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.

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.

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.

Blocked path

A month ago I was cheering the newish footpath along Church Road, running past the Richmond Chase development, only to find it blocked today by a fallen tree. I have reported it (using FixMyStreet) so I hope that it will be cleared before too long.

Path improvement

A desire path was created years ago past St Richard's Church to cut off the corner of Ashburnham Road and while some work was done to formalise this busy route it was remained uneven and prone to water-logging. The rebuilding work going on now looks more substantial so I hope that the desire path becomes a proper one.

Chipped path

The footpath that was created about a year ago along Church Road, past the Richmond Chase development, has been made more substantial, and obvious, with the addition of wood chippings.

Footpath closures

I am not aware of any work that needs doing to Meadow Close so I will be interested to see if there are any noticeable changes when it reopens. The same comment applies to nearby Hazel Lane which is closed on 3 November.

Repaving Kingfisher Drive

When Kingfisher Drive was resurfaced in 2022 I was surprised that such a quiet road warranted resurfacing and commented that the pavement repair programme also seemed to have odd priorities. That comment has become a prophecy with the equally quiet pavement also being replaced.

Crossing Ham Village Green

The hoardings around the emerging community centre on Ham Village Green have been blocking one of the two paths crossing the Green for several months and while this has not been that much of a problem thanks to the almost complete lack of rain, it is good to see a new path connecting to Ashburnham Road.

Enticing paths

While I can appreciate Ham Lands intellectually for its biodiversity, I am not a naturalist and what stirs my heart there is the network of paths with unknown destinations.

Petersham Avenue welcomes Spring

I walk along Petersham Avenue regularly (and every other path in Ham too!) and on this occasion it looked even more stunning than usual with the new Spring growth lining the path. 

The colours almost look unnatural but the image is untouched (except for whatever clever stuff the iPhone does whenever you take photos).

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.

A new path in Church Road

Walking along Church Road by the junction with Latchmere Lane has always been awkward becuase the path along Church Road, such as it is, ends at Richmond Chase / Latchmere House Prison. This is also the most dangerous section because of the junction and the bend in Church Road. A path was always needed here and now there is one.

I am not sure that this was deliberately created as part of the recent clearance work there though I suspect that the clearance allowed the path to be created quickly through use, just as the path alongside Ham Gate Avenue was when the vegetation was all cut back away from the road.

Fallen trees

Two trees have fallen down in Cut Throat Alley (off Ham Street) but they are being held up by the high wall to The Palm Centre so the path is still easily passable on foot.

Frosty morning

A recent cold spell brought a touch of frost and some bright sunlight which combined to make the walk along the path from Teddington Footbridge through Ham Lands even more of a pleasure than it usually is.

Temporary path

While the work being done on this house in Mariner Gardens is largely obscured by trees a temporary path across the grass confirms that something interesting is going on.

New grass

The busy path from Riverside Drive to the Teddington Lock Footbridges does not need much maintenance and I think that it is only recently that I have noticed any being done when the cutting back of the verges on both sides of the path. Large turfs have been placed loosely on this recently cleared area in the hope and expectation that they will take root there and keep the brambles at bay.

It is too early (for me) to tell what grasses they have used but I hope that it is a wild mix that grows to look as though it belongs in the countryside rather than a back garden.

Completing the line

Way back in April I noted that the redrawing of the white line dividing the footpath through Royal Park Gate had finished unexpectedly at the junction with Horsley Drive and now, four months later, it has been completed.
 

There are new bike symbols too, though these will be ignored by pedestrians and cyclists alike. Sharing the path works fine but the segregation does not.