Spring time on the River Thames on a canal boat holiday
Spring is a great time to go canal boating. The countryside is alive with new life – spring lambs, ducklings and goslings, hawthorn in the hedgerows and bluebells in the woods.
At 3pm on Friday afternoon, we – my nine-year old son Archie, husband Jonathan and fox terrier Patchey – picked up our four-berth boat ‘Romney’ from Anglo Welsh’s Oxford narrowboat hire base on the River Thames near Witney.
Nick showed us everything we needed to know about handling and maintaining the boat, and gave us a tour of its facilities.
The 48ft long ‘Romney’ has a double cabin and two single beds in the saloon.
She has central heating, a hot shower, flushing toilet, bedding, towels, and a well-equipped kitchen with an oven, microwave, fridge, plus plenty of pots, pans, crockery, cutlery, glasses and mugs. There’s also WiFi and a TV/DVD player.
Nick also gave us some advice on where to moor and, most importantly, the best pubs.
We decided to head east up the River towards Oxford.
The river was calm and quiet, winding through meadows and farmland. The first lock at Eynsham was unmanned, but as part of their handover and tuition, novices are taken through the first lock.
Three miles on we reached King’s Lock just after 5pm so the lock keeper had gone off duty – at this time of year, they start at 9am and finish at 5pm. But we shared the lock with another Anglo Welsh boat, crewed by a couple who were on their first canal boat holiday.
A mile later, we found moorings alongside the ruins of Godstow Abbey, just above Godstow lock and walked across the bridge to the Trout Inn.
This hugely popular 17th century gastropub, which appeared in many episodes of TV’s ‘Inspector Morse’, has masses of indoor tables, as well as a pretty riverside terrace for outdoor dining with a friendly resident peacock. The food and service were very good, so it’s definitely worth booking-ahead.
The next morning, after being greeted by cows checking us out from the field alongside the boat, and the sounds of a large gaggle of geese, we set off and made our way through Godstow Lock.
We travelled on a further two miles, taking turns to steer the boat.
Archie loved learning how to navigate and work the locks, and wanted to be involved in every aspect of looking after our narrowboat, including greasing the rudder and filling up with water.
Soon after passing the River’s junction with the Oxford Canal, we moored-up just above Osney Lock and set off to explore Oxford on foot.
We reached the main shopping area in just 10 minutes and continued on to Broad Street to take a look at the beautiful Bodleian Library buildings, including its stunning 17th century Schools Quadrangle.
On the walk back, we stopped to pick up some lunch from a café and walked to the top of the mound of Oxford Castle – an 11th century motte-and-bailey castle built by the Norman baron Robert D’Oyly the elder.
Back on the boat, we set off for Abingdon, passing along the edge of Oxford and sharing the river with lots of rowers.
After four miles and three locks we were back out in open countryside. At Radley, we spotted a kingfisher darting across the river and passed a beautiful bluebell wood.
All along the way we saw herons fishing, swans, families of ducks and ducklings, and geese and their goslings swimming along in the Spring sunshine. And cruising alongside the meadows at Abingdon, we heard the beautiful sound of a cuckoo.
From Osney to Abingdon Lock, it’s a nine-mile, three-lock journey, which takes around three hours.
At Abingdon, we moored alongside the parkland just below the lock and took a stroll around the town. This charming market town really makes the most of its Thames setting with riverside walks, parks and eateries, including the popular Nag’s Head, where we ate on Saturday evening.
Sunday morning we woke to bright sunny weather and noticed a series of very tired looking people walking along the towpath. We soon found out they were tackling the final stages of the Thames Path 100 mile trail race from London to Oxford, which had started in Richmond the morning before – a very different way to enjoy the river!
We turned the boat and headed west back to Eynsham, sharing all the locks with another Anglo Welsh boat.
For our last night, we moored up close to Eynsham Lock and took a 10-minute stroll up to the Talbot Inn in the village.
The next morning, we completed the last mile of our journey to return the boat by 9am, and spent the car journey home reviewing the highlights of our trip and planning our next micro-adventure afloat.
Click here to book a holiday or call our friendly booking team on 0117 304 1122.
Booking now! Brand-new additions to Anglo Welsh’s high-spec Constellation fleet
Anglo Welsh’s top-of-the-range Constellation Class was launched in 2016 to rave reviews and tremendous feedback from narrowboat experts and holidaymakers alike. The great news for 2017 is that our high spec fleet is doubling in size, with five brand-new Constellation boats poised to grace canals across England and Wales.
