Pity the loss of a valuable club site
Lovely site with very nice wardens, who assisted me with my booking.
It will be a sad loss when this site closes!
Crystal Palace Club Campsite
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nice site.... must have caught staff on a bad day....
Third time of staying at Crystal Palace and have been very happy with the experience. Facilities are good and the location is excellent for getting anywhere in London; this is especially useful for me as I regularly have to go for treatment at Kings College Hospital, which without fail always seems to coincide with industrial action on the railways (I live in Kent).
It would be nice to have more availability to book pitches with an awning (never seems to be an available option when I've booked on line) but when I'm travelling without my wife it is not too much of an inconvenience.
This being my third visit in as many months I was looking forward to setting up, putting the kettle on and relaxing. However this visit, despite being greeted by the same members of staff, there seemed to be a problem with my van.... I felt that the ensuing conversation was way less than congenial or helpful, bordering on hostile at times.
The crux of the matter, after consulting rule books, was that my van did not have a vent, open windows not being appropriate, despite stating, after being asked, that cooking was done on a gas barbecue so clearly outside. Unless I had some form of lethal flatulence I couldn't see why open windows were not adequate.
There were several other vans on site without vents so I like to think that there was consistency and they were "told off" too.
I have stayed at other sites with the club and have never encountered this problem before, including my two previous visits to this site.
I was left in no doubt that I would not be welcome at this site again.
Perhaps I just had the misfortune to come on a 'bad day'. If so, my advice would be don't take it out on the customers; a couple of other campers I spoke to about this had said that they had found the reception , and I quote, "snotty" and "prickly"
Anyway... love the club and the sites...
Lovely site very close to London
This is a lovely site, only 15 mins on the train from London. The site is very green, and the parakeets that fly around are a joy, but quite noisy when they wake up first thing in the morning. There is a resident fox who is very confident walking between all the caravans, though I imagine he can be trouble if any bin bags are left exposed. The toilet block is clean and large enough that there were no queues at all.
We walked to the train station at Sydenham Hill, which was a 15 min brisk walk (all down hill going, but all up hill coming back) and then caught the train to London, which was about 15 mins, so getting to the centre of London was about 30 mins in total.
It is a shame this site might be closing next year as we really enjoyed the stay. The staff were incredibly helpful explaining the route to London and the local shops when needed.
JoBennett
Reviewed on 16/05/2023 10:22
Brilliant access to London
We've stayed here before and find it an ideal starting off point for trips into Central London. The bus journey is about an hour each way, but the No 3 isn't generally too crowded and it's a good way to view the suburbs as well as unwinding at the end of a day in town.
We haven't used the local shops, but they aren't far.... and we aren't able to judge whether this is a good site for families.
During a "quiet day" we strolled to the Horniman Museum along the Green Chain walk and were surprised by the delightful path (and the chance to get a bus back up the hill!)
The reception team were both welcoming and helpful with practical matters (there was a bus strike on during our visit).
Our only regret is the uncertainty about the future of this site. It's a valuable assset for the club. We do hope the local council can be persuaded to continuue to make it available.
MandSExeter
Reviewed on 19/02/2023 19:31
Snowy December stay
What a brilliant site!
I cannot comprehend the rationale behind the Council/Crystal Palace Trust’s plans to close this site to build houses 😡.
The site is an asset to the club and to London.
There are so few opportunities to visit London with a motorhome or caravan, but Crystal Palace ticks every box.
It is an excellent site, reasonably priced , extremely well managed and there are multiple options for transportation into the centre of town.The site itself has plenty of space, beautiful mature trees, and the historic Crystal Palace park and athletics’ stadium is just the other side of the fence, so no shortage of walks or runs and dogs are very welcome. There is also a lovely little fenced and gated dog walk area in the site itself.
If you don’t want to head into town just turn left out of the site and there are shops, restos and bars within a few minutes walk.
I would highly recommend a visit to Crystal Palace.
And to the people who are deciding the future of the site- PLEASE consider how valuable it is to offer a city site to the growing numbers of caravanners and campervanners. Not everyone wants to stay in a hotel in central London.
Thank you.
Barbara
babsy6429
Reviewed on 18/12/2022 18:23
Above and beyond
Just returned from a brilliant stay in London that began with a nightmare journey. We were due to arrive on Wednesday night and we left in plenty of time to arrive by the 8pm cut off time or so we thought. A fire closed the M1 and we were diverted onto the A14 and A1. A phone call from the site put us at ease when he told us that he would stay open longer. Then an accident on the A1 saw us stationary for two hours. Stressing, we rang the site and was told by Andy that we could ring the bell when we arrived and he would be there to sort us out which took all the stress out of it. We arrived at the site at 9.45pm and before our wheels had stopped turning Andy was there allowing us to pitch on the site as there were still people waiting to arrive! The no 3 bus was used to go into Central London dropping us off conveniently near the Houses of Parliament with visits to Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and a West End Show. We used the car to visit Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace avoiding the ULEZ. Looking forward to using the site again if it remains open. A great few days after a nightmare start. made easier by the brilliant staff.
Our third Visit
We love this site, not only because it gives great access to Central London, but also because it's a short bus ride to our son's house. The site occupies the top corner of the huge Crystal Palace Park with the remnants of the 1851 Great Exhibition and the Dinosaur Park. So it's great for walking the dog and just chilling. We were lucky to arrive on the night of the Festival and were treated to a fantastic live music concert (finished promptly at 10.30), playing below the site.
Very welcoming and friendly staff and a brilliant floral display at Reception (I hope you won the competition!).
Brilliant site for visiting London
Had 9 days here in July. Staff were welcoming and helpful even when we messed up the dates and overstayed. Site is well located for public transport; on a bus route to most destinations in South London and Crystal Palace Station is about 10 minutes walk away with Overground and mainline services into London.
Don't expect rural levels of quiet there was some traffic noise and when we were staying a festival in the park but this ended by 10.30 and we quite enjoyed the music.
If staying here explore locally Crystal Palace park is fascinating and Crystal Palace is a pleasant shopping area.
London ticked.
We booked the site with a view to using it as a bese to spring from to do as much of London as possible and Crystal Palace was perfect for this.
I marked the site down on the noise aspect due to traffic and emergency service sirens which the site has no control of but everything else is fine.
The staff were very helpful and arrival was sorted out and was all very pleasnt.
We set up and thats where the car stayed until we left as the bus service is brilliant and a special message to the TFL bus station operative whos advice was so useful.
The number 3 and the 463 will get you to both parts of London and return for £3.30.
The TFL website is fantastic and we were able to plan all our visits with absolute accuracy even down to how far you have to walk and would thoughly reccomend this.
Couple of other points to make are that the mast disables your motor mover remote so prepare to manouver with it still attached.
The caravan alarm remote was affected but not completely.
I finish with a note to thank the staff for a brilliant but tiring stay.
