“So you are going camping in Central London – are you mad? “ Abbey Wood Caravan and Motorhome Club site.

Central London is the last place that anybody would expect you to go camping and it certainly raised some eyebrows that we were taking our newly acquired campervan to camp in London. 

It was August 2020 and I had my beloved campervan for one week and had my new drivaway awning delivered. We were also just emerging from the first lockdown and the boys kept asking questions about London. We had joined the CAMC and began searching around the Henley area but there was no availability.  The club site offered an alternative to Abbey Wood club site near Greenwich. It looked good and we were intrigued by the mention of parakeets so we decided to go camping in London.

Note: Abbey Wood sits in the London Low Emission Zone so you would need to check your vehicle on the Transport for London website: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/?intcmp=53502

Our Renault Trafic (diesel) passed last year but we have since failed when we have checked for driving through Bath so it is worth checking as there are some horror stories of people being charged hundreds of pounds.

See our YouTube video below:

Arrival

We are usually a little later than we had planned to be but due to traffic problems on the M4 from Wales we only just made the 8 PM deadline. The warden looked rather annoyed when we arrived as it had meant that they could not finish work but our young twins seem to have a secret of making people smile. 

After checking in we chose our pitch and then informed the warden of the number. We were surprised that there were so many empty pitches as the website was showing nearly full. It was now nearly dark as we had to put an air awning up that we had never used before – luckily we had had an air tent for a few years so knew the basics of inflating the tubes although it was slightly different. We managed to get everything sorted quite quickly and the warden came to check on us. He informed us to watch out for foxes and to not leave shoes outside as the foxes have a certain penchant for them, 

We woke in the morning to a strange mixture of sounds from parakeets and fox cries to sirens and jumbo jets. We were in the countryside in Central London. The site looked a lot different in the daylight and really is in an idyllic setting with the many sirens reminding you that it is London. 

Facilities

There were two sizable toilet blocks with the usual standard of showers and washing-up places. At the time they were running the three-band system with every other toilet and shower closed to ensure distancing. Most people obeyed the rules. 

There were some limited things available in the shop but that was about it. However, there were shops a short walk away and the railway station was a ten-minute walk with trains to central London taking about twenty-five minutes. 

We did the usual London stuff with an open-top bus tour, Oxford Street, Piccadilly, etc. On the second day, we made up our own trip by taking a train to Greenwich, then seeing the Cutty Sark which was not worth it in our opinion. We then took a fast boat from Greenwich past the O2 to the Qatar Airways cable car across the Thames which was breathtaking then got the docklands railway back to Charing Cross where we had pizza.

We would definitely return to Abbey Wood if we ever want another jaunt around London and have very happy memories of our first trip in our campervan.