First out of the dry dock are the 67 ft, 6-berth ‘Pegasus’ at our Great Haywood base in Stafford and the 65 ft, 4-berth ‘Hydra’ at Tardebigge in Worcester. Both are available for hire from 14th April, just in time for some luxury Easter cruising.
As the latest evolution of Anglo Welsh’s customised fleet, the Constellation Class narrowboats boast upgraded facilities and beautifully finished livery. ‘Pegasus’ and ‘Hydra’ join the 12-berth ‘Andromeda’ based at Bath, the 12-berth ‘Delphinus’ at Oxford, the double act, 6-berth ‘Cassiopeia’ and 4 berth ‘Carina’ at Bunbury, ‘Aquarius’ at Trevor and ‘Aquila’ at Wootton Wawen.
Like the rest of the Constellation fleet, the handsome blue ‘Pegasus’ and ‘Hydra’ were built by one of Britain’s oldest established boat builders following Anglo Welsh’s own bespoke specs. The popular consensus is that they are among the finest narrowboat hires available anywhere on the UK’s waterways.
Below deck, high spec light ash interiors and reflective white ceilings create a spacious feel, and as an added bonus, the Constellation Class is highly adaptable, with double beds easily converting into singles and vice-versa. All Constellation boats have two bathrooms with full-size showers.
Watch this space for news of four more Constellation Class Boats coming to Anglo Welsh’s strategically located canal bases in 2017.
Anglo Welsh’s high-end Constellation Fleet is very popular! To book one of these brand-new narrowboats, contact our friendly Booking Team on 0117 304 1122.
We’re welcoming ‘Eynsham’ back with a discount & bubbles!
Our 61ft narrowboat ‘Eynsham’ has been refurbished over the winter and will be returning to action on the Stratford Canal next week (7 April 2017), with hire prices starting at less than £22 pppn.
‘Eynsham’ has been transformed from a boat for eight people, into a spacious six-berth, with a generous front cabin, one bathroom and two cabins, making her the perfect family boat.
Her accommodation can be configured as one dinette double, with one fixed double and two fixed singles, or one dinette double with four fixed single beds.
First introduced to the Anglo Welsh fleet in 2004, ‘Eynsham’ has spent 12 years taking canal boat holiday-makers on adventures along the Kennet & Avon Canal.
To celebrate her return, we are offering her for hire throughout 2017 at price band 5/E, rather than 6/F, saving up to £150. And every new booking for holidays on ‘Eynsham’ in 2017 will receive a complimentary bottle of Bubbly on board.
In 2017, short break narrowboat holidays aboard ‘Eynsham’ start at £640, weekly breaks from £915. These prices include cancellation protection.*
On a short break (three or four nights) from our canal boat hire base on the Stratford Canal at Wootton Wawen, narrowboat holiday-makers can travel through the beautiful Warwickshire countryside to visit the historic market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare.
The journey passes over two aqueducts, through 17 locks and takes around six hours. Along the way, boaters can stop off at the pretty village of Wilmcote and step back in time to experience the sights, smells and sounds of a Tudor farm at Mary Arden’s Farm, the house where Shakespeare’s mother grew up.
Once in Stratford itself, there are town centre moorings at Bancroft Basin, close to the Swan Theatre, Shakespeare’s Birthplace, and a choice of pubs, restaurants and cafes, including the One Elm pub, Hathaway Tea Rooms, Carluccio’s and the Giggling Squid.
On a week’s break from Wootton Wawen, boaters can reach the historic county town of Warwick to visit its jaw-dropping medieval castle, tackling the infamous flight of locks at Hatton along the way.
Or head to Birmingham and moor up in Gas Street Basin to explore our exciting second city, boasting more canals than Venice and award-winning attractions like the Thinktank Science Museum.
On a 10 night to two-week holiday from Wootton Wawen, the Warwickshire or Avon rings can be completed.
Go to our bookings page to check availability or call us on 0117 304 1122 to find out more.
*A compulsory Damage Waiver of £50 is required. Fuel deposits are £50 for short breaks and £90 for week long holidays.
To book a holiday or break on the Eynsham or any of the Anglo Welsh fleet, call our friendly booking team on 0117 304 1122.
