Bluebells

The Spring sunshine has brought the bluebells out in force across Ham Common Woods brightening up my daily walk. The best place to see them is along the path into the north section of the woods close to Ormeley Lodge.

I can see Croft Way

This is the main path across Ham Lands from Teddington Lock towards Croft Way, which you can see just right of centre. This is a new view as the path used to be severely constricted by brambles at one point, so much so that I once took some secateurs with me on a walk just to cut them back from the path.

The extent of the clearance is obvious once at the point where the construction used to be. All of the semi-bare earth was brambles that have been cleared to improve the grasslands for wildlife.

Chickens

Walking down River Lane I was surprised to come across these birds brightening the recently flooded road. Their colours are amazing!

Then and now: St Richard's church

This is another photo taken by Kenneth Kirchen in 1967. Obviously this is St Richard's church in Ashburnham Road.

The church has not changed much but the grounds have.

As before, I had problems trying to recreate the picture today and this time the problem was trees and not cars. The small stick in the top picture has grown to a full-sized tree which blocks the view of the church from the original point so I took this one with that tree behind me.

Work paused

Work has paused on the new houses between Dukes Avenue and Maguire Drive and with the site tidied up it was a good time to peer through the gate to check on progress.

I like the look of the houses and am intrigued by their layouts. I will just have to wait a bit longer to find out what the finished look will be.

Resurfaced, for some reason

The footpath along Ham Gate Avenue from its junction with Upper Ham Road has been resurfaced, for some reason. I walk along there most days and I cannot understand why the old surface was replaced as it was not that old anyway and I cannot recall any problems with it.

There has been no work done there for a couple of weeks so I assume that this is the finished look, which is bit of a mess.

As with the recently resurfaced towpath, the new surface is very different from the old and the join between them is ugly.

Thank You NHS

I have nothing to add, the picture says it all.

Parkgate House

The new entrance to the house next to The Dysart on Petersham Road now has a door and the name of the house, Parkgate House, carved in stone.

I am pretty certain that the name is Parkgate House because I have looked at the sign closely but an internet search also gives me Park Gate House and Park Gate. The Post Office takes the diplomatic route and has no name for 137 Petersham Road.

Gables added

The last time that I looked at these new houses being built off Clifford Road I admired the roof timbers and now they are hidden behind brick gables.

The roofline is interesting with a flat lip on either side of the standard A-frame. I am not a fan of flat roofs as they are more prone to leaking and this layout also reduces any loft space so I presume that there are good arguments in favour of this approach that I am unaware of.