New look for The Bistro

The Bistro on Ham Parade has got itself ready for the next stage of opening up  with a colour change. The grey paint on the planters has been echoed on the frontage that looks a lot crisper than its former dark brown. 

The Bistro has also made full use of the outside area to accommodate eight tables. These are normally very busy and it took several attempts to find it free of people for this photograph.

The Bistro is one of the main meeting points for locals and it is good to see it back in something approaching full action.

Marquee on Ham Common

This marquee arrived on Ham Common unannounced and with uncertain purpose. It is probably something to do with filming as there has been quite a bit of that going on recently. I enjoyed seeing an old police car outside Montrose House but I was whizzing past on a bus and sadly failed to get a picture.

Ham Polo fence

The fence around Ham Polo would not normally warrant much attention but a planning application has bene submitted to replace it so I made a point of capturing a few "before" photos.

For me the two key points are that it is deserves to be replaced and it is currently almost invisible.

Sadly the proposed replacement fence is 2m tall and has close vertical bars so it will be a lot more obtrusive, if it passes Planning in its current form.

I am concerned that a taller and more solid fence will harm the open country feel of the major paths to the south and west of the site.

231 Petersham Road

231 Petersham Road presents itself nicely with a good choice of colours and a neat house number plate in the classic style.

A18 YVA on the pavement

All the other drivers were quite happy to park on the road in Maguire Drive but the driver of A18 YVA selfishly decided that obstructing pedestrians and damaging the pavement was the better option.

Spikes

Little House is one of the best looking properties on Ham Common and from most distances it looks very welcoming, it is only when you get very close that you see the discouraging spikes.

271 Petersham Road

I must have walked past 271 Petersham Road hundreds of times yet it was on this occasion that the gate and house number made me pause and take this photo. Perhaps it was the excellent late afternoon sunlight.

PX64 MYM on the pavement

It is hard enough to walk along this section of Petersham Road at the best of times because it is so narrow and partially obstructed by hedges and cars parked in front gardens and it becomes all but impassable when a driver selfishly decides to park there.

Happy cat

This happy cat makes me feel happy too as I walk along Lammas Road.

No parking in Church Road

During the three lockdowns we have had (so far) people have been flocking to Richmond Park and many of those have gone by car and some of those have parked inappropriately in Church Road. Richmond Council has risen to the challenge and installed wooden bollards on the section leading up to Ham Gate to stop people parking there.

That solves one problem but it still means that there is not a proper pavement in that section and that is a problem that needs to be solved too.

Working on Ham Lands

If you do walking through Ham Lands then you might well come across a few areas like this where scrub and some trees have been cutback. This is one such area that can be seen easily from Riverside Drive.

The good news is that this is all planned work and Richmond Council is working very closely with Friends of Ham Lands in defining what needs to be done and in helping the contractors to deliver to that plan. The state of some of the paths has meant that there is some clearance work still to do and Ham Lands will look better once this rubbish has gone.

Other good news is that a rare parsley has been sighted but the bad news is that some outbreaks of Japanese Knotweed have been found too.

There is plenty of work to keep contractors, specialists and volunteers busy for months to come.

Metal twigs and leaves

Lammas Road is tucked away between Dukes Avenue and Burnell Avenue and unless you live there, or are an incurable explorer, there is little need to walk that way. The incurable explorers are rewarded with the discovery of this fine display.

Two birds

Just another reason to walk slowly down New Road and to look around you carefully as you do so.

New porch in Maguire Drive

This house has featured here before, and not that long ago. Then it was for the new fence and now it is for the new porch.

I like to capture projects like this while they are in progress because then you can see details of the construction and materials used. I shall go back later to see how the finished article looks.

At the Lock

There are no pleasure boats going through Teddington Lock at the moment but there is still plenty to see there including the many jobs that they are doing, notably the new railings, and the occasional appearance of something industrial like this.

I have absolutely no idea what it does, and I have not seen it in action, but I love the sheer confidence of it.

Grand wall and gate

The house on the corner of Beaufort Road and Fanshawe Road is not that grand but the new wall and gate certainly is.

I like the little gold details in the railings which confirm the overall grandness.

Pretty border

The gardens at Ham House are always worth a visit and I love the way that there is so much variety in the way that they are arranged in sections around the house. This is part of the long border that runs along the terrace at the back of the house and even on a grey day the shapes and colours are inspiring.

Half face

Randle Road, off Craif Road, is another of those no-through-roads that I make a point of walking down regularly looking for interesting things like this.

Community Orchard

It seems that discussions about a Community Orchard have been going on for several years, I first heard them in Ham United Groups (HUG) meetings, and I am glad to see that it is finally taking shape with the planting of a dozen trees.

