The Ham
Encircled by the village above the Ham is a big green space by the river, surrounded by trees, and with a fantastic view of the Dart. Residents and visitors alike enjoy to walk (with and without dogs), to sit on the benches and take in the view, to have a picnic, to let the kids play in the playground. There is a car park owned and run by the Parish Council with all profits going back in to help pay for community projects such as maintaining and improving the Ham. There is also a toilet block.
You can access the river through the far end of the car park, which is also where the sailing club building is be be found.
At the other corner of the Ham a path gives pedestrian access to the Level if you take the right hand fork, or to Manor street (and the Ferry Boat Inn and Anchorstone cafe) if you go left. At low tide you can walk along the side of the river to get to the Ferry Boat Inn and Anchorstone cafe, or of course just to enjoy a walk.
Hiring The Ham
The Parish Council accepts bookings to hire The Ham, subject to the Policy.
Ham Event Risk Assessment Guidance Note
The Ham Playground Project
Playgrounds don’t last forever and some of the equipment had reached the end of its life so was taken down before becoming unsafe.
The Playground task and finish group took on the project and as a starting point carried out a consultation to find out how our local community use the Ham and what they would like to see in terms of play equipment. We had a great response and the results let us clearly see they types of activity which we had to cater for, and there was a surprise or two too, which really justifies carrying out the consultation.
Consultation Report on the usage of the Ham Area – Click here to download the report (PDF)
Ham Playground Consultation responses – Click here to download (PDF)
For Phase 1 we chose to replace the main piece of play equipment. We identified the minimum specification for what was needed and put it out to a competitive tender process. The chosen provider was Wicksteed who make a piece of equipment called the “Pinta Galleon”. The galleon allows for sliding, climbing and will of course fire up imaginative play, all activities which our consultation highlighted.
Two picnic tables were bought, and a birds nest swing has been installed as Phase 2.
