years than I care to remember and now that it is here the results are even better than I expected.

Parking problems in Ham Gate Avenue

I was walking along Ham Gate Avenue on Friday 5 June just as Richmond Council were deploying no waiting signs along both sides of the road together with notices that no waiting would be allowed from the next day, Saturday 6 June.

I was delighted to see this and told the Highways officer that. We chatted a bit about the need to restrict parking and whether it should be permanent (of course it should).

I went there again the next day to see how well the new restrictions were being observed and the answer was not very well. The queue along Ham Gate Avenue was much as long as usual, and it was not that nice a day, and many cars were parked next to bollards.

I have sent these and several other photographs to Richmond Highways as requested.

Unexpected meadow in Ham Close

There is a lot less mowing going on around Ham this year and I am very glad to see that. It may be because covid-19 is stopping people from working or it may be a deliberate attempt to produce healthier habitats but whatever the reason the results are impressive.

Here the barren grasslands in Ham Close have been allowed to grow and to burst into beautiful colour.

Different chimneys

One of the rules of exploring a neighbourhood is to look up and despite doing that assiduously for years I still miss things. I looked up at these semis in Lock Road this time because of the scaffolding, which always attracts me, and I liked the arch in the chimney. The scaffolding was nice but the arch was nicer so I went to take a picture of the chimney on an adjacent pair of houses.

To my surprise it was different, it still had a recess but no arch. I then looked at other chimneys in that short run of houses and there were other differences such as no recess.

The start of something in Lauderdale Drive

I do not go down Lauderdale Road very often as all it does is take you from Sandy Lane to Sandy Lane but I do like to keep an eye on it, as I do with all roads and paths locally, and on this exploration I discovered what looks like the start of a reasonably large job. Now I will have to go back there again to see what happens.

A practical garden

It is not unusual to see plants growing in the front wall of a garden and this house in Dysart Avenue takes that idea a stage further by having a wide bed so that they can grow more than just a few small flowers.

They also seem to be growing vegetables which is both unusual and practical. 

Taking the long view

It seems like a long time ago now (it was 2009) that Friends of Ham Lands was first formed in response to the whole-scale clearance of part of Ham Lands sitting within the Thames Young Mariners site. Since then the land has been left to do its own thing and the area has been quietly reclaimed by shrubs and trees.