This year’s BBC Gardener’s World Live will feature a Canal Boat Garden by award winning designer Paul Stone, celebrating the Midlands’ canal network. The Canal & River Trust and Drifters member ABC Boat Hire will be exhibiting at the event, which takes place at the Birmingham NEC, 16-19 June 2016. Visitors to the Canal & […]
Narrowboat holidays offer families the chance to set off on a summer holiday adventure together – learning how to work the locks, navigate tunnels, spot wildlife, explore traffic-free towpaths and visit waterside attractions along the way. Drifters offers the choice of over 580 boats from 45 bases across England, Wales and Scotland. All our operators […]
‘Ratty’ from ‘Wind in the Willows’, famously pronounced ‘there is nothing half as much worth doing as simply messing about in boats’. Day boat hire on the canals offers the chance to treat Dads with a fun day out on the water, nourished by a pint and a pub lunch along the way. We offer […]
There are now over 30,000 canal boats on our inland waterways, more than at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and unprecedented numbers of people are visiting and holidaying on our canals. The popularity of boating has been fuelled by the waterway renaissance which has swept across the UK, and by the standard of accommodation now […]
May is a great time to take to the water, with the British countryside bursting into life and many of our waterside towns and cities putting on special events over the bank holiday weekend. Our 2016 late May bank holiday (27-30 May) canal boat hire prices start at £625 for a short break (three or […]
Over 3,000 people enjoyed a free canal boat trip on Sunday 17 April 2016 as part of our National Open Day. The event, which was supported by the Canal & River Trust, offered taster sessions at 19 of our canal boat hire bases across England and Wales. Tim Parker, Chairman of Drifters Waterway Holidays, says: […]
With the Leeds & Liverpool Canal celebrating its 200th birthday this year, and a new pop-up base established at Ashton-under-Lyne, we’ve put together our Top 6 Yorkshire holidays for 2016. 2016 prices from our Yorkshire bases start at £415 for a short break (three or four nights), £610 for a week on a boat for […]
Despite the serious damage to Yorkshire’s waterways as a result of the Boxing Day floods, Drifters’ member Shire Cruisers has started the season on time, with holidays beginning this week from both its Sowerby Bridge and Barnoldswick bases, plus a new pop-up fleet at Ashton-under-Lyne. Short break boaters travelling from Sowerby Bridge can enjoy the […]
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the pioneering canal engineer James Brindley. Brindley was responsible for eight waterways, stretching 360 miles, including the Bridgewater Canal, the first of the industrial age. Born in 1716, the son of hill farmers near Buxton, at the age of 17 Brindley was apprenticed to a […]
Canal boat holidays are fantastic for families, offering the chance to set off on an adventure together – learning how to work the locks, navigate tunnels, speak the boating lingo, spot wildlife, explore traffic-free towpaths and visit waterside attractions along the way. Our Easter prices start at £495 for a short break (three or four […]