Making improvements at Teddington Lock

In November each year the river is allowed to follow its normal cycle with the opening of Richmond Lock which keeps the river unnaturally high the rest of the year. That makes November the best time to work in Teddington Lock.This year the works include replacing all the wooden fenders in the Barge Lock.

The ones that have been removed have been stacked by the towpath at the north-west end of the lock. Their mixed condition suggests that they were installed at different times.

New Bus Stop on Dukes Avenue

Dukes Avenue has gained a new Bus Stop. This is near to the junction with Northweald Lane and is slightly to the West of the one for buses in the other direction. There is still Bus Stop Q on Tudor Drive on the other side of the traffic lights.

At the moment, and I hope that this is going to change, there is no Bus Stop marked out on the road so the buses do not have anywhere to pull in on a part of the road that always has plenty of parked cars. My one attempt to get a bus to stop there failed.

Jubilee plaque restored

When I first posted a picture of this in February 2011 I only showed the crest at the top because the plaque beneath was not very pretty. It showed a map of Petersham which was both difficult to see the detail of and had been defaced. It has since been restored but with words rather than a map.

I suspect the shape is the Ham and Petersham Society's idea of where Petersham is, but they are wrong.

Work in progress

This small (private) lane off the main Petersham Road has appeared in this blog a remarkable number of times given that it only has a handful of houses in it. Now some more work is being done at the end of the lane which has already seen one new house and a substantial extension to another in recent years.

Behind Ham House

I love the simplicity of the garden-side of Ham House far more than the fussy front so here are three more pictures to try and explain why.

The house speaks for itself. The symmetry, scale and clean lines are just perfect.

At the back of the garden lies the Wilderness, a simple maze that skilfully hides smaller gardens and a few Summer houses. It is a garden for walking round and round, unless you are a small child in which case it is a place for running and hiding.

At the side of the house is the former Cherry Garden with its geometric beauty and contrasting colours. The peep-holes in the hedge at the far end are a quirky treat.

Kitchen Garden at Ham House

The Kitchen Garden at Ham House always has something pretty on show. It is a busy garden, providing food and flowers for the cafe and house, and the businesses means that there is always something to see.

The garden is divided in to sections, just as the main lawn is on the other side of the wall, and each bed is planted differently. Clean crisp gravel separates the plots and gives the garden a formal grandeur that belies its purpose.

These purple things were in one of the vegetable plots. I have absolutely no idea what they are but I do know that they are purple and pretty.

Inside the Glasshouse

I had been in to the garden at the Glasshouse in River Lane a few times but it was not until Open House London 2013 that I was able to get inside.Not that there were many surprises as the walls facing the garden are almost all glass so a lot of the house is visible from the outside.

The long side of the house has a kitchen area (shown here) and a separate dining area of a similar size that form one large room.

In the corner of the almost L-shaped house is a wide corridor that leads from the kitchen/dining area to the sitting room. It also contains the staircase to the upper level.

The sitting room has the garden on two sides so is very light and has great views. The garden is bounded by a high wall so it is very private, expect when visitors are in the garden.

Above the corridor is a reading area that cannot be seen from the garden so it was nice to be able to go inside the house to discover it.

There are some bedrooms and bathrooms above the kitchen/dining area but these are not very interesting rooms and they were not all open to visitors. The one that was is spacious but it is just a room with a bed in it and I cannot get too excited by that.

Behind Langham House

The road that runs alongside Langham House, the appropriately named Langham House Close, is private and so I have avoided the temptation to walk down it for several years then Open House London gave me a legitimate excuse to be there, so I went.

The back of Langham House is almost as pretty as the front though it is nothing like as stately without a grand door to set it off. Both sides of the house have a healthy climber covering a lot of the bricks and trying to cover some of the windows.

Langham House Close

Langham House Close is a private development behind Langham House on Ham Common and was built in the late 50s in the modern style of the time. Because it is private and I (generally) respect privacy I have not featured it before but it was part of Open House London and that gave me the chance to go in and look.

The external view of the block closest to Ham Common is, in my opinion, rather lovely with crisp, neat straight lines, contrasting bricks and concrete, and sympathetic landscape.

There are a few blocks in the development and they are well spaced out with landscaping between them. I like the mound too as I think that variations in height are as important as variations in shape and colour.

The brick and concrete theme continues inside the flats too, which must have been a brave statement at the time. A lot of attention was paid to the details of the design as shown by the opening in the wall and the unusual shape of the mantelpiece.