Living in Ham/ Petersham

[LongbourneCat]

Hello (again),

I posted recently asking about living in Teddington and had some amazing answers - thank you again everyone for these.

my family and I went for a walk round the area this week and loved it. We then ended up walking to Richmond through Ham and we were struck by how nice Ham/ Petersham seemed. We’d not really looked into that area before - we were a bit put off initially by the lack of a train (we currently live in north London with a tube at the end of our road). However, we suddenly wondered if in fact this is as important as we thought compared to slightly more spacious houses and all the green.

I was really hoping someone/ones might read this post who know the area and can tell me a bit about what it’s like.

we love the green space and how it seems to wrap around the houses, how quiet it is, the closeness of the river. The walk ability to Richmond and Teddington. We like Richmond town centre a lot.

Looking at Ham and Petersham on a map it’s really hard to get a sense of things like shops (where do you go for your weekly shop?), how people interact with the area - do you spend a lot of your free time in Ham/ Petersham and what is there to do there? or are you always jumping on a bus to go elsewhere? What are the parent and toddler options like? Schools? (State)

I realise this might be different for different people but would love to hear anyone’s experience.

also, would we fit in? We are a teacher and writer, middle earners, more arts than finance. Two under 5s. Again I realise that might be hard to answer but would love any thoughts!

our budget for property is around 750ish.

A friend of mine was in Ham (I'm local but not that area)
She struggled to meet people nearby - found the transport an absolutely nightmare.
Would go to baby groups/activities/shops either Richmond or Kingston

Oh, that’s good to know. Do you know if she enjoyed the Richmond groups? And what was particularly bad about the transport? It sounds like she found there wasn’t much of a village or community vibe in Ham?

Ham is a lovely area to live in but if you rely upon public transport it's a bit of a nightmare. To get to the train, you need to get the bus to Richmond or Kingston. Most tend to drive (or cycle) as a result. There's frequent buses to Richmond station etc.
Part of the reason Ham is so lovely is that it isn't well served by trains etc, it feels quite villagey as a result. There's also greycourt school and the German school, if that is the sort of thing you need. Petersham is very £££ but extremely pretty.

Thank you. We both grew up in very rural villages with two buses a day so the more we think about it, the less the transport worries us. We both love to cycle and the walk from Ham to Richmond felt like a nice length for us. Really good to hear the village vibe is nice. I think our dream is a village with reasonable access to London (we are also looking at actual villages). On our very brief visit we loved that a half hour stroll from Ham took us to very buzzy Richmond/ Teddington (unlike a lot of the rural villages we r looked at where it’s a drive or an infrequent bus to get anywhere…)

If you have a moment I’d love to hear what the community is like in Ham. I’ve researched Young Mariners and the library and children’s centre so there seems to be a bit going on in terms of community around children?

I have family who live in Ham. It's lovely! Served by 3 bus routes to and from Richmond snd Kingston so really not that bad for transport. Between Richmond Park and the river and with Hamlands nature reserve there is plenty of lovely outdoor space to roam around. It has a very villagey vibe with active local community groups, a summer fair on Ham Common, playgroups for toddlers in the various church halls and the library. It's also close to the German School so there is a German bakery as well as a Swiss bakery.

Shopping-wise Richmond has less going on lately. Kingston is the main shopping centre in the area.

It's almost exactly half way between Richmond & Kingston but my relatives use Richmond Station as it has underground and overground. You can bus or cycle there but I think bike theft is quite a big concern.

Sorry just 2 bus routes (65 and 371)

My uncle lives on Ham common. It's beautiful.

3 local primary schools. All quite small I think. One big secondary with a good reputation (also near the ultra, ultra selective Tiffin grammar schools)

Thank you so much. This is really helpful! Really good to hear there is a strong community vibe, it’s hard to get a sense of this when looking around. The proximity to Richmond in particular we really liked and good to know Kingston is reachable too.

We lived in that area, I don't drive but my H does. When I needed to get the bus, (which was a lot) it was incredibly frequent (around every 6 minutes as there are several routes) to either Richmond or kingston and also over the bridge into Teddington too. I used to shop in kingston waitrose and M&S (all within 10 minutes) but the local shops on Ham parade were great too- there's a fantastic old fashioned greasy spoon on Ham parade too.

I totally loved it. I would say if you are going to get the bus a lot then it's probably easier to live near the main road or Tudor drive kind of area . If you have the cash and can cope with lack of train I think it's totally unbeatable. As regards to meeting anyone, I think the same applies anywhere. People in Ham go to all the usual kind of meeting places in kingston and Richmond or Teddington

The houses like this can be a good buy as although not very pretty they have a huge ground floor 'extra' room-

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135059516#/?channel=RES_BUY

I remember your last post - lived in Ham for 5 years and it's a lovely place, loads of green spaces, enough locally for day to day and a more relaxed village feel than much of the rest of London - the trade off is transport.

