Greedy Hare coming soon

The short-lived Lahore Brasserie in Ham Street is set to become another food outlet, Greedy Hare. It announces itself as a "Real Italian", which is something of a surprise as it has a very English name and is next door to CC Pizza.

The name reminds me so much of "Fursty Ferret", a very drinkable ale from Badger Brewery. 

Light pollution

Unfortunately the camera software in my iPhone has automatically "improved" this picture to show more detail and in doing so it has masked just how bright these lights are.

This is the Kew and Ham Sports Association site on Riverside Drive, close to the Ashburnham Road mini roundabout, and these excessive lights must be having an impact on the wildlife on Ham Lands.

Pipe sections

Parkleys Sewage Pumping Station is well screened at the moment while works are in progress but a narrow gap between two plastic sheets allows the curious to see inside where two pipe sections are on display. 

I found it interesting to see the size of the pipes and although I was not sure what to expect they are a little larger than I thought that they might be.This helps to set the scale for the river abstraction works that Thames Water are planning for the area.

Renovations in Ham Street

This house in Ham Street changed hands recently and the new owners seem to be doing quite a bit to it.

As always, there is a lot that could go wrong here, such as the inappropriate windows that the neighbours went for, and I will be watching development with interest; particularly as this is a house I have been inside many times.

Another border stone

I posted a picture of an old border stone by the towpath yesterday which is easy to spot because it is next to a larger stone but this one is much harder to find. Actually, it is a little easier to find now that I have pulled all the ivy away from it to take this photo. 

It is hidden amongst the bushes that run just outside the boundary of Cassel Hospital on the green triangle between Dukes Avenue and Craig Road, at the Craig Road end.

Border stones

The big stone on the right marks the boundary between Kingston and Richmond and is a prominent feature along the towpath. The small stone on the left is its predecessor and also marks this boundary.

The smaller stone is buried in vegetation for much of the year and it only in winter that you can see the two stones together.

Expanding in several directions

This is another house in Maguire Drive that has chosen to take advantage of its unusually shaped plot to expand in several directions. A lot of the work is at the back and this view shows the odd-angled extension to the side plus the fairly standard porch.

Unroadworthy vehicle

I think it is safe to say that this vehicle "parked" in Burnell Avenue is unroadworthy. I think it is being worked on, or being stripped for parts, but while this is going on it creates a doleful image and hurts the character of the road.

Malcolm's bench

Malcolm Singleton was a prominent feature of Ham Parade for over twenty years running a small shop that somehow seemed to sell everything and everyone went there to buy things, so it is no surprise that when he died suddenly in 2022 the local community raised funds for a memorial which has now arrived on Ham Parade.

The design is a joyful jumble of images of some of the things lurking in the Aladdin's Cave that was M&J Hardware. It is a very fitting tribute to Malcolm.

Play area upgrade

Ham Village Green has been the source of many good stories in recent years and this is another on. 

The play area next to the bus stop was mostly a collection of rocks and logs and now an area has been cleared for some interesting play equipment. And not at all obvious from this angle, are some new swings just about visible behind the step ladder.

A big job

The way that the areas of social housing were layed out across Ham created several houses with large corner plots and in recent years a lot of the owners of these have been extending their houses into this extra space. This house is in Maguire Drive, on the corner with Vancouver Road.

The overall design and the choice of bricks are good but I have the usual (deep) reservations about the grey windows and doors.

FD08 GRF

This is another occasion when complaining about bad parking has a serious point behind it; just before I took this photo someone on a mobility scooter tried to cross at this point and was unable to do so. This what selfish parking does.

A welcome replacement

It is good to see that the unique curved bench on Ham Village Green that first arrived in 2019 has been replaced following an act of vandalism, as have the mosaics behind it.

Ham Village Green is a jewel in Ham's crown, much more so that the neglected Ham Common, thanks to innovations like this setting.

Jude obscured

The scaffolding around the former Jude Gate, on Jam Common north-side, has been covered in sheeting and while that is not unexpected it does make it harder for curious people to see the progress being made. I am particularly interested in the fenestration on the first floor and I may have to wait some time to see this.

New sign for The Hand and Flower

The new sign at The Hand and Floweris something of a spot the difference puzzle beacuase it is very like the old one but there are differences. I cheated and looked at an old photo I took last year before the pub reopened. 