Narrowboat holidays offer the chance to enjoy a fantastic family adventure holiday afloat. So why not ship out this Easter to explore the Great British countryside as it bursts into life with spring lambs, busy birds, blossom and new leaves.
And stop-off along the way to visit exciting waterside visitor attractions hosting special Easter activities.
Here are our Top 10 family destinations this Easter to help you plan ahead:
Check out the new arrivals at Chester Zoo. From our canal boat hire base on the Shropshire Union Canal at Bunbury, the Roman City of Chester is a delightful seven-hour, nine-lock cruise away, travelling through the rolling Cheshire landscape. Once there, canal boat holiday-makers can visit Chester Zoo, home to over 15,000 animals, living in 125 acres of award-winning zoological gardens. New arrivals include a rare baby Sulawesi crested macaque monkey, ‘Diego Junior’ an endangered giant otter, ‘Murchison’ the baby giraffe and two baby elephants.
Glide across ‘The Stream in the Sky’. Just five minutes by boat from our base on the Llangollen Canal at Trevor, boaters encounter the incredible World Heritage Status Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, truly one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Waterways’. Its cast iron trough, along which boats travel, is supported on iron arched ribs and carried 38 metres high above the Dee Valley on 19 hollow pillars. On a short break from Trevor, boaters can cross the aqueduct and then continue east to reach the Ellesmere Lakes, teaming with wildlife. On a week’s break, boaters can cruise on to the historic market town of Whitchurch, with its striking half-timbered buildings, independent shops and restaurants, way-marked circular walks, and numerous pubs, including the award-winning Black Bear.
Enjoy Egg-citing Easter activities at the Black Country Living Museum. From our Tardebigge base on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal near Bromsgrove, it’s an eight-hour, three-lock journey to moorings outside the Black Country Living Museum. From 8-23 April the Museum will be hosting an array of family activities, including a ‘m-egg-a hunt across the 26-acre site, exploring shops and houses to solve clues, egg rolling competitions, eggy craft activities, traditional street games, Victorian school lessons, a trip into an 1850s coal mine and the chance to enjoy freshly baked hot cross buns from their bakery and traditionally cooked fish & chips.
Get brainy at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. From our Oxford base, it’s a tranquil three-hour cruise along the River Thames to moorings at Hythe Bridge, perfect for exploring Oxford’s city centre, including the awesome Oxford University Museum of Natural History, home to the University’s internationally significant collections of geological and zoological specimens, including the Oxfordshire dinosaurs, the Dodo and the swifts in the Tower. This Easter, visitors can enjoy their special ‘Brain Diaries’ exhibition (10 March 2017 to 1 January 2018), which chronicles the fascinating physical developments our brains undergo as we grow from babies to children, teenagers and then adults.
Join the Medieval Easter activities at the Royal Armouries Museum. From our base at Silsden on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, on a week’s holiday, canal boat holiday-makers can travel to Leeds and back, cruising for a total of 34 hours and passing through 56 locks. Here, boaters can moor up and explore the Royal Armouries Museum at Leeds Dock, home of the national collection of arms and armour. From Saturday 8 to Sunday 23 April, the Museum will be hosting a range of medieval-themed events and activities, with an exciting gallery programme of live interpretations, dramatic performances, and combat demonstrations, plus the Knight’s Apprentice Horse Show, Knight School, Falconry Flying Displays and medieval dance workshops.
Meet a Roman soldier at the Roman Baths. From our base on the Kennet & Avon Canal at the historic town of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, boaters can reach Bath Top Lock, in just six hours, travelling through one lock and over two beautiful Bath stone aqueducts. From there, it’s a 15-minute walk into Bath City Centre and the Roman Baths, where visitors can see the remarkably preserved remains of one of the greatest religious spas of the ancient world and meet costumed characters, including a Roman soldier, stonemason, slave girl and priest, bringing to life the people who lived and worked at Aquae Sulis 2,000 years ago.
Find a tropical butterfly paradise at the Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm. From our base at Wootton Wawen on the Stratford Canal, it’s a delightful six-hour, 17-lock cruise journey through the Warwickshire countryside to moorings in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. From here, it’s a short walk to the town’s theatres, shops, restaurants and museums, as well as the Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm, where visitors can see some of the world’s largest and most camouflaged caterpillars on show, find out about the amazing lifecycle of a butterfly within the Farm’s Emerging Cage and observe the fascinating Mini-Beast Metropolis, inhabited by stick insects, beetles, leafcutter ants and some of the world’s largest tarantula spiders.
