I have not been in Henley on Thames for a while, so pardon me whilst I catch up with my latest Photoblog post.
Several weeks ago I spotted a Giraffe walking down Bell Street. This week I went into TG Jones by the back door, and saw a poster with a Giraffe on it. I spoke to a few of the staff in there and actually managed to speak to the young man who was inside that Giraffe. He understandably complained that it was very hot in there!
Northfield End have a mature bush display in the flower bed around the Henley Town Council noticeboard there.
This was on the noticeboard there, obviously a Remembrance Sunday ceremony there.
A Goldfinch on one of our Sunflower seed heart feeders
I am rather proud of this close up I took of the Goldfinch, a very pretty bird!
The Ice Cream Parlour next to the Oxfam Shop in the Market Square – great on a sunny hot day!
The next set of photos were of the recent Wellness day a few Saturdays ago
Hart street on a not so sunny day!
Amazing to see a bank turned into a clothes shop!
Another picture of the Wellness Day in Hart Street (not as hot and sunny as now!)
Finally a Vintage Austin Car parked in the Car Park behind Waitrose
I remember when I first moved to Henley on Thames in 2013, the floods were far more devastating and came up on the road as well. It also flooded out many businesses. The rain has been devastating and this batch of photos show how bad things are at the moment. Lets’s hope that it will stop raining soon or else 2013 is likely to happen again? Hopefully not!
The floods from a drone
The flooding above is obviously in the flood plain area, but the first picture was of the river encroaching on land
Parts of the Thames Path have been flooded
Not wise to take a seat by the river at the moment!
Thanks to LE for taking these photos – if you want to use any I must get his permission first!
Today in a rather damp and rainy day I took a trip on my bike, cycling carefully and stopping where pedestrians were walking, on the tow path to Hambleden Lock.
A damp day in Hart Street
A view from the bridge, and the jetties are underwater
A closer view over the bridge
A peek in the direction of Hobbs boatyard
The Angel on the Bridge with the water just coming under the tables on their patio
Hobbs boatyard from the bridge
New Street and the river front
The building that has risen from behind to hoardings a very square and modular structure
The river, fast flowing under the bridge
Phyllis Court club house from the tow path
Another view of New Street from the tow path
A view of Temple Island from the start of the tow path
A wider view of Phyllis Court
Pretty inexpensive mooring charges, considering it is during the Regatta
Work is in progress to rebuild the river bank, so no boats should cause a wake wave that will hinder their work
More evidence of river bank restoration
More restoration work
A slightly close view of Temple Island in the wet mist
The Upper Thames Rowing Club boat house, my turning back part of the journey by bike
The Rowing Club Pavilion
Town from the towpath
An impressive tree which straddles the River Thames
On my way home a view of the Hotel Relais and the Red Lion statue
St Mary’s church and the Hotel Relais
And finally the Mermaid Statue back on her old patch
This is how Thames Water have left the site of their work at Northfield End, a nasty ridge, beware cyclists!
This Saturday’s Rugby Match between Henley Hawks and Oundle
I took a quick video over the fence at Swiss Farm so the players are not that close.
Sad that Henley Hawks were defeated during this match. It was late heartbreak for Henley Hawks as an injury time try from Oundle’s Shay Kerry gave the visitors victory and subjected Henley to a fourth straight defeat in National 2 East.
An autumnal view in the sunshine
The latest Post Box Topper with and Environmental message
With a Toad of Toad (Badger) theme
Somebody thought this was about the closure of the River and Rowing Museum, but do read the placards on the post box topper
Sunday in the sunshine
People queuing up for the Literary Festival in Town Hall
Someone has done a walk around town, beware it does have loud traffic noise!
It seems that Thames Water and City Fibre have been causing road traffic queues since Saturday.
We were waiting on Saturday for a bus to go to High Wycombe. Outside Swiss Farm they had installed three way traffic lights, and men from City Fibre were drilling up the road and digging up the grass verge outside to install two fibre optic cable boxes. City Fibre was the idea of the past Government who wanted rural areas to get access to fast internet. Zoom failed to include Swiss Farm and other areas
Single file traffic on Saturday morning at 10am , and when the 850 bus arrived it drove straight past the stop. We had to hire a taxi to take us to High Wycombe! There was no notification of this work happening either or we would have rearranged our plans accordingly. Whoever organised it did not think about people needing to get on or off buses, but did put in a temporary pedestrian crossing!
