Ramp

When the island in Ham Common Pond was rebuilt two years ago I was concerned about how high the island stood above the water and it seems that others agreed and have installed a crude ramp to provide access to the island.

Dangerous poster

Posters are regularly put up on the railings next to the pedestrian crossing on Ham Parade and most people know that they should be facing the pavement and not the road. This is so that pedestrians can stop and read them but facing the other way they are a dangerous distraction for drivers as the approach the crossing.

The people who put up the poster on the other side of the crossing, for a fair at Hampton Court did it properly.

Some progress at Grey Court

It has been a month or so since I lasted posted a picture of the new building at Grey Court and while there has not been much change in that time a bit more of the building is visible and enough of it to suggest that this is going to be a fairly traditional building.

16 Upper Ham Road

The Hand and Flower has been closed for some months with little visible evidence of this other that no lights and no customers but the arrival of a crude security door confirms the fact.

It also gives the property number as 16 when it has almost always been referred to by its name. Hand and Flower, rather than the number. This may suggest a possible change of use.

Ferrymoor tree

This end of Ferrymoor may be scruffy but the tree helps to make up for that.

The garages in the bottom left have been doomed for over two years but are still there for some reason.

Two empty units

While the unit that used to be Rowleys seems to have found a new owner at one end of Ham Parade at the far end two units have become empty.

In June last year there were for sale by auction signs up and more recently a sold sign appeared, but far too briefly for me to photograph it. Whatever the new owners have in mind does not include the two businesses that were there.

Personally I will not miss Taylor Made having had various animated discussions with some of their drivers over their frequent pavement parking.

With the Hand and Flower closed and the former Gate House also looking for a new tenant, the top end of Ham Parade looks grim at the moment.

Rowleys replaced

It is almost a year (somehow!) since Rowleys on Ham Parade closed and now it looks as though the unit has found a new occupier. That should be good news but that rather depends on what that business is.

New flower bed

The corner where Ashburnham Road meets Broughton Avenue has always been an attractive and well managed space; I posted a picture of some of the flower beds there in 2015 and the tree was planted in 2022.

The latest change is the removal of a stretch of hedge along the end wall of the block of flats to create a new flower bed.

2 Ashfield Close

Cars parked on the drive had thwarted all of my previous attempts to take a full-width picture of 2 Ashfield Close following its extensive refurbishment so I was glad to finally find it car free. The house is both distinctive and attractive.

Clarendon SEND School rises

The new Clarendon SEND School building is well underway and while this is the back of the development it is also the closest that you can get to it, as it is set well back from Meadlands Drive. From here it looks to be a staunchly traditional building with rectangular walls comprised of uniform bricks.

This may not be very exciting but it is appropriate for the area and is much better than the multi-coloured panels that many schools went for a few years ago, including the Kingston Academy extension on Richmond Road in Kingston.

Another view of The Manor House

I posted a view earlier of the works at The Manor House in Petersham looking from Montrose House and this is the view from River Lane. I suspect that the house will look much the same as it did before once all the work is finished but in the meantime it looks good covered in scaffolding.

Ham Close at street level

While the scaffolding has come down on the first blocks in the new Ham Close development there is still a lot of work to do and the red digger in the middle of the picture was busy doing something then I walked past.

What I can see of the new buildings looks good and I hope that the same care is put into the landscaping. The old Ham Close was all grass and tarmac, with too much tarmac, and I am hoping for much better in the new development. Hopefully we will see some of this soon.

KP Dry Cleaners

What used to be ROYAL Dry Cleaners (in Ham Street opposite Grey Court) has morphed into .KP Dry Cleaners. "KP" is my reading of the logo but it could be "KR" or even just "K".

This comes almost exactly a year after K S Dry Cleaners morphed into ROYAL Dry Cleaners.

Flowering egg

I do not know if this hedge was trimmed in to an egg shape for Easter but it was a good idea, despite the great deal of effort it must have taken to get the shape right. And it looks even better with some flowers growing.

