Walking into town

The telephone box at Northfield end is now sporting a new paint job. Maybe soon the Town Council will announce what it will be used for now that BT have abandoned it.

A nice shot in the sunshine, looking at Hart Street from quite near to the end of Duke Street.

 

A toll house on the Marlow Road

From https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol16/pp23-30

Shortly before 1820 Cooper’s successor Strickland Freeman diverted a stretch of the Marlow road on the town’s northern edge at his own expense, building two classical lodges on either side possibly for use as toll houses. (fn. 36) The alteration improved a difficult junction outside the Bell Inn, (fn. 37) although Freeman’s motives were probably aesthetic as much as practical.

This footpath opposite the Rugby Club on the Marlow Road, leads down to the river and is a a lovely walk which will take you through eventually through the grounds of Fawley Court, and into Temple Meadows where there are numerous wild plants growing.  Be sure to wear good walking shoes, and also be careful on the bridges that cross smaller rivers, and the inlet to Fawley Court. The Thames Path is all along the river bank, and then in Fawley Court be sure to walk in between the ropes that mark the right of way.

Northfield End has one good convenience store. You will notice that some of the other buildings there were so obviously shops in the past.

The Rugby Club has its own cafe which is open to the public.  It is a hive of activity during home matches and every Sunday when the club trains  new members and young  lads.  The field opposite, across the Marlow road is private and the younger boys play there on Sundays.

The second Toll House across the road to the one above.

Northfield End – a picture taken slightly closer up.

Work has now started on the new buildings in Kings Road.  The way into the town now for pedestrians is out of the Car Park and round the corner, a slight diversion. When the work is finished in 2020? the pathway between the new buildings will be open again.

A lovely view as you walk towards Bell Street from Northfield End/Marlow Road

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Twitter talk

I have started off a Twitter account for the Henley on Thames Blog and these are most of the pictures posted on it so far.  If you want to follow my twitter posts this is the address. https://twitter.com/on_blog ger

The Bridle paths of Henley on Thames – this particular path runs from Greys Road and behind Gillotts School.

Strange cargo going past the town Square.  This happens all day long, small lorries, large lorries and heavy cargo of all sorts. This tractor was belching smoke but it is not visible in this picture

The Reading Road. The top picture which shows the Higgs printers – is a landmark.  Well at least it is to me, the turning off for the railway station.  I do however tend to use Queen Street to cut the corner off.

The Tudor House antiques shop is a genuine Tudor building and the stock is well worth a browse if you are in Duke Street.  Does anyone know any more about this old building? I have done a short search and cannot find much at all about it.

I couldn’t seem to be able to post this video of the group on to the Twitter account.  I think you will enjoy this one!  The Ukulele has become a favourite instrument in the streets of Henley on Thames!

A new restaurant in Henley which will bring us a taste of the Mediterranean

All of last week Monday to Friday the walkway between Kings Road Car Park and the Town Square has been shut whilst the preparation for building work goes on. It was open this weekend though.

Above are the cloud formations that brought us non stop rain form around 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

Recent pictures of the retirement homes that are being built. Also the top picture above shows some work being done on what was the Old Workhouse building.

Above are some lovely flowers that have been planted in Town.  Our Town Council have done us proud!

Activity at the end of Kings Road, near the Town Hall.  Everyone will become more familiar with this sight whilst the walkway between the car park and Town Square is closed for building work.

The Past and Present rowing shots!

Excellent resurfacing of the end of Ravenscroft Road at its junction with Kings Road. Mind you it looks like they may have cut out one stage of tarmac – it isn’t smooth. Also why is the rest of Ravenscroft left tatty?

A word of praise for Biffa who do a good job taking away our rubbish weekly. Long may it remain weekly.

An old picture postcard of the Bridge

Love Henley on Thames

Ironic but the Workhouse in Henley (also ex Townlands) is being turned into luxury apartments for retiree’s.  It seems that the council is constantly finding its brief to provide affordable house overturned by developers building homes for profit.  Considering that poor people were confined to the workhouse – it is now being turned into homes for the elderly. I wonder if any ghosts will manifest themselves in the older part of the building? Meanwhile you can see that work has progressed very well with the new building in front.

One lovely thing in town are the many planted displays that brighten things up for residents and visitors alike. Town was exceptionally busy this weekend and visitors spent a  lot of money and time in town buying provisions to take to the 80s Rewind Festival.

I was relaxing in town, waiting for the Town Bus to take me to Henley Leisure Centre when this tractor came past pulling a lot of logs. The Tractor was belching smoke out as well not that healthy!

Two shots of the bridle path that runs from Greys Road, to Henley Leisure Centre or behind Gillotts school.

If you liked my pictures on Henley Past and Present Group, they will now be on this blog exclusively – please pass the word on, thanks!

Sunday

I had a cycle ride down Remenham Lane and back along the towpath on Sunday. Cycling is very cooling but not so much in the hot weather we are enjoying at the moment.

I also saw the mast in the field above Remenham Lane. I suspect if may be for BBC Radio Berkshire, also maybe for a local DAB multiplex. It is a pity that they couldn’t use the mast for a better mobile phone signal.

I started the trip by crossing the bridge, pausing to view passing boats etc.

The so called Red Lion Lawn, seems to me it would be a good idea to grass it over so it lives after its name and look more attractive.

 

The set of pictures above shows Sunday traffic on the bridge – no large lorries at the time I was cycling across and pausing occasionally.

The rest of my journey is below in Slide Show format. We start off with shots of the cricket club and sadly like all our lawns their grass is the worse for wear.   I have of course covered this route many times before in this blog.  I hope you will agree that each time that one walks along the Thames there is also a varied view each time.

