Had a shortish walk with the Margravina on Sunday morning, during rain-showers. We parked up near Ham House by the Thames and walked round the front of the main building before heading down to the riverside, then a circuit round Petersham and back to the car in Ham Street (see map below).
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| Couldn't resist this map. It reminded me of the type of map found in the Lord of the Rings, or 17th/18th century maps. Like a lot of old maps, north isn't at the top: it's on the left. I think this may stem from the old tradition of having east at the top, i.e. the direction of Jerusalem. Incidentally, rock and jazz fans, the eyot near Twickenham is Eel Pie Island. |
This map rekindled thoughts of an imaginary battle/mini-campaign in this area.
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| Ham House, river frontage. Classic Jacobean mansion. I've searched for suitable models in 6mm scale without success. |
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| Looking up towards Richmond Hill |
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| Marble Hill House, across the Thames on the left or Middlesex Bank. This is not far from Walpole's house at Strawberry Hill |
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| Slightly out of focus, but I couldn't resist this pic of a gig(?). This was spotted from nearby Count Stephen Ouvaroff's bench, mentioned in a previous walking post. |
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| Star and Garter House (formerly the Star and Garter Home, for disable veterans). Now redeveloped as apartments, each with a 7-figure pricetag. |
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| Gate to the grounds at Ham House |
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| Amazing what you discover on foot. Intriguing why the Luftwaffe were bombing that area, although Hawker famously had its factory and HQ a few miles upstream in north Kingston. |
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| Avenue looking to the west front of Ham House |
Before getting back to the car we stopped off in Ham to have a look in the punningly named German delicatessen 'Hansel and Pretzl'.
After lunch, and '
The Man Who Never Was', the Margravina said she wanted to go to a garden centre, not 2 English miles from the Schloß, that she had never visited. If you knew the Margravina you would be astounded by this piece of news. A slightly disappointing place from a horticultural point of view, but we found evidence of shocking inflation in the genus Olea europaea. Three and a half years ago we bought an
old olive tree from another garden centre. Originally priced at £750, we got it on sale for something like £2-250.
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| We saw this specimen, and others like it. Priced £1650! Gulp!! I made some comment like "No wonder people are stealing them." Then realising a member of staff was nearby, I added, "from olive groves". |
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| Then this size, similar size to our olive........£3250. OMFG! |
To restore my faith, I recalled a purchase I made on Saturday. £20 in Lidl. Phew! I think I might recover.
Fantastic looking walk Chris. The buildings all look great.
ReplyDeleteGood to know if you need a spare 3,000 pounds you can sell your olive tree 😁
I did think to check the insurance policy, but figured it’d be very difficult to dig it up and move it. There’s only 1.5m width down the side of the house so getting a digger in would be difficult!
DeleteThat whole area of (old) Ham, Petersham and Richmond are just chock full of old, beautiful buildings. Ham has a lot of 20th and done 21st C buildings, but even some of those have ‘architectural merit’. Petersham is virtually all old (100 years +).
Chris
You enjoy many interesting walks, Chris. I am surprised that olives can grow there.
ReplyDeleteWe have 4 and they seem to be thriving. I guess it’s global warming. And our garden is south facing so they make the most of the sunlight.
DeleteChris
The cemetery at St Peter’s in Petersham has some interesting graves, including Capt George Vancouver, famous for exploring the coast up in your corner of the world.
DeleteChris
OMFG indeed - are they just ornamental or do people want their own olives that much - either way, that's bloody ridiculous - but what is worse is, if they have that price on the things, some idiot has the money to waste on them! I mean, I would struggle to justify spending that sort of money on an entire new collection, never mind a bloody tree!!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Idiots with more money than sense ruin things for the rest of us!
DeleteThey’re purely ornamental. You wouldn’t get many olives off these.
Chris
I have a 1916-17 Volunteer Training Corps (WW1 Home Guard equivalent?) cycle regiment map of Richmond Park from my collection online that may be of interest to you for future campaigns https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com/2020/01/19/richmond-park-vtc-map-1916-1917-ww1/
ReplyDeleteThat’s great. Thank you so much Mark. At a quick glance. The park seems to be pretty much as it was in 1917 in terms of layout.
DeleteChris
What an interesting post. The map is glorious and just cries out to be used in games . I was amazed at the price of flats you mentioned, gosh. Lovely photos too. What a glorious olive tree you have, an excellent bargain. The garden centre prices are incredible.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
The cheapest I can find in the Star and Garter is £1.5m and the most expensive is £5.8m. I guess the “cheap” one is facing the road 😆
Deletehttps://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E1127&propertyTypes=flat&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=
Ah, more memories of my riverside walks from the '80's when I lived in Surbiton! I'd forgotten how much nice 'stuff' there is to see Chris. Crazy prices for olive trees for sure, given that they are now popular and the fact that disease is devastating them in mainlain Europe is probably the reason for the hyperinflation in terms of price.
ReplyDeleteI hadn’t thought about the disease. Good point.
DeleteBraver man than me walking about in such crappy weather! Bought an olive tree at Gamm Vert (shop) in May (same size as the one in the first picture) for 65 euro, though I have seen bigger ones upto 300 euro. Still, a long way from £1650 even then. You crazy London centric folks with your high prices. What are you like? Lol. :-)
ReplyDeleteNot us mate. As much as she loves plants, my missus wouldn’t pay silly money for one. We paid less than €300. She’s a good egg.
DeleteChris
Trees are expensive both to buy, as you report, and to have removed.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I was shocked by the inflation rate though. Something like 430% in under 4 years (if you take the un-discounted price of ours).
DeleteThe map is nice, you should certainly go for a mini-campaign! ECW, or perhaps some sort of later Williamite/Jacobite imaginary civil war? Or a French invasion, 1740s, so you could include the nice 18thC buildings? Meanwhile I'll stick to a nice jar of Kalamatas..
ReplyDeleteECW definitely. The whole thing is c3x2.5 miles so a very small campaign or scope for small forces in a grand tactical setting.
DeleteMy other thought was ACW. It looks like it could be in one of the middle colonies/states. But don’t get me going down the Jacobite route. I’ll end up buying a load of new figures!
Chris
Lot's of lovely buildings and a campaign sounds a great idea,your not wrong, that's a lot of money for an olive tree!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
That area is just dripping with attractive buildings Iain. Most of the domestic buildings are lovely too.
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