Step back in time at Fradley Junction. From our base at Great Haywood, near Stafford, it’s a peaceful six-hour journey along the Trent & Mersey Canal to Fradley Junction, near Burton-on-Trent, where the Trent & Mersey Canal meets the Coventry Canal. Here visitors can find out about the people who once lived at Fradley Junction, repairing boats and locks, the cottages they lived in, the maintenance yard where they worked and the pub where they swapped gossip after a hard day’s work. There’s an audio trail to follow and wildlife to spot at the Fradley Pool Nature Reserve, with a bird hide and pond dipping platform.
Wonder at Warwick Castle. From our Stockton base on the Grand Union Canal in Warwickshire, it’s a seven-hour journey, passing through 20 locks, to reach the beautiful country town of Warwick with its jaw-dropping medieval castle on the banks of the River Avon. Dating back to William the Conqueror, Warwick Castle offers a fantastic day out with ramparts to climb, the Castle Dungeon, Great Hall and Staterooms to explore, the sights, sounds and smells of the medieval period to experience in the Kingmaker exhibition, soaring birds of prey and trebuchet firing displays to watch, the Horrible Histories Maze to navigate and landscaped gardens to tour.
Explore Brunel’s SS Great Britain in Bristol’s Floating Harbour*. From our base on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Sydney Wharf in Bath, Bristol’s Floating Harbour is an eight-hour cruise away, travelling through 13 locks. Once there, narrowboat holiday-makers can moor-up and take time to explore Brunel’s awesome SS Great Britain, one of the most important historic ships in the world. Special activities planned this Easter include an Easter Animal Trail for families to follow clues in search of creatures that traditionally travelled on board the ship, and volunteer-led talks about the ship’s first voyage to Australia, with tales of murder, mystery, life changing success and spectacular failure. *NB this route is recommended route for experienced boaters.
To book a holiday or break on any of Anglo Welsh’s fleet, call our friendly booking team on 0117 304 1122.
What’s on in 2017 – Anglo Welsh’s guide to the year’s top canal festivals
Literary giant Dr Samuel Johnson famously said that “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”. Here at Anglo Welsh we reckon you could say the same thing about canals! Every year there is an action-packed calendar of festivals and boat shows on the waterways near our 11 bases in England and Wales, and 2017 is no exception.
Dr Johnson’s hometown of Lichfield lies just a few miles by waterway from the historic Shropshire Union Canal, a firm favourite among holidaymakers departing from Anglo Welsh’s Great Haywood and Bunbury bases. Taking place just cruising distance from both bases is the 18th annual Audlem Festival of Transport (30th July), where a record number of vintage canal boats are expected at the Audlem Wharf next to Audlem Mill and the Shroppie Fly. For all-round transport buffs, there will also be a parade of 300+ vintage cars, vans, trucks and buses.
TheSkipton Waterway Festival(29th April – 1st May) on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Anglo Welsh’s Silsden base will see narrowboats lined up along the Skipton Basin and surrounding towpaths. The North Yorkshire event also features specialist attractions like the ‘Birds of Prey’ show and the ‘Bark-ing mad wood turners’, plus a host of children’s rides. The Silsden to Skipton stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs through a beautiful part of Yorkshire and offers gorgeous views of the South Pennine countryside and old stone-built villages.
The Crick Boat Show(27th – 29th May) in Northamptonshire is Britain’s biggest inland waterways festival. Visitors can take a free trip out onto the water to experience the Grand Union Canal on a vintage canal boat, and for nostalgic narrowboaters there will be a unique show of historic boats dating back as far as 1909. The Crick event is organised by Waterways World, a must-read monthly magazine that explores the UK’s waterway systems, tests the latest boats, and looks into the history and heritage of our canals.
There will certainly be plenty of canal history and heritage on offer at the Foxton Locks Festival(17th – 18th June) near Market Harborough on Anglo Welsh’s East Midlands Circuit. Waterway enthusiasts will tell you the highlight is witnessing boats getting up or down the hill through the famous Foxton locks and the amazing inclined plane, but that’s not the only thing on offer. Leicestershire’s much-loved festival boasts a fantastic range of historic boats to enjoy as well as craft marquees, a music festival and the ever-popular Fun Dog Show.
