The camping organisation has teamed up with community sports grounds around London to provide camping pitches for just £10 per person per night (£5 for kids) in locations near Olympic and Paralympic venues.

According to co-founder Geoff Vaughan, the sports clubs are better equipped than many campsites, with showers, toilets, bars and big screens showing all the sporting action. Some sites will also offer breakfast packs and barbeque nights.

“The idea came about because we know how hard it is to fundraise for local clubs,” said Vaughan, whose business partner, Rhian Evans, is a keen rugby player. Proceeds will go towards improving club facilities and developing grass roots talent.

Games Makers (volunteers working at the Games) account for 70% of bookings so far. The most popular site, Eton Manor Rugby Club, which is just nine minutes away from the Olympic Park by Tube, has already sold out on certain dates.

For more information visit www.campingatthegames.com or browse more London campsites

The famous Rib Room at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel is celebrating its 50th year, having built up a reputation as one of the top restaurants to enjoy a steak in London.

I recently had dinner at the iconic and newly refurbished restaurant.

We began our evening with indulgent champagne cocktails. We were then seated at a table in one of the restaurant’s three private dining areas, surrounded by art by Feliks Topolski.

The British menu offered all kinds of steak as well as other dishes such as whole roast Suffolk partridge and black truffle roasted Cotswold whole chicken.  I had the Orkney scallops accompanied by butternut squash and apple-glazed bacon for starters, which made a delicious combination. 

I also had the famous roast rib of Casterbridge Aberdeen angus which was cooked to perfection.

Our waitress was attentive and experienced, helping us to select wine to complement the dishes we had ordered.

I highly recommend The Rib Room for an elegant evening with delicious food and wine. If you end up too full to move then why not book yourself in to one of the hotel’s suites for the night!

Aly was a guest of Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel

Last night I had a look round the recently-opened Corinthia Hotel.

The hotel is dripping with five-star touches, from the huge bathrooms, to the walk-in wardrobes to the soon-to-open on-site Harrods store.

What I’d really like to show you is the beyond-luxurious ESPA Life spa which is due to open this month, but it’s all top secret until then. Take a look at the CGI images on The Corinthia’s website and you’ll start to get the idea.

Other points to note are the hotel’s two restaurants, The Northall serving up modern British cuisine and seafood restaurant Massimo (where Cameron Diaz, Hugh Grant and Johnny Depp have all been spotted).

And should you want to leave the hotel, it’s handily located within a few minutes of Embankment and Charing Cross station and is flanked by Boris bike docking stations.

Every year a piece of Norway comes to London: the huge Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.

For our World In London: Norway post, I spoke to the woman who helped bring that tree to London.

Oslo-born Irene Garland moved to the UK in January 1969. Garland worked for 18 years at the Norwegian Department for Press, Information and Culture (part of the Norwegian Embassy), which organises the annual Christmas tree gift in recognition of Norway’s gratitude for Britain’s support during WWII.

Since 2004 Garland has been secretary of the Anglo-Norse Society, a registered charity with 700 members. Irene tells me it’s made up of “Norwegians in the UK, British people who’ve lived or are living in Norway or have ties to the country, Norwegian students and those who are studying Norwegian language, politics, culture and geography (such as polar expeditions and the Sami people).

“The Society was established in 1918 but had a break for the war. It was re-established and re-financed in the 1950s. The 1950s were the “good old days” of the Society and it was far more high-profile back then – we used to get Vanessa Redgrave and all the big-name actors who were appearing in Ibsen plays in London to speak at our events!

“In the good old days before the internet, the Society was a way for Norwegians in London (and the rest of the UK) to read Norwegian newspapers and keep in touch with their fellow countrypeople.”

Nowadays, Garland says, the Norwegian Church in Rotherhithe is a hub for Norwegians in London.

“The Church hosts family activities, classes, play days and a weekend bazaar that’s very well attended, where you can buy Norwegian food and other products. A lot of Norwegians would go to church for the bazaar, if not necessarily for the services.”

Garland names Holland Park YWCA as a popular budget option for Norwegian students and families visiting or studying here. And, for the children of diplomats on one to two-year placements, there’s the Norwegian school, which closely follows Norway’s curriculum and is attended by 50-80 students from nursery to age 16.

“Most Norwegian people come to London on holiday at some point. When you think that Oslo, Norway’s biggest city, has only half a million people… there’s so much going on in London, you can find anything here. All my friends from university onwards, none have managed to avoid London! And back when things were really expensive in Norway, you used to come with an empty suitcase to fill!”

One thing Garland loves most about London is getting up high for a panoramic view.

“I’ve been on the London Eye and I would love to visit Millbank Tower now it’s opened. I’ve heard you might be able to go up BT Tower too. When you come from a mountainous country, you always want to find places you can look out from.”

Have you experienced Norwegian culture in London? Tell us about it in the comments below.

We know visitors to London have very discerning tastes when it comes to choosing accommodation. Whether it’s top-of-the-range luxury hotels or family-friendly B&Bs, there’s lots on offer.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to shake London’s hotel scene up a bit: we’re opening the world’s smallest pop-up hotel.

If you’re in London between the 15-19 March, and you would like to try this money-can’t-buy experience, enter the prize draw for a chance to win at www.visitlondon.com/popup

Lucky winners will wake up with an amazing view of some of the capital’s favourite attractions including

• ZSL London Zoo
• Alexandra Palace
• The London Eye
• Covent Garden
• The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich

Visit London has transformed a luxury American Airstream into a beautiful bedroom suite, teaming up with Radisson Edwardian Hotels to stamp their own unique style on the pop-up hotel.

The high-spec mini hotel features a dedicated concierge, check-in desk, room service, a flat-screen TV, sound system, fridge and dining-room area, double bed, en-suite facilities and all the other little touches you would expect to find in a top London hotel.

Enter now: the competition closes on 7 March

London was once again voted the favourite UK city in Condé Nast Traveller’s Readers’ Travel Awards last night.

It’s the second year running that London has scooped the award.

London came top of the list of UK cities, beating Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bath and Oxford.

Our fair capital achieved high-performance scores for food and restaurants; nightlife and entertainment; and a range of accommodation.

London also boasted eight of the top 10 UK Business Hotels celebrated at the award ceremony, the No 1 spot being taken by Claridge’s.

The full list of top 10 award-winners for UK Business Hotels are as follows:

1. Claridge’s, London
2. The Soho Hotel, London
3. The Dorchester, London
4. InterContinental London Park Lane
5. Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
6. The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire
7. Jumeirah Carlton Tower, London
8. Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf, London
9. The Balmoral,  Edinburgh
10. Andaz Liverpool Street, London

And congratulations to The Spa, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, which won the top spot in the UK Hotel Spas category at the awards.

Sarah Miller, Editor of Condé Nast Traveller says, “London has come top of our readers’ choice of favourite cities anywhere in the UK thanks to its glorious buildings and architecture, fabulous range of restaurants and cuisines, amazing choices of entertainment, world-class culture and its incredible selection of first-rate hotels – no fewer than 14 are shortlisted in this year’s awards.

“And this year many more of our overseas readers, particularly American and European, voted it their favourite city, adding that, thanks to the exchange rate, they found it better value for money than last year!  It’s a tribute to all the teams promoting London – from the Mayor’s office to Visit London – that they have succeeded in impressing our discerning readers for the second year in a row.”