Mixed news

Several of the houses in this style have extended the front slightly by leaving all of the bay intact while extending the front of the window across to the porch. Here the approach is different and the side of the bay has been removed and incorporated into the house. It is more work but it looks the same, i.e. there is a half-bay, so there are no problems there.

The problem is the windows, they just do not fit in. The windows in all the neighbouring houses have glazing bars and without them this house looks odd.

See-through house

While 2 Ashfield Close goes though an extensive renovation and so is devoid of blinds and curtains, it is possible to see right through it from Meadow Close.

New door

The building on the corner of Ham Street and Sandy Lane that used to be a pub, The Royal Oak, has gained a new door onto Sandy Lane as part of its conversion into a house.

Two traffic islands

The two new traffic islands in Riverside Drive have been fully completed and are so new that the keep left signs are still in place.

Against my expectations formed during their construction, the two islands look identical which obviously makes sense.

Canopy

As part of the conversion of the former Ham Brewery Tap into Ivy House Full Day Care Nursery, a canopy has been constructed on the south side of the building.

Clearing in Ham Common Woods

Apologies for the weak pun but this is both a clearing in Ham Common Woods (in the south east corner) and evidence that clearing work has been done there. There is a collection of small stumps in the foreground and a few larger ones between the two large trees still standing.

A new look for Jaflong

Jaflong in Ashburnham Road has had a major revamp most of which is inside so I cannot show you that, however, it was the external change that alerted me with the grey frontage becoming black, and I can show you that.

Sometime over the years the shop sign changed too, from what it was in 2008, but I failed to record that change at the time, despite visiting there regularly to get a Vegetable Ceylon.

Roof works in Sudbrook Gardens

Sudbrook Gardens is one of the few hated (by me) no through roads in Ham which I have to walk in and out of a few times every year just to see if anything has changed, and this time something had.

CYCLE FiRST

CYCLE FiRST has opened where Ashburnham Carpets used to be in, unsurprisingly, Ashburnham Road.

It is always good to see an empty unit come back into use and it is even better when the new shop is something different and when it looks as attractive as this.

Community Kitchen Garden

I have posted pictures of the little community garden in Back Lane before but not of the small discrete sign that explains what it is.

Olive trees on Ham Parade

The west side of Ham Parade has been noticeably improved with a line of olive trees in stylish grey pots . There is one between each pair of shops and they stretch along the whole Parade, this is just a few of them.

ROYAL Dry Cleaners

What used to be K S Dry Cleaners (in Ham Street opposite Grey Court) has morphed into ROYAL Dry Cleaners.

Concrete base

The concrete has been poured at 33/35 Ham Farm Road revealing the map of the new house (it seems silly to call it an "extension" when so little of the original property remains).

First bricks

We are starting to get a better idea of how the new Ham Close will look as the ground floors of the first blocks take shape, we can see the colour of the bricks (I'm a little surprised that both blocks are the same colour) and also the placement of the doors and windows.

Further repairs

A lot has happened to Avenue Lodge in the last couple of years, since it changed hands, and after an exterior repaint, some work on the roof requiring scaffolding, some further repairs are being done.

New planting in Church Road

I though that the massive clearance along Church Road (and elsewhere) was just that and that the work was finished but it was actually preparation for new planting.

The new planting is very spindly at the monent and it is easy to miss it if you are not looking that carefully, so I also took this picture with a protrctive barrier just to prove that there is something there.

Behind Kingfisher Drive

The first part of 2025 was notably grey so on the few sunny days it was good to see some of the prettier parts of Ham, like this line of trees doing their best to hide Kingfisher Drive from the many people out walking on Ham Lands.

Slow progress

I keep walking by Manor Farm Stables, next to Ham Polo, to check on progress on the works that I first noted last August and while there has been some progress there does not seem to have been that much for six months work.

Ham Common Library

It is 11 (!) years since the ghost sign for Ham Common Library could last be seen on Ham Parade and with the demise of Princess Alice Hospice it has been revealed again.

Works at 23 Ham Farm Road

The east end of Ham Farm Road is a succession of building projects of various scales and number 23 is the latest to join the improvement club. While it is common to see builders' notices during projects, this is the first time that I recall seeing a customised sigh that includes the address of the property.

Planters gone

This messy part of Ham Parade used to be enriched by a series of large planters along the edge of the pavement, as seen in this photograph from 2019, but now they have been taken away. 

I hope that they have gone to make way for something even better, but I am fearful that something unattractive will happen instead.

South Lodge details

This is a section of the back of South Lodge, as seen from Bishops Close, and I chose it for its neat clutter. 

There is a lot going on in the picture with the mix of windows, a brick wall with decorative details and some repairs,  proudly black pipes and a fire escape cutting through the middle, yet the honest design of the original house shines through and maintains a sense of neatness.

A second traffic island

A few weeks ago I mentioned that a new traffic island was being built in Riverside Drive in the Fellbrook area and this is a second one, further west and opposite the sports pavilion.

The design of this one is less substantial and I will post pictures of both islands once they are fully completed so that the comparison is easier to make.

A large pile of earth

The work being done on this house in Ashburnham Road is at the back, as indicated by the posts and sheeting above the garages, and the extent of this work can be judged by the amount of earth that has been displaced and moved to the front garden.

