Bridging bricks

Now that the new homes in Craig Road have risen above the hoardings it is possible to start to judge how they will look when finished, and the initial view is promising. The new building at the front of the site matches its neighbours in style and construction (brick).

What cannot be seen clearly from this picture (I have posted others) is that the houses in Craig Road are different on the two sides of this new one and they are made from different coloured bricks; yellower to the right and redder to the left. By going for a muted brown brick here the new house bridges that gap nicely.

19

House numbers feature here fairly regularly because they can be as pretty as this. I suspect that this one is in Craig Road though I may be wrong as I took it a few weeks ago now (I am always working with a backlog as I take several photos during a walk but only post one a day).

Typical Wates

While places like this in Wates Estate are far from hidden they are easily overlooked and can be taken for granted. This happens to be Broughton Avenue looking south.

Ham Village Green information board

I am a fan of the various improvements that have been made to Ham Village Green and this information board is another one. It tells the interesting story of the area in words, photos and maps. 

Managing trees

The area between the Thames and Royal Park Gate is a jumble of trees and shrubs, a welcome splash of wilderness before entering the built up area. This area has been left more or less untouched since the demise of British Aerospace until now when Kingston Council have done some substantial clearing and pruning.

This is the view from the top of the small ridge by YMCA looking towards the path that runs through Royal Park Gate and it shows the extend of the clearance.

The work continued the n the other side of the path but it is not all clearance and (at least) one new tree has been planted.

Making a path

When Royal Park Gate was first built the short-cut from the towpath past the playground to the main path through the development was almost hidden, it became more visible through increased usage and now it has been firmly defined by the placing of wood chippings.

These chippings have come from nearby works and there will be more on that later.

Gate work

One of the Winter projects at Ham House concerns the gate on the north-east wall.

Wall works

I am used to sections of the Wilderness at Ham House being closed in Winter to allow the grass to recover from months of abuse from children playing hide-and-seek and part of it is closed this year but for another reason. As the sign says, the area has been roped off because work is being done to the walls.

Working on the Orangery

There are several improvement projects underway at Ham House, as there often are in the quieter months, and the largest of these is at the Orangery Cafe. The nature of the work is hidden but I suspect that the cafe will look much the same as it did before. The good news is that the cafe is still open during these works and it remains a good place to rest a while with a coffee and a slice of cake.