 

The main differences are that the sign has moved from the south corner of the pub to the north, the image is gold rather than silver and there is no longer a border around the image.

Fabric tree

Christmas has come to Ham Parade with the arrival of this large tree-shaped decoration in the south-east corner. The tree is made of fabric squares and is adorned with a few fabric decorations that can be identified by their shapes.

Keep Left

Following the recent death of a person using this traffic island to cross the road, Richmond Council has reinforced the "keep left" message on the bollards with an elevated sign.

While this may help a little the main problem is that Ham Parade is busy with shops on both sides which leads to many people crossing and it is also a road that suffers (even) more than most from bad driving thanks to the acceleration from the lights going north and the fast approach past Ham Common going south.

Signs of progress in Ashfield Close

On a previous visit to Ashfield Close, back in July, work was only just starting on this house and now it is well underway. The sheeting hides some of the detail but, luckily for the curious, there is still enough to see to make the walk down the no-through-road worth the effort.

The most obvious changes are that the garages have gone and the wooden boards on the right side of the house have been removed.

Temporary path

While the work being done on this house in Mariner Gardens is largely obscured by trees a temporary path across the grass confirms that something interesting is going on.

Dukes Avenue closed for the day

I am trying to imagine what closing Dukes Avenue for a day is going to do for traffic in the area, though as a walker this has lttile direct impact on me. 

I note that when Dukes Avenue was last resurfaced in 2014 it was done over two nights, rather than during the day, precisely to avoid traffic problems. I am sure there is a good reason why Richmond Council is taking a different approach this time.

[Update: The signs disappeared quietly the day before and the work was not done.]

Making movies

There was more filming taking place at Ham House recently and all of the support vehicles were assembled in a corner of the Ham Polo site, next to the horse training field.

It was late in the day when I went past and someone was putting up lights to guide people walking between there and Ham House.

Crane

A problem with building a row of terrace houses without any rear access is that when you need something done at the back, such as an extension, then everything has to go either through the house or over it. Here someone in Yeovilton Place has chosen to go over it.

The houses in the foreground are in Northweald Lane.

Spelling mistake

Even I know it is spelled "Plumbing".

Christmas starts very early

The small Christmas display on the automatic door to Sainsbury's on Ham Parade is rather cute so I am happy to post it here, despite it being ridiculously early.

Putting up some lights

I do a lot of my walking late at night which means that the streets ate quite but there is less to see so it was a pleasant surprise when walking along Ham Prade at 11:30pm to see someone in the process of putting the winter lights up above the shops on the west side. 

b.t.w. I call them "winter lights" rather than "Christmas lights" because 21 November is a long way before the Christmas holiday. I grew up with Christmas starting on Chrismas Eve, that is when the tree went up and the presents were bought, and I am too old to change now.

HIgh tide by Ham Street

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It was all down to luck, I stopped checking the tide tables some years ago, that I arrived at the end of Ham Street as the water ws lapping up againgst the towpath. I suspect that it had been a little higher just before that and the path may even have been impassible, as it always is with a high tide.

The view looks natural enough but anyone familiar with the area, which is almost everyone in Ham, will realise that the high river has claimed a lot of land and a large concrete structure.

 

Looking the other way, downstream, The trees look dramatically out of place surrounded by water.

 

And to show just how far the water had come in, the emergency throwbag was out of range and so of little use.

New porch in Mead Road

Clearly the original porches in places like Mead Road, as seen on the house on the left, provide (very) limited shelter from the elements so it is understandable when they get converted to enclised porches, as so many have across Ham.

However, I think it is a shame when each property does its own thing, rather then working with its neighbours to make the same changes at the some time, as that breaks the continuity of the road.

Framework for a house

Jude Gate, on the north side of Ham Common has gone and a framework of scaffolding hints at what is replacing it. It looks as though it will cover the full width of the plot, as the old house did, though I am a little surprised that it is not taller, using the example of Selby House three doors to the west. 

EO69 LUB

The double-yellow lines and the dropped kerb are on this corner for good reasons but the selfish driver of EO69 LUB chose to park there forcing the woman in the red jacket who is using a walking frame to walk into the road to get past.

And, according to the Government website (https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax), its MOT has expired.

