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.