Snow Day - Sunday 24 January 2020

It does not snow in Ham very often and it settles even less so when it does I like to record the event here. I started on Ham Common where I was not the only person busy taking photographs. 

Melancholy Walk tries to live up to its name but the snow wont let it.

Ham House provides a rare spot of almost colour.

Looking through the side gate into Ham House shows a few footprints from eager visitors. Apparently it was sold out that day and the were not allowing walk-ins despite the obvious lack of people in the garden.

In the field in front of Ham House a row of low stumps reveals where the road to the house used to be.

Some snow

On Friday 1 February we woke up to a thin covering of snow. This quickly disappeared from the roads and busy pavements and it was only in the quiet places, like Teddington Lock, where it lingered for a while.

Snow around Ham Common Woods

I hope that these will be the last snow photographs of 2018 and that by the time that these photos get posted online that all the snow will already have gone.

This is the fragment of Ham Common Woods that sits South of Church Road between it and Latchmere House. There are no paths through there, and no reason to make one, so the snow remains as it fell untroubled by passing people.

Th path along Ham Gate Avenue always looks impressive because of the trees that hang over it and the long branches look even more glorious when topped with snow. 

Snow on Ham Common

Lots of people take pictures of snow on Ham Common, and I take quite a few too, but I justified including this one as it was taken from an uncommon position. I had just got on to the footpath that starts near the junction with Martingales Close and was looking right across the Common towards the Hand and Flower.

This is about the longest view that you get across the Common and that is why I took the photo.

A little snow

We do not get much snow around here so I like to take a note of when it does. That way I can compare years. This Winter (so far!) we have only had one significant fall and that lasted just a couple of days. It was bitterly cold but not very white.

I took these pictures on my usual walk to work through Royal Park Gate, you can just see the corner of the playground on the right.

I then walked along the tow path towards the Teddington Footbridge. This part of the walk is always pretty, even though I have done it thousands of times, and it still was even though the snow transformed its look.

St Thomas Aquinas with snow

The brief appearance of snow gave me the chance to revisit St Thomas Aquinas Church, which I had been meaning to do for some time. Normally the dark roof contrasts with the lightly painted walls and windows. The snow changes all that capping the church in white and making the church look more at ease with itself.

Snow on Ham Common

When the snow falls then I always head for Ham Common with my camera. The falling snow hides the houses, roads and cars leaving just a bench as a reminder that people live here.

Snow on the towpath

Snow is such a rare event here that we never get used to how things look when covered in the stuff. This is the section of the towpath that runs opposite Royal Park Gate facing South towards Kingston.

Winter Wonderland

The second fall of snow the year was lighter than the first and disappeared even more quickly so it was only the early birds that saw it briefly cloak Ham Lands down by Royal Park Gate in white.

The trees resented the snow and were shaking it off as I walked through them and it almost fooled me in to thinking that it was still snowing.

A little snow on the Common

The first snow of the Winter fell overnight bringing chaos to transport systems and glee to small children who were quick build snowmen, slide, throw snowballs and make tracks in the virgin snow. By mid-afternoon the morning's dreams were already turning to slush.

Ham Farm Road under snow

Several of the previous pictures from the latest snowfall have been of unattractive roads, like Church Road and New Road, that were transformed very much for the better by the snow so let's end the series by looking at how the snow changed a road that already was pretty.

Ham Farm Road is blessed with Ham Common Woods on one side and an unusual collection of family homes on the other. The road curls gently towards Parkleys so that there is always a sense of mystery as each bend is negotiated.

Add snow to the scene and the mystery and delight deepen. Only Aslan is missing from this near-perfect view.

Hidden cars

New Road benefited greatly from the recent snow. Previously I have mostly taken close-ups of individual cottages as the panoramic shots were ruined by the solid line of cars parked along one side but the snow came to the rescue by masking the unnatural colours and shapes allowing the eye to focus on the pretty cottages instead.

Church Road looking better

Church Road can be ugly. The dull straight grey of the road and the stupidly bright orange path that runs alongside it for part of the way carve brutal lines through the woods on either side and detract from their beauty.

Now the snow has come to the rescue and hidden the unpleasantness and, for just a few days, Church Road looks like somewhere that you might want to walk down.

White avenue, dark trees

Another look at Ham Common transformed by the recent snow. Here we are looking down the avenue of trees towards Ham House. Only the bright red jacket in the middle of the picture shows you that this is not a black and white photograph.

All is white

Ham Common is the natural place to go to when the snow settles deep and crisp and even because the depth makes the walking an exciting challenge, the crispness adds a satisfying crunch to each step and the evenness irons out the few distinguishing marks, such as paths, to conjure a pleasing uniformity.

Snowy trees

The snow returned stronger and deeper to the delight of children and toboggan sellers, if not of those who had to try to get somewhere such as Christmas shopping. This times the flakes fell thick and soft painting a white sheen on all in their path as they tumbled earthwards.

Misty morning

The snow came in a furious rush demanding our attention but it slipped slowly away as if ashamed of the trouble that it brought with it, rather like the hazy morning after a wild party.

But the early the bird catches the worm and a prompt walk in to Kingston (to get there before the maddening Christmas hordes) allowed me to capture the last of the snow as it tried to escape unnoticed, hidden by the morning mist.

Night snow

This year the snow was unkind to me by arriving on a Monday and leaving on a Friday giving me no opportunity to wade through it in daylight. The only chance I had to see it at all was to get off the bus one stop early and walk carefully along an Upper Ham Road devoid of grit which made fun of my leather soled brogues.

The street lights delighted in the snow as it allowed them to show off just how yellow they can be when they want to. The whole experience was rather surreal.

Snow in Mornington Walk

Before we completely forget what the snow looked like here is a reminder of how it transformed the quiet end of Mornington Walk.

A little snow

While most of the country got enough snow to cripple transport and to close schools, in Ham we had just enough to paint Ham Common white.