The location is the open space on Riverside Drive as it joins Ham Street, with the allotments behind it.

The trees are quite small at the moment, and you almost have to stand on them to see them, but they will grow and new trees are always very welcome.

 

The Community Orchard is being planted in memory of one of the early proponents of the scheme, the late Andrew Beedham.

Smart new homes

The infill houses in Riverside Drive have been completed so I went to see them. They are built on land that used to house garages and are not visible from the road.

The two houses have the same design but are set differently, looking left from the end of the access road the house is face-on and looking right the second house is at 90 degrees with the access road continuing across the front of it.

This is another new design, and there is nothing wrong with that. There has been some imaginative new housing in recent years, normally replacing garages, and I heartily approve.

The yellow brick is used elsewhere in Ham but not in the immediate area. The contrast helps to set the houses out as something different and there is no clash with the neighbours because of where they are hidden away.

I also like the way that each house is in two sections, either side of the entrance, presumably one for living and one for sleeping.

Reflections

This is the rather distinctive German School viewed from Douglas Footpath. I have taken a picture of this section before but that was for the coloured window frames and this time it was for the reflections of the trees.

Corner garden

One of the things that I do in collecting photos for this blog is walk down no-through-roads, even though I know that means that I will have to soon retrace my steps. Most time I do this I return empty handed so it is nice when I do find something worth taking a picture of, something like this garden.

This is The Shires, off Church Road, where the end of one of the spurs has become a striking garden. Barnfield Gardens looks on appreciatively. 

Frog

I love looking into people's gardens because on lucky days I find things like this. The frog looks perfectly at home on the lawn.

I do not want to give the exact location away but it is somewhere close to Broughton Avenue. Happy hunting!

More mature trees felled

This is getting rather depressing. It seems that every time that I go for a long walk through Ham, and I do that a lot, I find more evidence of mature trees being felled.

This one is between Tesco and Ferrymoor.

Kew and Ham Sports Association, on Riverside Drive close to the Ashburnham Road mini roundabout, are adding a raised seating area next to some of their pitches and, unfortunately, they have had to get rid of some trees to do so.

 

A closer look shows just how mature some of the felled trees were.

Gates in a wall

I posted this a week or so ago when it was just a gap in the wall behind Meadow Close and now the gate is in place, and a rather lovely gate it is too. I was lucky to walk past when the builder was working on it and was able to tell him so directly.

For reasons that I simply do not understand, there is still some controversy over this new gate and so, having posted the nearest gate in the same wall last time, I thought that I would post all the others.

This arch is in the new section of the wall next to the main road. It is somewhat out of keeping with all the other gates in the immediate area but the wall is new so I am not sure that it really matters.

 

This gate is also unusual in that it is a complete break in the wall, i.e. there is no lintel with the wall continuing above it.

The final gate is different again with a gentle arch rather than a lintel.

Easter Bunny

New Road is the most arty road in Ham which is one reason why it is always a pleasure to walk along it. (It is also the most spoilt by cars, but that's another story). Number 17 is celebrating the season with an imaginative rabbit that would brighten anyone's day.

Some changes in Ham Farm Road

Two adjacent properties at the east end of Ham Farm Road are having things done to them by new owners. In the bigger project hoardings are being put up to protect, and hide, the property.

I cannot find a planning application for either, and they are both in the Parkleys Conservation Area, so I assume that nothing significant is being done to either.

New canopies at Fox and Duck

The Fox and Duck is gearing up for reopening for outside service in April by adding a canopy to its seating area at the front. I like the look of it and the colours match well with the pub behind but this is a busy main road and I will not be sitting there. I am happy to wait for May (on current schedule) when we will be allowed inside pubs again.

 

Soon after I took the first picture a second canopy appeared at the side of the pub, just in front of where a controversial extension is planned.

New canopy at Ham Cross

There is no great difference between the new canopy at Ham Cross and the old one so it is lucky that I caught the work in progress to prove that there has been a change.

The only difference that I have spotted so far, and it is not obvious here, is that the lighting is stronger.

The tower shaped sign has been updated too and the annoying black section has gone to be replaced by a green one.

Sundial

I took a photo of this sundial in Ham Gate Avenue before but that was twelve years and a few cameras ago so it is time for a better and closer look at it.

This should not be a parking space

For reasons that escape me, The double yellow lines that mark the junction of Broughton Avenue and Lock Road stop short of the footpath that leads directly to the bus stop and to the path to Teddington. Or there should be a dropped kerb there.

Either way, it should not be permitted to park here, blocking the route for pedestrians.