If you’ve followed my column, you’ll know how much I love Ham. Now I’m not talking meat from my local butchers, but the “village” that sits between Kingston and Richmond.

It’s the first place I lived when I moved into the area and have some fond memories of it. So it’s no surprise I love to spend time in the area with my family whenever I can.

This week, on one of our visits running all over Ham Common with the children, Michael spotted a sign pinned to a tree inviting people to come to an open garden at Sudbrook Cottage in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

We were intrigued. Ham is a place you walk around knowing there’s a lot of history, amazing houses and beautiful gardens, but you never get to see what’s really there.

We decided we would go and take the children, so on Sunday we headed over. It was like entering the secret garden, as we stepped through a small wooden door and entered this hidden world.

You would never know such a magnificent, beautifully landscaped garden existed behind this traditional unassuming cottage.

The children were in their element and Michael and I were amazed as we enjoyed the available refreshments of Pimms and some homemade lemon drizzle cake.

What was also surprising was I bumped into the first person that gave me a job in television (I won’t name him just in case you blame him) and had a lovely catch up with him and his wife.

We had a fantastic afternoon chatting to people and admiring the space, so thank you to all those who helped put it on.

On another note, we’ve been going through toilet paper like nobody’s business because my littlest one thinks it’s really funny to sneak into the bathrooms and pull the sheets off the roll hoping the monster (comes in the guise of either Daddy or Mummy) will come and chase her.

It’s incredibly funny, but now we keep finding random balls of paper in every corner of the house.