Marsh Farm

View over our local area from the pedestrian bridge over the railway. No extra charge for the inclusion of the rusty metal lamppost in the middle of the picture.

Twickenham Stadium is the main feature of course, but from this angle Richmond College appears to be in front of the Stadium and looks almost as big. Our house is hidden between them. Assuming the College redevelopment goes ahead there'll be 2 schools, the College and a few hundred flats in the middle of this view. We are assured there's plenty of space on the site for all that, without us noticing anything very different....

The Craneford Way playing fields appear as splashes of bright green. Enjoy the west field on the right while you can - unless opposition is successful this will be astro-turf in a couple of years time (and probably floodlit as well). The blackbirds and starlings who patrol the grass for food will have to go elsewhere.

Marsh Farm allotments appear in the foreground. We've been on the list for a plot for about 5 years and counting. The area of birch trees in the right foreground is the Twickenham rough - which is quite the haven for wildlife - unless it gets chopped down again by over-zealous Network Rail contractors.

The River Crane, which features in several of my blips, runs through this picture in its concrete culvert, between the allotments and the playing field.

The only thing missing from the picture is a plane on final approach to Heathrow.

So, an ordinary place, with pressure for a lot of change looming. Just like most places in the country, probably.