camping newbie- is it possible to do london in a tent?

[NeatFreak]

We've got all the kit and are trying to arrange a budget weekend in London with some friends. We could all fit in one tent but would need two rooms in a hotel or hostel.
I really don't know London well- is this a crazy idea? We'd be bringing two cars as there are 7 of us.
Any tips on camping or other cheap accommodation would be much appreciated. We can get there in 2 hours so one night in a hotel would be fine but camping would probably need 2 nights to allow time for setting up etc.
Excuse typos as I'm using my phone!

I've never done it myself, but was reading just the other day about a campsite in Crystal Palace here Seems to have some good reviews.

Thanks, that does look helpful. Guess my concern is trying to drive into London and having problems with congestions charge and horrible Friday night traffic.

Any other suggestions? I don't mind having to get a mainline train for up to 30 minutes but can't work out where any of these might be!

The Crystal Palace site is Caravan Club, but the Camping & Caravanning Club have a site called Theobalds Park near Waltham Cross, Herts. Just north of M25 J26. This a nice site suitable for both tents & caravans. When we stayed there a feew years back it was easy to get into Central London by train from there.

there is a caravan club site at Abbey Wood, it is a short walk to the train station and you can be in London within 20minutes. excellant site and facilities.Hope this helps. Oh and no congestion charge either.

Thanks for all of these, I am checking them all out! Looks like it could be possible but if we have to stay for two nights to allow time to pitch and unpack plus pay for petrol it may be cheaper to book a hostel and take the train... I shall report back when I have investigated fully!

Try Debden House, Essex. We stayed there last year and it's within short drive/walk to the central line so access to central London would be easy. Nice site too. Would recommend, and not too pricey as I recall.

Good luck!

The Crystal Palace camp site has a train station nearby (Gypsy Hill I think?) or you can get a bus to Brixton tube.

Someone recently recommended the YMCA near Oxford Street - ensuite rooms with two sets of bunks and very reasonable

We have just stayed at the CP site.

It would depend where you are coming from, we drove from the North and through London on the inner ring road so didn't have to pay the congestion charge.

We felt it was reasonably easy to get to places from here, either by car or PT. The wardens are very helpful and have bus maps/little route cards for places that you can take. We got the number 3 bus from outside the site up to Trafalgar Square. Travelcards are £6.30 per adult, pyster cards may work out better value for more than 2 days of travel. (We didn't pay for our children, think the rules on child fares have just changed so not au fait with these).

You can't book a tent space but there were no more than 5 tents per night when we were there, guess it might get busier in June-Aug. I'd say most visitors were Europeans too, you can book ahead at Abbey Wood.

It was a nice site, there's a separate shower/loo block, access is by a keycode which was a bit of a pain until we memorised it, plus our children couldn't use these independently (oldest is 6). There's also a washing up area and a launderette with very short opening hours. It's right next to CP park which is a big space and there's supermarkets/cafes etc very near by. A downside is the road noise, and plane noise but then London is noisy anyway!

Just about to suggest Crystal Palace too (it's just up the road from me!) It's had some very good reviews, and as people have already said, access to London is pretty good.

Just to clear up a few bits, nearest train station is Crystal Palace, which is about 10 minutes walk away, but the 3 is fantastic for access to central London (I always use it, far less stressful than bus to Brixton, then tube)

Child fares (for buses), children under 10 are free and 10-15 are free as well but they have to use an Oyster card to get it. No card, then they pay.

Thanks for all of these suggestions. It looks like somethign we could be very tempted to do, although we have also found a Premier Inn that offers 2 family rooms for 2 nights for just £126 so I suspect the other halves might sway that decision.
I appreciate all the feedback and have added them to my list of must-vist-sites