Another early summer highlight comes in the shape of the Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally and Canal Festival (24th – 25th June) near Daventry in Northamptonshire. Over 80 historic boats will gather at the picturesque marina located on three Anglo Welsh circuits – the Warwickshire Ring, South of England Circuit and East Midlands Circuit. There they will take part in parades with expert commentary; other attractions include a real ale beer tent, boat exhibitors, waterways artists, live music, and Morris dancing.
Travelling across to Shakespeare country on Anglo Welsh’s popular Avon Ring, the Stratford-upon-Avon River Festival(1st – 2nd July) is now in its eighth year and goes from strength to strength. It’s a quintessentially English summer festival featuring a display of spectacular narrowboats, world-class live music, fun activities in the Family Zone, an artisan craft market, a delicious selection of global food stalls, and an awesome Saturday firework display.
For canal goers who enjoy spectacular festivals and thrilling boat shows, 2017 will clearly be another busy year on the UK’s waterways. To paraphrase Dr Johnson; if a man, woman or child is tired of canal festivals and Anglo Welsh narrowboats, they are tired of life!
Click here to see the full range of Anglo Welsh canal circuits on the Shropshire Union Canal, Grand Union Canal, East Midlands Circuit, the Avon Ring and more.
Anglo Welsh’s friendly staff at our 11 bases in England and Wales will be delighted to recommend the best local boating events. To book a narrowboat holiday in 2017 call our booking team on 0117 304 1122.
This Mother’s Day, why not spoil your Mum with a relaxing day afloat, enjoying a posh picnic afloat or stopping off for a pub lunch along the way?
Anglo Welsh offers day boat hire from five of its bases, from less than £10 per person. Full tuition is included, so if you’re new to narrowboating, you can get the hang of steering, mooring up and working the locks.
Boats are equipped with cutlery, crockery and a kettle and most day boats also have a toilet, cooker and fridge.
Here are ourTop 5 Days Out Afloat for 2017:
Glide across ‘The Stream in the Sky’ – from our canal boat hire base at Trevor on the Llangollen Canal in North Wales, it’s less than 10 minutes by water to the incredible World Heritage status Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, also known as “The Stream in the Sky”. At over 38 metres high and 305 metres long, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is truly one of the wonders of the waterways, offering stunning views of the Dee Valley below. After travelling over the Aqueduct, boaters can turn at Froncysyllte and head back across, travelling on to the ancient Welsh town of Llangollen in two hours. Day boaters can moor up in Llangollen Basin to explore the town and visit Plas Newydd house and gardens and enjoy lunch at the Corn Mill, with stunning river and mountain views. Day boat hire from Trevor starts at £120 for up to 10 people, £160 on weekends and bank holidays.
Explore Shakespeare countryside – from Wootton Wawen on the Stratford Canal near Henley-in-Arden, boaters can head south, crossing the Edstone aqueduct, to the pretty village of Wilmcote, a journey that takes around 2½ hours. Here, day-boaters can moor up above Wilmcote Top Lock and take a short walk into the village to enjoy lunch at The Mary Arden Inn or the Masons Arms, and a visit to the childhood home of Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden’s Farm. Day boat hire from Wootton Wawen starts at £99 for up to 10 people, £140 on weekends and bank holidays.
Cruise the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal – from Great Haywood on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal near Stafford, day boaters can cruise to the historic market town of Rugeley and back, passing the National Trust’s stunning Shugborough Estate, with beautiful Georgian Mansion house, walled garden and rare breeds farm, as well as and the delightful Wolseley Arms pub at Wolseley Bridge. The journey to Rugeley and back takes a total of six hours. Day boat hire from Great Haywood starts at £99 for up to 10 people, £140 on weekends and bank holidays.
Cruise along ‘The Shroppie’ to Hack Green – from our base at Bunbury Wharf on the Shropshire Union Canal near Tarporley, cruise north for nine picturesque miles, past Barbridge and the canalside Barbridge Inn, through Nantwich and over the Nantwich Aqueduct, to a mooring and turning place just above Hack Green Locks. Here it’s a short walk to the Hack Green Nuclear Bunker, a vast underground complex which remained a secret for over 50 years, now a fascinating visitor experience. Day boat hire from Bunbury starts at £99 for up to 10 people, £140 on weekends and bank holidays.
