Avenue of trees across Ham Common

This view along the avenue of trees crossing Ham Common is popular for obvious reasons and the replanting in recent years means that it will continue to look good for years to come. If they would ban cars from parking where the trees hit Ham Common road then the view would be even better.

Who lives here?

There are few more welcoming signs than this welcome sign in Horsley Drive. It is very jolly too and brightened up my walk along the road which otherwise suffers a little from sameness.

Unexpected house in the Cedar Heights area

Cedar Heights is another of those depressing no-thru-roads. It is depressing because there should be a way through to Butte Avenue but either they forgot to build it or it got filled in at some point. The lack of an alternative way out means that I do not go in there very often, which is something of a pity as there are some pretty houses in there trying to make the most of being next to Richmond Park.

And one of the prettiest houses is quite modern; brazenly so. I like it a lot.

You can also get glimpses of the house from Meadow Close (behind the Fox and Duck) where the top of it peeks over the high wall that helps to keep Cedar Heights bit of a secret.

No pavement in Ham Street

While I approve of the work done recently to improve the accessibility of Cut Throat Alley, I think that the area has another problem for pedestrians - there is no pavement on this stretch of Ham Street. This is important as it is the main route to Ham House and the river and so many people walk this way. Unfortunately that also means that lots of cars go that way too.

I always walk in the road and pay close attention to the passing traffic. This is easy for me to do but some, such as the very young or the very old, are not as alert or nimble so this is a far from ideal route.

The grass area on the right has little merit or purpose and I see no problem in adding a pavement to that side of the road.

Horses in Martingales Close

Martingales Close is one of those annoying no-thru-roads that give you little excuse for visiting unless, like me, you are an incurable explorer who does not mind having to retrace steps when there is no way forward. The point of making that effort is that sometimes I find something new and interesting, something like this garage pretending to be a stable.

The houses in Martingales Close were once very similar but over the years extensions and decorations have added some variety and that enables this house to fit in snuggly with its neighbours.

Stumps

This driveway on the east side of Upper Ham Road was lined with trees until recently. Men were working on them as I walked past recently and so I made a point to go back later to see what they had done.

What looked as though it might have been trimming proved to be complete removal, apart from the very obvious stumps. Perhaps there are plans to remove these too; I hope so.

New House on Church Road

This is proving to be one of the more interesting houses in Ham. I learned recently that it was designed by Stefan Buzas who also designed two similar single-storey houses in Ham Street, one of which has been demolished recently to make way for a Huf Haus.

It is also an attractive building and deserves its place in a road full of large and distinctive houses.

Ham House looking lovely (again)

Ham House is good at looking pretty which is why I keep featuring it here. On this day the Winter sunshine was especially kind to the back of the house, which is my favourite part.

The lavender in the side garden was looking good too. Having been replanted in 2011 it had grown back to its full glory filling in the spaces between the neatly clipped box hedges.

Of course the main feature at Ham House is Ham House itself so here is another picture of it.

Between Melancholy Walk and The Copse

This pretty field lies between Melancholy Walk and is one entrance into Ham Lands, the unbroken area of grasslands and woods that runs along the river from River Lane in Petersham to Lower Ham Road in Kingston.

The field deserves a name to respect its location and characteristics but if it has one I have been unable to find out what it is. I'd like to call it Horse Field as horses often trot around here but that name has been taken by the field between Ham Polo and the river.