White house

The distinctive feature of the houses in the Buckingham Road area (and elsewhere in Ham) is the red brick finish and so to paint over this is a bold, and unwelcome, statement. It is the only house in this area to make this mistake and I hope no one repeats it.

It is a shame that this refurbishment did not learn the lessons of the house at the other end of Clifford Road, and on the other side, which has been extended exceptionally well.

Petersham Meadows

I walk across Petersham Meadows several times a week going to/from Richmond and I do not find it a particularly interesting place, even when the cows are in it, so I am not sure what it has done to deserve such a pretty sign.

Cedarwood scaffolding

I have always liked Cedarwood (a house on Church Road) and I like scaffolding too so, for me, the combination is irresistible.

As always, I am interested to see what changes are made behind the scaffolding and in this case I hope that it is more of a refresh than a rebuild.

More grey paint

I am still quite confused by the ongoing works at Teddington Lock Footbridge.

There are always about a dozen people busy on the bridge whenever I cross but there is relatively little to show for their efforts. On this occasion some sections of the bridge that were blue were being painted grey, though not in a way that looks like a final coat, e.g. there are several patches of blue still showing.

There are also blue sections that have not been touched and other places where the corrosion means that there is no metal left to paint, so it is not clear what the endgame is.

I will keep crossing and watching.

New roof at St Andrew's

I have been fairly dismissive of St Andrew's (on Church Road) in the past so it is good to be able to say something nice about it.

Of course the new roof looks good, as new things should, but the windows look better and I like messiness of the graveyard and the way that the light generated by the grey sky sharpens the picture.

Hatch House boarded up

I like surprises so I have not looked at the construction plans for Ham Close and I do not know the sequence of demolitions but it looks as though Hatch House will be the first to go. This is hardly surprising as it is in a corner of the site.

Shop To Let

The former home of Chef for You in Ashburnham Road is looking for a new owner having been comprehensively gutted and redecorated.

I did not use Chef for You that often, which may have been part of the problem, but I miss not having a Chinese takeaway in the area. I used New Mandarin on Ham Parade regularly until its demise several years ago.

Paving stones

I was walking down Ham Gate Avenue mostly to check on progress on Sudbrook Cottages when I spotted this delightful pile of paving stones. They were gone the next day so I was even gladder to have caught them.

Sheeting

The (minor) saga of the fencing around Parkleys Sewage Pumping Station continues with the addition of sheeting to the temporary structure to hide the equipment and materials from view.

Kitchen Garden border

The border along the wall of the Kitchen Garden at Ham House is boasting some autumn colours and the sun is shining too. Just another good day to visit Ham House.

Something is happening at Sudbrook Cottage

The impressive collection of machinery is a convincing sign that something significant s happening at Sudbrook Cottage in Ham Gate Avenue. And while it happens the dollops of red enliven the scene wonderfully.

The better half

There are two pairs of semis, next to each other, on the east side of Craig Road that do not even try to fit in with the other houses there, or with each other. One of these pairs is in need of more attention than the other and now half of that pair is getting the care that it needs.

 

With one half being done up the building looks like the Batman villain Two-Face with a good half and a bad half.

LG60 VWC in The Shires

Fungi

I have posted a few photos of fungi over the years and these have normally been of just one species and with a only a few caps so it was a treat to find this impressive display of several different fungi over quite a large area.

 

A closer look at one area shows how varied three of the fungi are. There were other types of fungi in the area too. 

Fungi are delicate things so I am not going to say where they are but they are clearly visible if you walk in the right area so keep your eyes open!

Ivy Cottage glows red

The best thing about ivy is that for a very brief period in autumn is burns a delicious red and I managed to catch Ivy Cottage in Upper Ham Road at its very best.

New handrail

The major works to the bridges at Teddington Lock continue to have little visible impact and it is only the plastic covering that confirms that the handrail is new. 

Normally I would expect details like this to be done last which implies that nothing much is going to happen to the sides of the bridge, even just painting the metal work is a little more difficult with the handrail in place.

Rear terrace at Ham House

It is only a couple of months since I last posted a picture of the rear terrace at Ham House and my excuse for posting another one is that things have changed. The scaffolding is the most obvious difference while the removal of the pots that were spaced between the white boxes is a more subtle change.

It also gave me an excuse to post the view from a different position and angle.