Travel through rural Worcestershire – from Tardebigge on the Worcester& Birmingham Canal near Bromsgrove, cruise north to Kings Norton Junction, passing through fields, woods and three tunnels, including Wast Hills Tunnel, one of the longest in the country. The route, which covers a total of 16 miles there and back, takes boaters past a choice of waterside pubs, including the Weighbridge at Alvechurch and the Hopwood House at Hopwood. There are no locks on this journey, which takes around three hours each way. Day boat hire from Tardebigge starts at £99 for up to 10 people, £140 on weekends and bank holidays.
To book an Anglo Welsh Day Boat call our friendly booking team on 0117 304 1122.
Save £250 on Summer School Holidays with Anglo Welsh
and say hello to Harry Potter, Thomas the Tank Engine and Naked Mole-rats!
Ask a canal enthusiast how they first got hooked on narrowboats and the answer will most likely involve reminiscences about family holidays when they were a child. There is definitely something magical about hazy summer days on the UK’s historic waterways.
As a family-friendly company, Anglo Welsh has always offered good value getaways for school holidays. The latest example is our 2017 ‘Summer Holiday’ promotion on holidays departing between 14th July and 1st September – book before 28th February and you could save £175 off a short break or as much as £250 off a week’s holiday.
The magic of canal boat holidays casts an everlasting spell. Children never forget navigating on the water, picnicking on deck, feeding the ducks and telling dad how to steer. And when it’s time for an adventure on dry land, Anglo Welsh’s 11 bases and 10 canal circuits offer easy access to some of Britain’s most popular family attractions.
Alton Towers is close to canals near our Great Haywoodbase and has all the ingredients for a memorable day out – rollercoasters, water coasters, runaway trains, enchanted forests and sensory gardens. Nearby Drayton Manor Park is located in acres of beautiful parkland and boasts an equally mouth-watering range of attractions. It even offers rides on Thomas the Tank Engine at his permanent home in Thomas Land.
Anglo Welsh doesn’t offer train rides from Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross but our narrowboats can transport you along the Thames to Oxford, a must visit destination for any Harry Potter fan worth their Shimmering Silver Salt Drops.
First stop in Oxford has to be the ‘real’ Great Hall inside Christ Church College, reached via that most famous of cinematic stairways. Other magical Oxford locations include Bodleian Library, aka the Hogwarts Infirmary, and Duke Humfrey’s reading room where Harry dons his invisibility cloak to seek clues about the Philosopher’s Stone. Wizards and Muggles are equally welcome at Anglo Welsh’s Oxfordbase on the River Thames!
There are no hippogriffs or house-elves at Chester Zoo but the UK’s most visited zoo is home to 15,000 animals and 500 different species, including Asian elephants, Andean bears, Sumatran tigers and the scary looking naked mole-rat, who we hasten to add is no relation to the loveable water voles who build their nesting chambers in steep canals on the nearby ShropshireUnion Canal.
Birmingham Sea Life Centre is another destination with the wow factor for animal-loving kids. Encounter sharks, penguins, stingrays and a giant green sea turtle in the UK’s only 360° Ocean Tunnel, where you can get closer than ever to incredible creatures and be transported to life beneath the ocean’s waves – without the need for a snorkel! And it’s just 5 hours and no locks from our base at Tardebigge.
For the budding scientists in your family, At-Bristol Science Centre joins the dots between science, arts and culture with live shows and hands-on exhibits. Close to moorings on the Kennet and Avon Canal, At-Bristol uses cutting-edge multimedia to inspire the next generation of Einsteins and boasts the UK’s only 3D ultra-high definition Planetarium where visitors can fly through the universe from the comfort of their own seats.
Anglo Welsh has provided great family holidays for over 40 years and many of the children who first discovered the joys of the waterways with their parents now come back every summer with their own offspring. Given the natural wonders of our canals and the proximity of so many world-class attractions en route, who can blame them?
To save up to £250 on your School Summer Holidays call our Booking Team on 0117 304 1122 and quote ‘Summer Holiday’. Offer available on holidays departing 14th July – 1st September that are booked before 28th February 2017.
Canals and Culture – Anglo Welsh’s prime destinations for lovers of the arts
For many people, cruising along a peaceful canal surrounded by picturesque countryside is the perfect antidote to the hubbub of modern life, but if your personal recipe for relaxation also involves immersing yourself in the arts, Anglo Welsh Narrowboat Holidays offers the perfect cultural pit stops.
Oxford, Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon are just three of the outstanding destinations on Anglo Welsh circuits that provide fabulous opportunities to moor up and explore some of the UK’s cultural jewels.