Toad Patrollers

Toad Patrollers are on duty at this time every year helping toads to cross roads on their annual migration  and signs like these encourage drivers to play their part by looking out for toads on the road.

I first noticed this sign on 28 February (that is when this photo was taken) and I note that two years ago I posted a similar picture at the beginning of the month.

62 Sandy Lane

The 1960's style font of the "62" is more than enough to justify this photograph and the unusual staggered wall is interesting too.

Rendered

It is hard to keep up with the many significant building projects happeneing at the moment and that means that by the time that I get to post photos of construction works (which is usually a week or two after they are taken) things have changed again. At least the photos show what was theer even if that has gone by the time they are posted. 

A couple of weeks earlier the frontage of the former Royal Oak / Ham Institute site facing on to Ham Street was bright red thanks to the exposed bricks and now these have been rendered and the colour has gone.

Princess Alice Hospice has closed

Princess Alice Hospice still felt like a newcomer to Ham Parade but it was there for a little over ten years before leaving suddenly on 28 February. The Parade really must be struggling if even charity shops are not surviving.

There is talk, once again, of trying to revitalise the Parade but there was a very good opportunity to do that not long ago by reclaiming space on the east side for pedestrians but that was rejected for reasons that made no sense.

Green plastic

The lesson of the bright green cricket nets does not seem to have been learned and Ham Common has again been polluted by bright green plastic.

Extending 33 Ham Farm Road

Once most of 33 Ham Farm Road had been demolished work started on the extension and the new foundations start to give some idea of what the revised house will look like. 

The most obvious thing from this angle is that some of the rooms seem to be quite small and unusually shaped, but I guess that each has been deliberately designed that way for a reason.

Looking towards the back of the plot the size of the extension becomes apparent and, therefore, how small the remaining garden is, made even smaller by the recent out-house in the far corner.

Ham Brewery Tap

The former Ham Brewery Tap (like the forem Royal Oak along the road) is being converted and while the building will always look like it used to be a pub I presume that all the obvious pub trappings, like this window, will be removed so I took this photo as a memento. 

A different look at The Hive

I took a similar picture of The Hive, the new community centre on Ham Village Green, not that long ago but it has grown taller since then and it looks a little different from this angle, looking across Ashburnham Road.

Stokes House wall recovered

I was lucky to catch the walls to Stokes House in Ham Street when the old render had been removed and the lovely bricks were briefly exposed and thn, just a few days later, they looked like this.

Another section of the wall was only rendered in patches for reasons that I do not understand or care about, I just like the resultant pattern.

Mostly demolished

The extension of 33/35 Ham Farm Road includes the demolition of most of the previous building with just a few isolated walls from what was number 33 still standing.

Celebrating 20 Years

Petersham Nurseries started celebrating its 20 Years of operation last year with the large sign on the corner of the building and a now that message has been repeated between the elephant heads where there used to be a simple crest.

Clearing between the paths

Probably the most obvious of all of the recent clearances of vegetation in the strip of land between the track and path from Riverside Drive to Teddington Lock. 

It looks very stark at the moment and I suspect that it will be some time before the scrub reclaims the space, as it needs to otherwise this strip will be a hard break across Ham Lands.

Entrance to The Copse

I was cutting through from Meadlands Drive north to Douglas Footpath and was surprised to see a substantial entrance path being created at the north end by Ham Polo.

I made a point of going back a week or so later by which time the work had finished.

I though that either they were building a new entrance to the former Strathmore School site or a proper path all the way to Meadlands Drive, but this is neither and I am struggling to see what the point of it is.

Two birds

It is always nice to spot something unusal and also attracive in a front garden and I like these two birds.

Clearing behind Ham House

The recent spate of heavy clearance across Ham included the area behind Ham House, the Palm Centre is behind the wall on the left.

There is clearly an argument for keeping the scrub as a wildlife habitat and there is also one for exposing the majestic walls; I think that the stronger argument is the second one.

This is looking into the same corner along the other wall, the one running behind Ham House. 

I may have missed a clearance project (or two) in the interveening years but the last time that I noticed this area being cleared this much was back in 2009.

Saloon Off Sales

The last reminder that the building on the corner of Ham Street and Sandy Lane used to be a pub, The Royal Oak, is the etched glass in the front door, so I took a photograph of it before it goes.

Windows replaced

Until now, the work to convert the former Royal Oak / Ham Institute has been mostly visible from Sandy Lane but that changed rapidly with the removal of the white paint at the front and the replacement of the windows.

It was inevitable that it would happen, even so, it is sad to see the etched map of Ham removed from its place, where the window on the right is. I hope they found a good new home for it.

Footway (Still) Closed

The bridge connecting Douglas Footpath to the towpath has been out of action for several months with no sign of that about to change. While I miss being able to use the bridge I also appreciate the scene it makes with the barriers, sign and rain.

A tale of two halves

I had been meaning to a take a picture of this house on the corner of Beaufort Road and Fannshawe Road once the various extensions were completed a few months ago but, until now, there has always been a car or two in the way.

The end result is a little odd with the different sections of the upper floor looking more natural than the all white and windows of the ground floor which looks like a seaside cafe.

No barbeques

Wates Estate is notable for its quiet landscaped squares and while they are attractive it never occurred to me that somebody might want to have a barbecue in one but, if they did, then I am not sure that this sign in Mariner Gardens would be much of a deterrent.