This is a prominent junction and also close to a parade of shops so it must be enjoyed by many people every day. 

Evelyn refresh

Evelyn Road, off Ham Street is a slightly out of place row of Victorian cottages that seem to attract relatively high prices because of theit cuteness, certainly not because of their size. This one on the corner with Ham Street is showing its age and the refurbishment is welcome. It is gaining a rear extension too, which is no surprise.

Lost green space

I am posting another picture of the not-demolished-after-all 14 Cedar Heights because the work on the new driveway has been completed and also to make the point that while the residents of Cedar Heights and nearby are up in arms about proposed changes to a small green space at the entrance to the road this is generally how they treat their own green spaces.

Southern end of Ham Close

I am still waiting for the first stage of the Ham Close to be fully revealed and in the meantime here is a look from a different angle. This is the southern end of the development with Ashburnham Road just off to the left.

The obvious things to note are the different coloured bricks and the way that the facades are not flat, both of which make the blocks more attractive.

New surface

The reason that the lane past St. Peter's Church Petersham has been closed to traffic is obvious once you turn the corner towards Petersham Nurseries where the dirt track is being covered with asphalt.

Work at Herrick Court

I really like Parkleys to look at and walk through but I have doubt about living there and one of these is the amount of maintenance that the blocks need, it seems that there is scaffolding up somewhere all the time.

Herrick Court is getting the treatment at the moment, as it did in 2007. It may well have been done at other times too without me recording it. I only did so this time because I liked the composition of the picture, scaffolding always looks good.

Another post knocked over

The battle to try and get motorists to park carefully at the entrance to Great South Avenue has had another setback. One of the three concrete posts installed in September, to replace the damaged wood ones, has been knocked out of the ground.

I will be interested to see how the Council responds (I have reported it) but getting motorists to behave is quite a challenge.

No Parking

This is the lane past St. Peter's Church Petersham and it is also on the way to Petersham Nurseries which is why it is normally full of parked cars on one side with other cars trying to either enter or exit the area.

It is also a main walking route to Richmond and part of the popular Capital Ring Walk so having parked cars there is really annoying. and it was really nice to find them gone pending works in the area.

20mph

Church Road does not have much of a speeding problem, because it is narrow and does not really lead anywhere, so the 20mph markings are something of a surprise; they are welcome nonetheless.

Works at The Navigator's House

Something is happening to The Navigator's House in River Lane, next to the footpath to the sea scouts and beyond. The obvious guess would be a garage though that is not quite what it looks like.

Previously there was an interesting building there (which I failed to photograph due to never finding the gate open). This had two storeys with the upper level looking like a shed being constructed out of wood and with a window.

Mervyn Smith in lights

Using lights to create advertisements on the pavement are not that unusual though this is the only one I am aware of by an estate agent and it is certainly a first for Ham Parade.

Post down

Since January 2024 I have been publishing pictures of a decorated post in Sudbrook Lane and I was hoping to enjoy it again today only to discover that some careless driver had demolished the post completely. 

Gate House goes black

No sooner had the Gate House on Upper Ham Road gone grey than the windows and sills went black, including the windows in the original (listed) part of the building.

24 Thamesgate Close

I think that the most positive thing that can be said about this front extension in Thamesgate Close is that it does not in with the rest of the estate.

Damaged wall

This corner of wall at Ham House shows a lot of history from the newer pillar on the left to the filled in gate on the left and with several repairs in the middle. Further repairs are needed and these will add to the wall's history for decades, maybe centuries, to come.

Gate House goes grey

The refurbishment works at Gate House on Upper Ham Road have taken a surprising, and very grey,  turn. The recently rendered walls have been painted grey as have the windows and the panels inside them. And the hard standing has been paved grey too.

Elsewhere this may have looked reasonable but in a conservation area it looks very out of place.

Mound and fences

I still have no idea what is going on at Ham Polo but it involves a mound of earth and a lot of fences.

