IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Robin Close, HAMPTON, TW12 3UY

Oak Avenue Local Nature Reserve was created by the Borough Council on the site of a former tropical aquatic nursery. It was once a derelict and dangerous site, covered in broken glass, but was transformed into a sanctuary for wildlife around 1990. Oak Avenue was declared a statutory Local Nature Reserve in 1992. This view looks towards an old chimney on the southern edge of the nature reserve. For more information on the chimney and the former land use see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3209756

From the end of Forge Lane, by St Richard's church, I followed a footpath through scrub, coming out in a little open area - much of it occupied by a grassy mound. According to the map, both scrub and grassland are part of a nature reserve - though I saw no name-board. Just south of the mound is a tall chimney, partly covered in ivy. The chimney is clearly a relic of some former land-use, not in any way attached to the building just beyond, which is a house in a modern development. The name 'Forge Lane' might give a clue, but looking at a 1974 OS map, I see that in those days the area was occupied by commercial green-houses - so my guess is that the chimney had to do with a horticultural heating system. In the foreground is evidence of the heavy crop of rose-hips in November 2012.

Oak Avenue Local Nature Reserve was created by the Borough Council on the site of a former tropical aquatic nursery. It was once a derelict and dangerous site, covered in broken glass, but was transformed into a sanctuary for wildlife around 1990. Oak Avenue was declared a statutory Local Nature Reserve in 1992. This view looks from the nature reserve across a field grazed by horses to the houses of Armstrong Road.

Oak Avenue Local Nature Reserve was created by the Borough Council on the site of a former tropical aquatic nursery. It was once a derelict and dangerous site, covered in broken glass, but was transformed into a sanctuary for wildlife around 1990. Oak Avenue was declared a statutory Local Nature Reserve in 1992. This view looks across Oak Avenue to Hampton Common on the other side.