Gate and pots

There are good reasons not to like this house in Hardwicke Road, particularly as the appearance of the house and the size and style of the railings and gate are so out of keeping with its neighbours, but somehow it gets away with all that and it makes a good impression on the road. The pots certainly help.

Surprising extension

There is an approved planning application for this plot on the corner of Maguire Drive and Vancouver Road, but the plans I looked at were for a simple extension to the house, not a separate property with it's own front door and energy supply. I suspect that the Enforcement Team in Richmond Planning will have something to say about that.

Timber frame

The new build in Ham Farm Road is taking shape with the construction of the timber frame. Also interesting is the black brickwork at ground level. I would like to see more of that!

Bakehouse garden

The Bakehouse in Petersham Road had a refresh in 2008 and is having another one now and while I have been keeping an eye on it for several weeks the works have not been visually interesting enough for me to post an image, despite the scaffolding! It became more interesting when work started on the front garden and the basement window.

The brick steps up to the front door are a nice touch.

Previously The Bakehouse had a low white wall and nothing much of a garden so it is likely that whatever replaces it will be an improvement.

Construction site

There is nothing much happening yet on this small site between the footpath and the track leading to Teddington Lock but there is no mystery as the red sign swinging loose, close to the middle of the picture, proclaims that this is a "Construction Site".

Wates space

Walking through Wates Estate away from the roads is always rewarding because you come across spaces like this one on the path from Breamwater Gardens to Riverside Drive.

Ham Fair posters

The noticeboard in Gate House Garden (opposite Hand and Flower) has two posters for Ham Fair, one of the main event and one for the dog show, and I am interested in the differences between them.

I mentioned previously when discussing the banners that I thought the text for "Ham Fair" was too small and it looks as though the producer of the Dog Show poster agrees with me and while they have copied the format of the main poster they have enlarged the text and image. It is an improvement but the text is still too small for the image.

Having already dissected the banner I do not want to dwell on the posters, other than to say that I think that the main one is too busy (no one is going to go to the Fait just because it has vintage vehicle) and the Dog Show one does not shout :Dog Show" loudly enough.

All criticisms aside, it is good to see posters for the Fair in such a prominent position and they are good enough for what they are there to do.

Ham Fair banner

Banners promoting Ham Fair on Saturday 8 June have appeared on Ham Common, and they are not very good. Unfortunately having quickly spotted some issues with it the natural temptation is to go looking for more and so the messenger becomes the story and the message gets lost.

The main problem is that the text "HAM FAIR" is just too small, particularly in relation to the size of the image. 

I cannot be bothered to look the font up but the "R" at the end of "FAIR" looks out of place with the trailing serif. The "J" in "June" looks unnecessarily odd too. In both cases it looks like an quirky font is being used just for those letters when the rest of the text is in standard san serif.

A rule for banners and posters is to avoid clutter and if that had been followed then it would say "8" rather that "8th" and the times would be "11am to 4:30pm" or even just "11 to 4:30".

Yellow and white

The crash barrriers at the garage at Ham Cross have gone through a few changes in recent years and with the recent refresh of the whole garage they have changed again and are now yellow and white. They look prettier than they did before but that is at the cost of reduced visibility and I wonder how they will cope.