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We’ve reopened at Tardebigge!

Visit Birmingham on a canal boat holiday

Worcester & Birmingham Canal Narrow Boat Holidays

We’re delighted to announce we are now able to offer canal boat hire from Tardebigge again. We are taking books for holidays starting from 4 May 2025.

Our base at Tardebigge on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal near Bromsgrove offers the chance to explore some of the most beautiful parts of the West Midlands – including the Forest of Arden, Shakespeare country, Tolkein country and the River Severn Valley.

It also offers the option to travel right into the heart of Birmingham lock-free in just five hours. With more canals than Venice, there’s no better way to explore Britain’s vibrant second city.

Emma Lovell, Anglo Welsh’s reservations manager, explains: “Located in an idyllic rural Worcestershire setting, Tardebigge is the perfect place to start a leisurely cruise around some of the gorgeous countryside to be found in the Heart of England.

“Perhaps the most popular route for beginners from Tardebigge is to take a short break and travel into Birmingham and back. There are no locks between here and the centre of Birmingham and it takes just five hours to potter along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. There are moorings in Gas Street Basin, close to Brindleyplace and a host of exciting City centre attractions.

“Along the way, you’ll pass Cadbury World in the historic village of Bournville, where you can find out how chocolate is made and explore the World’s biggest Cadbury Shop!

“If you are new to narrowboating and would like to stay in the countryside, you cruise onto the Stratford Canal at Kings Norton Junction and travel to the pretty canal village of Lapworth and back. This takes around 14 hours in total, again with no locks.

“Another popular short break route is to travel into Birmingham to visit the Birmingham Black Country Museum, often used as a film set for the BBC’s Peaky Blinders. Here you can step back in time where the world’s first industrial landscape emerged and meet costumed characters, explore period shops and houses, enjoy a fair ground ride, take a 1912 school lesson, eat traditional fish & chips and visit the Bottle & Glass Inn.

“From Tardebigge, more experienced boaters on longer breaks can enjoy there-and-back cruises to Stratford upon Avon, Warwick or Worcester. Shakespeare’s Stratford is probably our most popular destination for people on a week’s canal barge holiday from here. The journey takes boaters along the beautiful Stratford Canal with its distinctive barrel-roofed cottages, peaceful countryside and fantastic choice of canalside pubs – including the Fleur de Lys at Lowsonford, which is famous for its homemade pies.

“There’s great choice of circuits to navigate from Tardebigge, including the popular Stourport Ring. This can be done in a week and involves travelling 74 miles, through 118 locks, passing through Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stourport and the lovely Cathedral City of Worcester.

“As part of this journey, you’ll get to tackle the mighty Tardebigge flight of 30 locks – the longest in the country. The locks are spread out over two and a quarter miles and allow boats to ascend or descend 67 metres in height.

“On this route, you also have the option of taking a short cut along the Droitwich canals and experience narrow locks, staircase locks, wide beam locks and swing bridges all in a single seven-mile stretch.”

There’s more information about our boats available to hire from Tardebigge here and Tardebigge routes here.

Click here to book a holiday or call our friendly booking team on 0117 304 1122.

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High-end boats at low-end prices: save 20% on Constellation & Bond Class holidays this summer

Book Your Summer Canal Boat Holiday

British summertime is often a rollercoaster of highs and lows and this year is proving no different. School holidays (hooray!), seaside showers (boo!), Andy Murray (hooray!), England’s football team (boo!), family picnics (hooray!), motorway traffic jams (boo!).

But one traffic-free tradition you can always rely on is the chance to cruise in style for less on Britain’s waterways courtesy of Anglo Welsh, Britain’s most trusted canal and narrowboat experts for 40 years. We pride ourselves on always offering our customers the summer’s most attractive narrowboat offers, and this year is no exception.

Our exclusive summer 2016 promotion offers 20% off all Constellation and Bond class bookings for holidays and cruises taken before September 4th. The only thing you need to do to secure this incredible offer is to book your narrowboat hire before the end of July**.

The prices are modest, but you will be travelling in handsome style. The customised Bond Class has been an incredibly popular Anglo Welsh hire over the years, while the brand-new Constellation Class combines the proven layout of the Bond with upgraded facilities and attractive new livery. Both classes are available for hire from our 11 bases in prime locations across the inland waterways of England and Welsh, so there’s an Anglo Welsh experience for everyone, whether a 4-berth, 6-berth or 12-berth suits your requirements.

A perfect summer’s day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and the birds are singing; and naturally, it all feels even more idyllic when you are cruising along a canal with your family or friends. Throw in Anglo Welsh’s fabulous 20% discount on its premium class Constellations and Bond narrowboats, and we’re sure you’ll agree this could be the summer holiday of a lifetime. Hip hip hooray!

To get your 20% discount, call the Booking Office now on 0117 304 1122 and quote ‘reach for the stars’.

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