I can't speak for baby/toddler groups but we did get to meet and socialise with a lot of our neighbours, mainly educated but not high earning professionals Inc. Teachers, Healthcare, Police, Hospitality managers and some in business. A nice villagey community feel. The majority had 1 car per couple, there's buses to Richmond and Kingston and Teddinton Station about 25 mins walk over the footbridge at Teddington Lock.

Weekly shop we mainly went to Kingston for the Asda, others had deliveries from various supermarkets. In Ham itself there was (6 years ago) a little Tesco, wine shop, bakery, fish & chips, Chinese and Indian takeaway, post office, cafe and a few other bits.

Trade off is definitely transport, the Riverside path to Richmond is lovely but it floods daily and then the only walking route is through Petersham with very narrow pavements, and with one road when the park is closer (more of an issue in winter) it gets congested, quicker to walk than bus/drive at times. Hard to get an uber and any sort of roadworks can cause near gridlock at peak times.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate all this info. It’s great to hear from people who have lived there. Really useful to know about the river path flooding…! I wouldn’t have thought of that. We really like everything we’ve heard so far though and I think would trade transport for the green space…

@LongbourneCat lots of Ham borders onto north kingston too- also very nice but away from the river on one side.

Personally I never found transport a fag as was happy to trade off having a train/tube on doorstep for a 10 minute Trip

Ham is lovely but Ham Lands are under threat from Thames Water https://www.savehamlandsandriver.org.uk/

I doubt you'll see much for £750,000 but it is a lovely area. Most people shop in Richmond for Waitrose/Tesco but there are smaller shops at Ham Parade and a nice German bakery at Ham Street.
The problem as everyone says is transport. The river walk is lovely but not if it's flooded/you're carrying shopping/it's dark. It's an easy bus ride to Richmond or Kingston. But if you're going into London for the evening, you'll need a bus or cab back from Richmond station.
On the plus side, there are three cinemas in Richmond, the excellent Orange Tree theatre and Richmond Theatre (very middle of the road, but occasionally something half-decent pre-West End). Kingston is grim in the evening but it does have the Rose Theatre which is good for children.
Lots of children's activities at Ham House and buses every five-ten minutes will drop you outside Kew Gardens.Few stops further on the same bus to the Steam Museum which has children's activities too.
Lots of events/fairs/open days on Ham Common during the summer.

Honestly I'd never have left but for the house prices, a decent flat there was 9× salary at the time and a house was a pipedream. It's a lovely area to live in!

@BritinDelco yes same here

Thanks so much for all this. It’s really helping to build a picture. We love Richmond which is a big part of the appeal of Ham. We’re keen to be close to the river and parks and Richmond is our favourite cultural hub so far. We don’t go out in London much at night these days. Where we are now we mainly walk, swim, go to children’s things and use the local cinema. I take the children into town a lot but that’s mainly because it’s easy.
property prices seem crazy everywhere but Ham does seem to have a few in our budget each week which was another part of the appeal.

hey dear,
I just wondered how/where you ended up. I am now looking to move around Ham but I have exact concerns that you wrote. I can telework for now, but there is not a gym, or not much of a shopping parade to socialize. I can see on the map teddington is a good area with trains and a swimming pool but the schools are not that good. a dilemma..

There's a nuffield health and David Lloyd within 30 mins walk or 10 mins drive if you head kingston way, and the ymca hawker is right by the river. Most people head either kingston or Richmond way for activities but it's really not an issue.

Ham is really amazing, especially for kids. Great air, and great green spaces with great links to the city through Richmond and Kingston, but without the "roughness"of the area around the stations. About transport from Ham, its best if you are close to Petersham Rd where you can get the 65 bus and be in Richmond literally in 7 minutes. I cant fault it. (Except, no nightlife; there are just a couple of pubs by Ham Common).

Hi, bumping this thread again. We're looking at moving from SE London to Ham with our now 3 year old in time for primary school.
We're also middle earners and to see lots of people in Ham aren't necessarily in houses with budgets surpassing £1.5m is a slight relief!
One of my concerns was us feeling out of place without a sense of community, but it seems like there is lots for young children in the local area?

OP or others, anyone made the move to Ham recently or can shed light on what the local state primary schools are like?

Also whether the redevelopment of Ham Close Estate is causing any issues or has been off putting to people viewing property? Thanks!

Hi. If you want great primary schools you might want to look at north kingston, just the other side of Ham Parade / Tudor Drive. The schools there are very good - Latchmere, St Agatha's, Fernhill. The primary schools in Ham itself are probably fine - they weren't popular when my kids were at school - and parents usually wanted the north Kingston schools. Worth having a look at both areas.