For nature
You’ll spend time with Giant Hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum, which can cause blisters, long-lasting scars and blindness. A perfect souvenir from your visit to the Lower Lea Valley.
Be alert for drifting clouds of RoundUp®, which is liberally sprayed to enhance your visitor experience. Gas masks are available to purchase from the Waterworks Centre.
Enjoy the buzz of hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes and midges that have made this former golf course their home.
For sport
The reasonably fit will manage the hike to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in under an hour. If you would like to make it back before the campsite closes for the night, it’s the perfect opportunity for an invigorating night run along an unlit towpath. And, for those that relish adventure, there’s a game of Russian roulette with the home-grown muggers of Hackney.
Keen train spotters will appreciate the immediate proximity to the Eurostar depot, where trains run 24 hours a day. And if you’re really dedicated you can stay up to catch a glimpse of the 4am nuclear train, which will pass within a metres of your tent.
For discovery
Children will be entertained playing EyeSpy on the banks of the River Lee. On any one day you can see a dead fox, several gambolling rats, a plethora of prams, and detritus from the sewers of London.
You’ll be welcomed to the site by local protestors.
You’ll be lulled to sleep by the sounds of planes, trains, sirens, helicopters and the busy Lea Bridge Road (ear plugs are available to purchase at the Waterworks Centre).
You’ll be delighted to leave.