The anarchists thought that the problem was bad organisation. But for the hardened Climate Camp activists, the main concern was whether their tents could shield them from the rain on one of London’s most exposed commons.

Despite mounting speculation that Britain’s biggest environmental demonstration this year would mark renewed clashes between police and protesters, the event began in good humour and with an unusually small police presence.

The number of officers at the six “swoop points” in the heart of the capital was kept to a minimum as protesters waited for more than two hours to be told by organisers the secret location of their week-long camp.

About 130 campaigners were forced to play “eco-bingo” as they waited on the steps of the Royal Exchange next to the Bank of England. The only tension arose when the Whitechapel Anarchist Group, clad in camouflage, moaned that the green organisers were not keeping to their timetable about naming the camp. In their own spontaneous protest, they strung up their black and red banner between two lampposts.

When politely asked by a Climate Camp organiser to take it down, one anarchist shouted: “We are making an autonomous decision. We’re anarchists.” A few minutes later the first texts went out, revealing that their home for the week would be on Blackheath, a common in one of southeast London’s most affluent areas.

Residents living in the large Victorian villas bordering the common watched as rows of tents, a line of vans, and a makeshift stage were erected by 500 protesters in the afternoon drizzle. One resident, who emerged from a silver Volvo, said: “They couldn’t have chosen anywhere more middle class than here. My food is all organic — they should approve.”

An entrepreneurial ice cream vanwas doing brisk business, despite both the weather and one protester demanding organic produce that was devoid of air miles.

An organiser insisted that Blackheath was an ideal location, in part because it was where Wat Tyler led the Peasants’ Revolt against unpopular taxes more than 700 years ago.

However, that the hill overlooked the financial district of Canary Wharf was of greater significance.

“Having previously camped at sites of climate crime such as Drax (power station), Heathrow, Kingsnorth (power station) and the Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate, today the Camp for Climate Action is setting up at the doorstep of the economic and political systems that are fuelling catastrophic climate change,” he said.

Blackheath was also the stage of the anti-poll tax concert in 1988 where the band Squeeze played.

In the The Hare and Billet, a pub overlooking the camp, John Hillam, 38, said the new neighbours could in fact benefit the village with the new customers.

“I cannot see them being any bother. It is quite posh around here, so others might feel differently. Either way, they are probably going to have to stock up with more cider here.”

Vans unloaded equipment for eco-toilets, marquees and kitchens while different “neighbourhoods” for activists from different parts of the country were erected.

Hannah Greenslade, who works for Leeds University Students’ Union, had nothing but praise for the camp.

“I think this is one of the most important types of events you can take part in if you care about getting something done on climate change. It’s an opportunity to set up an alternative model of living for a week and be entirely self-sufficient.”

Among the handful of police wandering around the steel fence surrounding the site, a few nodded and winked as they boasted of knowing that the so-called top secret site was being erected after residents spotted people descending there the day before.

John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, could not resist offering advice to the students and activists involved.

“I’ve spent my life in strikes and protests, I’m not against protests,” he said, having launched a climate change campaign in the build up to the climate change summit in Copenhagen later this year.

“But there is concern you can have a conflict with the police, and then the publicity is not about climate change, it is about the conflict between them and the police.”

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