Abbey Wood, A Great Site for Visiting London.

The month of April saw us take the motorhome to the nations capital city, London, staying at the Caravan and Motorhome Club site at Abbey Wood. Abbey Wood is located in South East London and the campsite is easily accessible from the main road routes. We stayed here for 3 nights, arriving Monday and departing Thursday.

About the Site

Abbey Wood Club Campsite is a rural oasis in the middle of Suburban South East London. The site is set within mature trees in spacious grounds. As well as touring pitches, both tent pitches and pods are also available. We enjoy visiting London and this was the first time we had tried taking the motorhome rather than staying in a central hotel. Naturally the obvious concerns were whether London’s main attractions were easily accessible, the quality of the site and the impact of additional charges such as the Congestion charge and the Ultra Low Emissions Zone charge. This brings us to the sites main selling point, its location and in the words of the UK TV programme, it’s all about “Location, Location, Location”. We stayed at a site when we visited Germanys capital, Berlin, you can check out our thoughts on the Berlin site here. What I can say is that this site in London was much higher quality with far better amenities than the Berlin site but both had the benefit of central locations to their respective Capitals.

Abbey Wood Station is just a short walk away, probably less than 10 minutes, meaning once at the station you can be in central London in around 20 minutes on the new Elizabeth Line. The public transport in London is excellent. Every time we went to the station a train was either already waiting at the platform or a wait of no more than a few minutes for a train to arrive. I’d recommend downloading the Transport For London (TFL) app which makes route planning using public transport really easy. 

Open to caravans, motorhomes and campers, the site caters for all tourers and is a great option for those seeking a city break.

Do pre-plan your journey to this site though. You can access it without hitting the Congestion Charge Zones however it is situated within the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which means you may need to pay a fee, based on your vehicle’s emissions, age and weight. The best way to find out is to use the Transport for London Low Emission Zone Checker. To avoid any late payment penalties, it’s best to set up an Auto Pay account before you travel and then the appropriate payment is taken automatically when you drive into the zone.

Facilities

The facilities on the site were good. The reception staff were friendly, welcoming and helpful and a limited number of shop items were available to buy from the reception should you need them. The toilets and showers were clean and well maintained and additional facilities including, washing up areas, launderette, chemical waste disposal, motorhome drive over grey waste disposal were all available as required. The toilets had separate showers and individual wash basin cubicles opposite. 

Pitches

The pitches were very good and set within a lovely mature tree setting. You could forget you were in a suburban setting of London. Wildlife was in abundance with Rabbits, squirrels and foxes to be seen as well as birds singing in the trees. The pitches were on a firm but loose gravel base bordered with grass. and shrubs and mature trees. Our pitch was on slightly higher ground (The site slopes) giving us a great vantage point of the site. Don’t worry though about the site being on a slope as the pitches are as level as any other site you will stay on and Electric hook up was available on the pitch. 

 

Price

The cost for the pitch, with Electric, per night for two people was £48.90 per night when we stayed. Now I have a self imposed rule that I try to stay at sites that are around the £25 per night mark and although this broke that rule it was the location that made it worthwhile. We originally booked fo two nights but thought we’d make the most of London and ended up staying for three nights. Now for a three night stay in London for £150 (shared between 2 people  = £25 per night per person) didn’t seem bad value.

 

Things To Do

Of course there are so many things to do in London that it would be impossible to list them all within this post so check out the official visit London website here.

We visited some of the places that we hadn’t seen on our last few visits or that we hadn’t seen for a while, including;

• Camden Market
• The London Eye.
• Houses of Parliament
• Westminster Abbey
• Woolwich
• Soho

 

Motorhome Monkey thoughts

If you’re planning on visiting London then this may provide a value for money option in terms of accommodation. The site provides an escape into a countryside style environment whilst set in the heart of the community. For those that don’t want to cook breakfast then the Abbey Wood Cafe is a short walk out of the entrance and provides an easy alternative to getting your pans dirty. Would I visit here again? Absolutely!

Find out more about Abbey Wood Caravan and Motorhome Club Site on their website