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In the slide show there is a view of the Friar Park boat house.  It is quite quirky as is the with the house on Gravel Hill that everyone would like to see for themselves and visit!

Love Henley in summer and winter xx

Pictorial Musings

Brakespear bikes for hire – but taking up a bike rack that I like to use

Those Leander Hippos appear in shop fronts and I noticed one on a window sill in Hart Street!

Not featured before in my blog but pictures of the lovely buildings in the Greys Road Car Park.  What I have always found odd since living here is the fact that is also appears to be a road that even the town bus uses.  It is time that they put proper pedestrian crossings at both entrances.

High Wycombe on a lovely sunny day. Poundworld is in the process of closing down. No wonder they only seem to be selling off stocks of Christmas Decorations. Maybe they sold everything else before that,  lots of racks were empty in the store.

On Friday I saw a pair of shoes and a bottle of water abandoned outside the town hall!  I wonder who left that?  Nobody was nearby.

A new bus round the corner by the town hall on Saturday 4th, the official launch of the Reading bus Town Bus service.

 

A lovely new bus, slightly larger than the Whites Bus, and run by compressed methane gas made out of slurry!  No pollution and no animal smells either from the bus apparently.

I turn the camera on the offical photographers.  The current  mayor in the foreground. Julian the Mayor two years before. The lovely Michaela in the floral dress taking pictures for her excellent website the Henley Herald. Behind her the reporter from the Henley Standard. Not sure who the other gentleman is.

I started off sitting at the front of the bus, Kellie the last Mayour in Purple is on the right.

We were joined by a large group of passengers en route and I moved to the back of the bus. At the top of the bus looking after my shopping trolley is Donna Marie the lady who set up the petition and handed it in to John Howell to save the local buses. Donna is now a councillor . Thanks also to the councillors who gave up their expenses to keep it running when Oxfordshire cut the subsidy. Also to the working party who negotiated this new service. Please use it or lose it.

In case anyone thinks it unfair that I took their photo on the bus, I have included a picture of me on the Arriva Bus going to High Wycombe earlier this week!

Here are the details of the services from the Reading Buses website

Connect Henley-on-Thames

9 Days Ago 26th Jul

We are coming to Henley-on-Thames!

We are delighted to be able to announce that we will be running bus services in Henley under the name ‘Connect Henley-on-Thames’ from Monday 6 August.

These services are contracted by Henley Town Council.

check out the bus Saturday 4 August

We will be running a launch event in partnership with Henley Town Council, where you can come and see the bus and have a ride around one of the routes. We will also have an information stand outside the town hall where you can ask questions about the bus, the routes and more! We will also be giving away some branded items so come down and say hi.

The event will run from 10am until 1pm and there will be two trips on the bus at 10.15am and 12.15am from the bus stop near the town hall.

routes and times

We will be running these routes with a greener single deck gas bus – powered by compressed natural gas! It emits very low emissions when running – perfect for the lovely clean air by the River Thames! You can find out more about gas here.

route 151

This route runs from the Market Place in central Henley to the west of Henley, using Deanfield Road, Elizabeth Road and Greys Road before returning to the Market Place.

Click here for the 151 timetable.

route 152

The route runs from the Market Place in central Henley to the south of Henley, using Thameside, Henley-on-Thames Station, Reading Road to Tesco Superstore, then St Andrews Road, Blandy Road, Makins Road and Greys Road returning to the Market Place.

Click here for the 152 timetable.

route 153

Buses run from Market Place in central Henley to north Henley via the hospital.

Click here for the 153 timetable.

We are also going to be running route 145 between Woodcote and Henley for Gillotts School. More information on this service can be found here.

We are just finalising the maps for all the above the services and these should be online very soon!

fares

	single	all day
adult	£1.50	£2.50
boost*	£1	£2

*boost fares are for customers aged 18 & under. Click here for more details.

10 trip ticket

Buy your 10 trip ticket in advance and save on single journeys – great for occasional users! Just £12.50, buy from the driver or on the app!

group ticket – travel together and save

We have introduced a new group ticket for Connect Henley-on-Thames – up to four people can travel together and save. The ticket is valid all day so you can travel as often as you like.

Monday to Friday	£7
Weekends and school holidays	£5

use your phone – buy tickets, track your bus and more

You can download the Reading Buses app and have all the information you need about your bus at your fingertips! For more information on app and how to use it, click here.

 

Finally two recent sunset pictures taken on Swiss Farm

There were fireworks tonight

It seemed quite odd to see the fireworks against quite a light sky.

I didn’t think they were as sensational as last years, but they were at least a little quieter.

First a batch of photos I took whilst the show was on

This was the finale of the show and I shot a video of this section

Henley Royal Regatta Day 2

Today was another lovely sunny day, in fact I found the afternoon rather hot and oppressive. That did not stop the fine rowing and competitiveness of the rowers who came from all of the world from putting on a good display.

The bars and restaurants on both sides of the river were doing a brisk trade. The ladies were wearing pretty dresses and skirts, and I saw some lovely trouser suits as well.  The men wearing the distinctive college blazers which are so colourful and stripey!

First then the pictures I took late morning/early afternoon today

 

I took a video of one race, from the end of New Street and rested my camera on my shopping trolley handle!

The whole action that is happening at the Regatta is expertly relayed with superb commentary on the Regatta’s You Tube Channel. Each day has a 15 minute round up of the best bits from each days races. https://www.youtube.com/user/HenleyRoyalRegatta

I will not be taking any more photos of the Regatta but do visit the You Tube channel, it can be seen on your Smartphone as well! Here is an example of todays video of the day from the Regatta Channel:

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my photos of the Regatta