Digging up Dukes Avenue

Pavement works continue to spread across Ham, this time to Dukes Avenue, whee several deep holes have been dug carefully to access pipes.

LD73 ZPC

Townscape

I do not know if this colourful tile is a representation of a specific place, a general area or a fiction but it is a welcome addition to Beaufort Road.

Gate House works

Following in from its clean-up, Gate House in Upper Ham Road is having more substantial work done to it, including the rendering of the brick wall on the right.

Irrespective of the merits of this, I cannot find a planning application for it and the building is in Ham Common Conservation Area so Richmond Planning may have something to say on the matter.

Richmond & Kew FC

The sports facilities have been on Riverside Drive for a while but the sign for Richmond & Kew FC is new.

New door and windows

This picture is similar to the one I took of this property in Craig Road three months ago though a careful comparison reveals some differences, notably the new door and windows and also the scale of the rather modest extension at the back.

New benches at Ham House

As excuses for posting another picture of Ham House go, the arrival of some new benches id pretty flimsy, but it will do.

They are a reminder that Ham House is well maintained and subject to change, good reasons for going back regularly.

Changes at Grey Court School

There have been many changes to Grey Court School over the years and while many of these have been incremental I believe that these works signal the demise of the futuristic pod.

I am sure the school has good academic reasons for removing this unusual building but it is an architectural loss. There is (was?) one at Meadlands School too but that is not visible from the main road.

Riverside trees

I like to celebrate the good things in Ham, the things that are so easy to take for granted, and these trees on Riverside Drive, with part of Kingfisher Drive behind them, look reassuringly commanding.

Pavement repairs

Too often when pavements are dug up for utility works they are repaired with no attempt to match the existing surface, leading to street scars which blight areas like Ham Parade, so it was good to see that the pavement along Riverside Drive is being resurfaced appropriately. 

Snowdrops

This distinctive tree in a corner of the The Plats at Ham House is made even better by a thick cluster of snowdrops beneath it.

Gate House clean-up

The former Gate House on Upper Ham Road, at the top end of Ham Parade, as been empty for a year and this is the first sign of activity that I have seen there since then. 

Time will soon tell whether the cleaning and tidying-up are for a new tenant or the effort of the landlord to try and entice one.

Winter flowers

The green central reservation between the two paths to Tedding Lock is bursting with delicate flowers. The colour and the hint of a spring to come are both welcome.

Something is happening to Wilmer House

Obscured by the netting is Wilmer House, in the quiet bit of Church Road that runs between Latchmere Lane and Ham Gate Avenue, where something major is going on.

Curved path coming

I make a point of walking along Lauderdale Drive from time to time just to see if anything has changed, which is not very often and the last time I posted a photo from there was almost two years ago. Luckily there was a change this time with the beginnings of a curved path.

A proper path

The remade path that goes past St Richard's Church, to cut off the corner of Ashburnham Road, looks very good. 

As a fairly regular user of this path, I appreciate the wide entrance to it from this side and also the resurfaced pavement next to it.

Ladder and skip

It is hard to miss this building project as the house sits prominently on the corner of Dukes and Dysart Avenues and also because the work is at roof level so it can be seen from some distance.

Two statues

Two very white and active statues of Venus and Mercury stand either side of the central entrance to The Wilderness behind Ham House.

28mph

A speed display sign is often deployed alongside Ham Common and while it is noticeable that some cars do slow down towards the official 20mph limit it is equally noticeable that many do not and it is not unusual to see a speeding car being overtaken.

I have posted this picture not because the speed, 28mph, is unusually high but because it was the first occasion that I could take such a picture with no cars in it and I was not going to wait for a bigger number, 28mph is enough to make the point.

The Manor House in Petersham

The Manor House sits on a prominent position on Tommy Steele Corner (I still call it that) and the only way to appreciate it properly is to cross the busy road to stand by the main entrance to Montrose House.

It looks as though the work being gone is just minor maintenance but I will cross the road against once it is finished to see the end result.