It strikes me every time I open a canal boating magazine and see a “modern” narrowboat interior: What’s with all the wood? It’s been well over half a century since the narrowboat leisure industry emerged and nowadays the varnish is lighter, the wood more polished. But it’s still a lot of wood. What would happen if you let the wood breathe? Gave it a little space? Could you play with paint? Or some lovely natural Read more
A day boat hire gift can make a perfect present for the man who has everything. Often a day boat experience is purchased as a birthday present for a husband or boyfriend. We are frequently told that many people have “always wanted” to try their hand at narrowboating and a day boat hire gift is a popular taster. Bring along your friends The beauty of hiring a day boat from us at Union Wharf, Read more
For those who are interested in narrowboat holidays 2022, the calendars are now live. Thank you for your patience whilst we updated the website. As you’ll know if you contacted us, we had a lot of work to do on the calendar to plan ahead for the maintenance all the boats inevitably need in the coming year. We’ve now worked out the schedule for blacking, painting, refurbishing, replacing and altering what needs to be altered Read more
We are delighted to say that our first Boutique Electric Day Boat launched successfully in June and has been attracting much attention along the Market Harborough arm of the canal. For those who have been following our progress at Union Wharf, you’ll know that we have been working on Water Vole’s refurbishment for a long time now. The project has been beset with various challenges but they’ve been all but forgotten now that she is Read more
A note for existing bookings on holiday boats Following Boris’ announcement, we are delighted to say that we will be reopening on Monday 12th April for holiday hire boats ?? So here’s what happens now… 1. If you have booked a holiday to leave in the next 8 weeks, you will receive an email from us in the next couple of days to confirm any balance owing and how to pay. Once we’ve received payment, Read more
Narrowboat interior design is always a compromise. How can it be otherwise when your rooms are all 6’10” wide? Nevertheless, our latest hire boat – Kathleen May – was a joy to work on. Kathleen May was always 55 feet of loveliness from the outside. Her shell is inspired by old working canal boats and features a grand tiller arm and classic-shaped stern. Traditional portholes complete the look. Inside, we had some work to do. Read more
Search for luxury narrow boats for couples luxury narrow boat birthday breaks Luxury narrow boat birthday breaks are often booked for a milestone birthday. It is a huge responsibility to take charge of a big birthday weekend surprise. Wives, husbands and partners frequently contact us because they are tasked with organising an unforgettable weekend for their loved ones. It can be overwhelming. Many contact us because their partners have already expressed an interest in holidaying Read more
I’ve just taken a phone call from a really lovely man who desperately wants to book a mini-break for his partner’s birthday, but is nervous about narrowboating. He’s read all about the Boutique Narrowboats; about the design, the training we offer and even about the story of how Aaran and I came to be running this company. He’s read the Boutique Narrowboat reviews on Tripadvisor and spoken at length to some friends of his who Read more
Luxury Day Boat – Water Vole is changing… Poor Water Vole. She was the least-loved of the four day boats at Union Wharf because she had cupboards that didn’t open and a toilet which only skinny people could use. She had a tiny water tank and narrow benches to sit on. Her engine had survived it’s last season in 2019 and then died. If ever a day boat needed an overhaul, Water Vole was the Read more
Boutique Narrowboats is on TV! Okay, so the circumstances aren’t great. BBC Regional News wanted to cover the story of how the global pandemic is affecting canalboat businesses and so it was never going to be particularly optimistic coverage. But at least they took some lovely footage of Woodland Grayling. We will happily take that in lieu of actual real live visitors at Union Wharf. When reporter Elise Chamberlain first got in touch, she wanted to know Read more