Of course in Town Thames Water have been installing new pipes etc., and have cut off one of the roads that cars regularly use. This has been there for weeks now!
On Wednesday we booked a taxi to take up to the Leisure Centre, and the driver was very patient, but we sat in a row of traffic waiting for the lights to change for over 25 minutes. We lost about 20 minutes swimming time!
Today the queue of traffic on the Marlow Road on the bus was smaller, but it still took a while for the 4 phase traffic lights to favour us!
This was a traffic queue in town today, the bus was about half the way in the queue as well.
This is what is causing the traffic queues, claiming work is expected to finish on the 9th, today. Nobody working and nobody fixing the hole in the road. It appears no warning was given about this, but I am only reading what others have posted on social media!
The hole they have dug looks like the dip in the road I have to avoid, when cycling past the roundabout there!
A recent surprise is that WH Smith has changed name to TG Jones, but the stock resembles the stock of WH Smith! When I bought some goods from them recently, the receipt still bore the name WH Smith’
WH Smith’s travel outlets, including stores in train stations and airports, are not included in the sale.
This is part of Sir Francis Crisp’s special paving slabs, which must have impressed children walking from what was the workhouse, to his garden party for them at Friar Park. As we know it starts here and goes right up West Street.
This stone is possibly a boundary stone, according to Google Lens. It is in York Road against the wall of a house. Historical boundary markers around Henley on Thames and Oxford are know to exist, often set into walls or roadsides. These stones were used to define limits of parishes, manors, or other jurisdictions. The inscription “JOINT” could indicate a joint boundary between 2 areas. The text “LT” is also visible on the stone, but its meaning is not specified in the search results. A similar stone was found in Henley Street in Oxford, which was set into a brick wall.
Not sure if this is a copy of a Banksy, commissioned by the art gallery? I can’t make out what the boy is carrying!
A view of town, that I don’t think I have posted before. At the junction of Kings Road and the start of Gravel Hill.
Our lovely Town hall, part of the exterior decorations
Halloween is on the 31st of October, here is an enlarged picture of “Boris the Spider”. He has spent some time dangling in front of one of our windows. We also seem to be having a plague of whitefly all over Henley. On our fences and raspberry bushes the spiders have woven webs which have trapped whitefly! They will be enjoying eating some of the invasion of insects!
Our local cinema, which replaced the old cinema.
Waitrose behind that, which was the reason for the change. George Harrison was one of the many local people who opposed this happening back in the day!
Our Thursday market, packing up, and moving out of town at the end of a busy trading day.
Finally Hart Street, a view of the the street from between the planters that the Town Council maintain for us.
Hello It has been a while since I have shared my photos
I wonder if anyone knows if the “Candy” on Sir Francis Cripps pavement in West Street Henley on Thames, is the name of the tile manufacturer, or a person?
There has been a good crop of Elderberries on a bush at the end of the Marlow Road
I can’t resist posting this you tube video of Elton John singing the song – a lad from Pinner like my very self (except not as talented as Elton)
Some views of the river from Fawley Meadows
An insect on our chive flower!
A truck taking some of the piling away, that was used in the Regatta – on the Marlow Road
Bell Street and blue sky!
You may have seen my letter a while back in the Henley Standard and seeing this photo?
Well this is a close up of the butterfly’s head etc.
A while back I wasn’t concentrating on the town bus, and overshot the footpath to the Leisure Centre from Blandy Road. I had to backtrack and unfortunately walked the wrong way, and ended up at the start of Blandy Road. I know that the bridle path runs back to the footpath, that leads to the Leisure centre. These are photos taken there. I have lived in Henley for over 11 years now, so I should really know my way around. I was too busy looking at my mobile!
I was surprised to find an entrance to Gillotts field open for all to enter there?
Next some post box toppers
Today I saw the first post box topper I could not readily put an name to!
It is beautifully crocheted, but I cannot work out what it is, please help!
A view of the town hall today
The Catherine Wheel – saved from demolition back in the day by the Henley Society I believe?
A view of the Pizza Express and entrance to the Greys Road Car Park today
It looks like a fly on the the screen but several weekends ago two Paragliders passed over Swiss Farm
Guess where this is in Town?
Thanks for visiting the blog, comments always welcome.
A Henley on Thames Blog from the perspective of a local resident 