A leisurely three-hour cruise from our Witney base on the Thames, Oxford is a city that has captured the artistic imagination for centuries. The ‘City of Dreaming Spires’ boasts 1,500 listed buildings from every major period of British architectural history and the centre looks like an enchanted fairy tale city – one of the reasons it has inspired so many writers and film directors.
Oxford is flat and compact with many of its major attractions – the University of Oxfordand its 38 colleges, Bodleian Library, Oxford Castle – located right in the centre, which makes it the perfect destination to explore on foot.
The Ashmolean Museum’s world famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art. This year’s must-see exhibition, Degas to Picasso – Creating Modernism in France (February 10th – May 7th), features over 100 works that have never been seen in Britain before. The exhibition plots a course from Romantic artists such as Ingres and Delacroix via the dramatic artistic transformations of Van Gogh and Cézanne to the radical experiments in Cubism by Picasso and Braque.
The Oxford Festival of Arts (June 4th – July 8th) is a two-week celebration of culture and the arts in venues throughout Oxford. The Festival programme presents an exciting array of high quality events, with a colourful mix of music, literature, theatre, art, speaker events, workshops and much more.
The World Heritage City of Bath is another year-round cultural hotspot. Just five minutes from Anglo Welsh’s Sydney Wharf base are visitor moorings in the heart of the city – a stone’s throw from Bath Abbey with its unique Victorian Gothic architecture and the historic Roman Baths.
The 2017 Bath Bachfest (February 16th – 18th) is the sixth annual celebration of the music of J S Bach and his Baroque contemporaries. The festival has rapidly become a firm fixture in the musical calendar, earning critical acclaim and loyal audiences. This year the final evening concert takes place in Bath Abbey and will present an all-Bach programme, book-ended by two of his most loved works: the Third Brandenburg Concerto and the Magnificat.
On a more frivolous note, theBath Comedy Festival (April 1st – 17th) gets bigger and better every year and comics don’t get bigger than Have I Got News for You star Paul Merton, who opens the Festival on Saturday 1st April in the glorious, 1930s surrounds of the beautiful art-deco Bath Forum.
Reverting to more highbrow pastimes, this year’s Jane Austen Festival (September 8th – 17th) is celebrating the novel Northanger Abbey. Before that, the venue for the pre-festival Summer Ball on July 1st is the historic Banqueting Room at Bath’s Guildhall.
Shakespeare is to England what Mozart is to Austria or Tolstoy to Russia – the country’s cultural giant; and nowhere is better for tracing the giant steps of the Bard than Stratford-upon-Avon, a pretty journey along Stratford Canal from Anglo Welsh’s bases at Wootton Wawen or Tardebigge.
Moor on the River Avon close to the famous Swan Theatre to explore Stratford-upon-Avon’s quaint side streets with many surviving buildings that would have been familiar to Shakespeare, including his own birthplace and the romantic Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.
Among the 2017 highlights at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is the epic political tragedy Julius Caesar (March 3rd – September 9th). Following his sell-out productions of Oppenheimerand Don Quixote, director Angus Jackson steers the thrilling action as the race to claim the empire spirals out of control.
A new permanent exhibition at The Swan Theatre, The Play’s The Thing, offers a magical journey through 100 years of theatre-making in Stratford-upon-Avon. Discover rarely-seen treasures from the theatre’s archive: exquisite costumes, amazing model-boxes and weird and wonderful props.
If all that sounds a bit hectic and you prefer to spend your holidays away from the crowds, you can always relax on board with your favourite Jane Austen novel, download Bach on your tablet or watch a Shakespeare play on a flat-screen TV. If you have the cultural taste buds, Anglo Welsh has the technology!
To book a holiday or break on any of Anglo Welsh’s fleet, call our friendly booking team on 0117 304 1122.
We offer a range of different types of holidays such as City Breaks, Relaxation Cruises and Popular Destinations
So why choose Anglo Welsh?
Over 55 years providing unique canal boat holidays in England and Wales.
Modern and spacious narrowboat and wide beam barge hire – from 2 to 12 berths.
Wide choice of narrowboat hire locations and canal boat holiday destinations.
Canal boat holiday routes for novices & experienced boaters.
Flexible holiday booking, no hidden costs.
Family friendly and pet friendly holidays.
Great days out on the water.
Luxury canal boat hire and Thames boating holidays.
Anglo Welsh. So much more than narrowboats
...but don't just take our word for it
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
