Damp

Clifford Road has sprung a leak. It is not much of a leak but you can tell from the waves at the bottom of the picture that the water is flowing fairly briskly.

You can also just about see (you may need to zoom in) some blue pain on the grass at the far end which I presume is the marking for where work needs to be done.

Bin store door

I do not think that this bin store in Sudbrook Lane is new but the door to it clearly is. It looks a little too new at the moment, and maybe a little too red, but weather is a wonderful equaliser and it should improve quickly.

Clearing

The entrance to Ham Lands by the north side of the Teddington Footbridge is a little more open with areas cleared on both sides of the path towards Croft Way. This is the clearing that has been created on the righthand side.

I do not know precisely why this has been done but a key feature of Ham Lands is the variety of habitats and it is important to maintain that variety by, for example, cutting back spreading brambles and hawthorns.

Small house

Having assumed that they were filming at Burnell Avenue Open Space I can only further assume that this small house is a prop that they used.

Filming at Burnell Avenue Open Space

It was rather late in a grey damp day that I came across what I took to be the remnants of a filming session at Burnell Avenue Open Space. I am not sure what the attraction is, other than the generous parking, but I have been filming being done there a few times now.

Unexpectedly high fence

This is the junction of Stretton Road and Neville Road and while the border between the two properties is an unusual diagonal I think where the fence is counts as a front boundary, in which case I suspect that the fence is taller than Planning allows.

A similar fence in Maguire Drive was cut down to size and it may be that this one will be too.

Bug box

The main attraction for bugs around St Richards in Ashburnham Road is the excellently named Bug in Ham Palace and this is complemented by some small bug boxes perched on nearby trees.

Unusual extension

This house in Woodville Road is on a large plot so it is no surprise that it has been extended. However, it is a surprise that it is only a single storey extension and it does not seem to be that deep either.

An interesting feature is the door which looks superficially like a garage door but the handle betrays that it is split 2:1.

KT65 UPS

Buddha in Stretton Road

This is the third in my very ocassional series of pictures of garden Buddhas.

The first two are on the own and, while that is fine, I like the way that this one is surrounded by other objects. He also seems to be enjoying the sun a great deal.

Neater and safer

When the traffic lines were redrawn around the entrance to Martingales Close in 2021 I commented, "I was also hoping that the tree on the island would have been pruned right back to improve sight-lines for everyone and to let pedestrians use the pavement around it.", and now they have.

There is now a lot of pavement all around the vegetation which makes it much safer to cross the many roads that meet at that junction. The vegetation has also been cut down in height and flattened to create a neat cylinder.

Excellent wall work

The work to thoroughly repair and restore the wall at The Manor House took a while and has finally finished, and what an excellent piece of work it was too.

I have picked this section of the wall because it has several different elements but the whole long length of the wall is just as gorgeous. 

Red skies at night

I do not usually post pictures like this because the views are fleeting and so you cannot go out and see what I have posted for yourself. However, that is my rule so I am entitles to break it which I am happy to do for an evening sky as dramatic as this one.

Frosty morning

Ham Lands is divided by Thames Young Mariners into Ham Lands North and Ham Lands South but I think a further division is required because of the wide physical break caused by the roads and path to Teddington Lock and I call the most southerly section Ham Lands Further South for want of a better name.

Now you know where Ham Lands Further South is and this is what it looks like on a crisp frosty morning in a happy moment without dog walkers to interrupt the view. And it is for view like this, and the relative lack of people, that I like walking through Ham Lands, all three sections of it.

Lovely shed

This lovely shed is in Meadlands Road just as it moves east to pass Clifford Road and when walking that way it is well worth pausing for a moment to admire it.

It looks a little shabby because it is old and so it should look like that. A new coat of paint would ruin it.

Bad parking in Clifford Road

I walk up Clifford Road regularly, several times a week, and there is always a problem with cars parked there, The white line shows how far cars are allowed to intrude on to the pavement (any intrusion is too much as far as I am concerned) and everyone exceeds this leaving a slither of pavement for pedestrians.

There is a primary school at the end of the road so the pavement gets used by many children on scooters and parents pushing buggies and that is insufficient space for ordinary pedestrians let alone those with wheels.

Bug heaven

The north-west corner of the Petersham & Ham Sea Scouts site looks like a bug heaven, though that should be for bugs to judge not a human. There are several tall towers like this in that corner looking something like camouflaged daleks.

Large windows

The last time that I posted a picture of this house in Cedar Heights I admired the greyness of what could be seen above the hoardings and now they gave gone revealing the whole house for the first time.

I have mixed views,

As a building the house is fine, good even, but the location is problematic. This is a busy road, despite being a dead-end, because people park here for Richmond Park, particularly the playground just inside Dysart Gate, and those large windows are not very private. Also the paved area in front of the downstairs window is the only place to park a car which is not the best view to have from a living room.

Another neat extension

Two houses on the junction of Clifford Road and Meadlands Drive have had substantial extensions built in the last couple of years and both have worked very well. This is the more recent one on the east side of Meadlands Drive, and this is the one on the west side of Clifford Road.

Ashley Gardens

I like the style of this old street sign with its slightly serifed font. I also like the way that it shows its age with rust.

One day it will be replaced with something matching the corporate branding of that time and then it will be far less attractive than it is now.

Simple frontage

The new house on the corner of Sandy Lane and Clifford Road is now occupied but some of the hoardings are still there so for the moment I will have to make do with this view.

Three things are apparent; the house is very big, the design is very simple and the front door is far too modest for the scale of the property. What the front door needs is a porch, as houses in Cedar Heights, Church Road have New Road have all shown.

High water

There was a time, admittedly about twenty years ago, when I used to seek out high tides 

 and so kept a close eye on the tide tables. These days high tides like this are a surprise to me, as they are to most people trying to move around the area.

This is the footbridge that connected Douglas Footpath with the the tow path and it is sitting just above the water level.
 

As I have said before, the problem with the bridge is that it gets you over one flood only to confront another.

This is the path towards Ham House and while the water level is falling, you can see it streaming across the path, it was still to high for me in my normal street shoes.

  

The other way, towards Richmond was even worse.

I know when I am beaten so I headed back the way that came and took another direction.

Brown submarine

Walking along Douglas Footpath between Deutsche Schule London and Petersham & Ham Sea Scouts takes you past this submarine which is only partially visible through the winter hedge.

It is named after Cornelis Drebbel the Dutch engineer who was the builder of the first operational submarine in 1620.

Tall window

I really like this tall window in Ashley Gardens.

Too often extensions show little, if any, imagination, so it is nice to see one as bold as this. As it is a side window it has to be frosted but that does not detract from either its shape or its functon.

Please close the gate

I like this sign, the gate it is on and the brick walls next to it.