Ham Common is on the borders of Richmond and Kingston. it is very picturesque and is worth visting perhaps combining it with a day out to include Richmond Park and/or Ham House both of which are very close by. To the west of the Upper Ham Road lies a triangular green of approximately 20 acres (8.1 ha), bounded by mature trees and crossed by an avenue that forms part of the southern approach to Ham House. There is a village pond near the western corner which attracts water fowl and other wildlife in the western section. On the eastern side of Upper Ham Road (A307) lies a larger wooded area, Ham Common Woods, that extends for 1 kilometre to Richmond Park in the east and Sudbrook Park, Petersham to the north. The B352 road, Ham Gate Avenue, crosses this area, linking the A307 to Richmond Park at Ham Gate The Latchmere Stream, now culverted for most of its course, has its outfall in a pond near Ham Gate in Ham Common Woods. Since the cessation of grazing in the 1930s, the eastern section has transitioned from acid grassland heath with gorse, bracken and bramble, to mixed oak woodland. Pioneer birch, now dying back, is giving way to holly, yew and oak. The thick under-storey of this habitat contrasts with the open, deer-grazed woodland in adjacent Richmond Park to the east and the mown grasslands of the western section and Richmond Golf Club in Sudbrook Park to the north. The local authority and volunteer groups manage the habitat, keeping paths and bridleways clear and removing invasive species such as SnowThere are many notable buildings around the periphery of Ham Common. Clockwise from the north these include; Sudbrook Lodge and Cottages, Ormeley Lodge, and, next to Ham Gate, Park Gate Lodge The neighbouring Grade II listed lodge, just inside Richmond Park, dates from 1742. Wilmer House, Latchmere House, and St Andrew's Church, Ham are located on Church Road around Ham Common Woods. On the A307 Upper Ham Road lie Fox House, Ivy Cottage, Ivy House and Ivy House Cottage, a few doors away from the Hand and Flower which dates from 1861 but the present building is more recent Along Ham Street, the approach to the River Thames, lies the Cassel Hospital, dating from the 18th century. Next to it lies Langham House and, behind it, in its former garden, the 1958-built, Grade II* listed Langham House Close St Thomas Aquinas Church, Ham, formerly the parish National school, marks the north west corner of the common and, behind it, Selby House. To the west and north of the church lie The Malt House and Ham Brewery Tap, both vestiges of a 19th-century brewery. Further along the northern boundary lie the picturesque gate-houses flanking Ham House avenue, Avenue Cottage and Avenue Lodge Cottage and Avenue Lodge itself. To their east are St Michael's Convent and The Cottage, Hardwicke House, South Lodge and the New Inn built 1756 as a replacement for the White Hart, an inn that dated from at least 1675. The adjacent Stafford Cottages are believed to be the oldest on the common, dating from the beginning of the 16th-century.