Oxfordshire Narrowboats

04/06/2024

Summer holidays are just around the corner. Did you know we operate from both the south Oxford canal and the Kennet & Avon canal (Bradford on Avon and Devizes), and have a variety of hire boats to cater for all your holiday wish lists?
From day boat hire, to 47ft boats designed to host couples, all the way up to 69ft boats that cater for up to 12 people. Long weekends, mid week breaks, full weeks, or just a fun day out on a day boat with friends and family.
Both canals offer stunning scenery and easy cruising, or if you fancy a challenge how about doing the Caen Hill Flight at Devizes?!

To find out more about relaxing holiday hire this summer call the bookings team on 01869 340348 or check out availability on our website. We are pet friendly too so furred (and feathered! Yes we have had people bring their parrots and cockatiels) members of the family are welcome.

https://www.oxfordshire-narrowboats.co.uk/

27/05/2024

We are currently looking for staff members to join the team working the season on the hirefleet. This will include some weekend working, with main turnaround days on Monday, Friday, as well as Tuesday and Saturday.
You may also be asked to cover what'd services such as diesel, pump outs etc.

This is a great job for a liveaboard boater or someone who wants to be around boats and gain experience of boat handling! Experience is an advantage but full training will be given.

For more info or to apply, ring the office on 01869 340348 or pop into the office and ask to speak to Molly 😊

02/05/2024

A few days ago we welcomed this cheerful group of guys who had come over from Norway to hire one of our boats. They have been going on narrow boat holidays together as a group for 15 years and this year's printed jumpers celebrated 'Kanaltur 2024.'

Here they all are posing with hire fleet manager Molly and staff members Ben and John, making more memories on this year's trip!

Our 69 foot boats can cater for up to 12 people and we give full tuition, so you don't have to be a fully fledged Viking to take one out on holiday!

16/04/2024

Well the weather has been challenging lately, and boats have been restricted as to where they could cruise, due to water levels. However, this didn't stop our hirers out last week from enjoying their holidays and everyone came back to the wharf happy!
As one family reported in their review.......

On arrival the staff were very helpful and friendly. Our show out was very thorough and we left the wharf feeling confident as this was our first experience in a narrow boat family holiday. I was impressed how clean and well presented the boat was. We had to adapt our original plan as the high waters restricted the canal passageways we had planned to visit. We returned to your wharf for some advise after exploring the available northern canal and again the staff were very helpful and generous with their advice and suggestions on what to do with our remaining few days. We have had a very nice canal experience and will definitely look at doing it again soon. Our expectations were definitely exceeded on this occasion!

30/03/2024

Could this be you????

Yesterday was a typically busy day at our Heyford base on the Oxford canal, with all of our hire fleet out for the Easter weekend (and beyond)!

Our staff go through a hand over tutorial with our hirers, walking through the whole boat to explain how everything works, then while everyone else unpacks their belongings onto the boats and parks their cars in our locked compound, 2 crew members in each party attend a further tutorial on the back deck to teach or refresh them how to operate the boat and moor safely. Then all of the crew will be shown how to operate locks, and finally our staff member onboard will show them out with the boat down the canal a little, depending on how capable the hirers are. All our team are liveaboard boaters themselves, so they have years of experience too!

After this the crews are left to meander along the waterway, enjoying the scenery, chatting to local boaters and cruise to their first destination for the night. Dinner aboard at a quiet mooring, or in one of the canal side pubs along the route.

If you want to be part of this, book your boating holiday via our website https://www.oxfordshire-narrowboats.co.uk/ or call our bookings team on 01869 340348.

02/03/2024

Some of us were lucky enough to see her go by this morning! We quite often have this Pullman Orient Express service go by along this line and its great to view from the canal.

Fab photos Linda Mitchell :-)

26/02/2024

From Friday 1st March the wharf and shop will be open seven days a week, 8.30am to 17.30pm. Our shop is now fully stocked up with basic food, snacks and alcohol including milk, bread and eggs. We also have a range of cold drinks and ice creams.
If you need to call the office to enquire about, or book a holiday, or dayboat, please press Option 1 when calling. This will take you straight to the bookings office who can deal with you questions. Turnaround days are busy so please leave a voicemail if nobody picks up. 🙂

26/02/2024

It's come around fast but we are open again for the season from this Friday the 1st March! Last minute jobs around the yard and hire boat prep is being finished off this week, ready to welcome our first hirers.....

Wharf/shop hours from Friday are 8.30am to 17.30pm seven days a week.

13/02/2024

Thinking of an early spring break on the canal? Our hire boats are available for long weekends or mid week breaks from the 15th March. Fitted with very efficient heaters to keep you warm inside, and of course there are lots of cosy country pubs along your route to refresh yourself after a day working the locks. 🍻🥂🍷
Spring is beautiful on the canal. You might even spot some baby birds about!

Check out our website or call the bookings teams on 01869 340348.

30/01/2024

If you are thinking about booking a narrowboat holiday this year, we have three lovely locations to choose from! Our main base is of course at Heyford Wharf Ltd on the south Oxford canal, but we also operate a fleet from Bradford on Avon on the Kennet & Avon canal.

Our sister company White Horse Boats operates from Devizes Wharf, also on the K&A.

Find the base that is most convenient for you and explore Oxfordshire and Wiltshire by narrowboat.

THE UK'S BEST SELF DRIVE CANAL HOLIDAYS AND DAYS OUT ABOARD SUPERB NARROWBOATS WHITE HORSE NARROWBOATSIf you're looking for a budget boat holiday on the Kennet & Avon Canal, or would prefer a route with few or no locks to work, take a look at our sister company White Horse Narrowboats based at the t...

18/01/2024

We are experiencing a bit of a cold snap at the moment! It looks very pretty now the sun is shining in blue skies but it was minus 7 degrees here last night!!
Out of season we 'winterise' our entire hire fleet. That means we empty the water tanks, depressurise the water systems, remove the accumulators and shower heads, take away the curtains and wash them all, take up all the mattresses, revarnish all the doors, isolate all the batteries and turn off the gas. We leave a couple of windows open on the boats as well.
It takes a lot of work to winterise then de-winterise our boats, but it means they do not suffer with any issues around damp, mildew and mould, or worse, frozen burst water pipes during these cold spells.

Only a few weeks now until we start de-winterising and deep cleaning them, ready for the new season!

02/01/2024

Happy New Year! 🥳🥳A very rainy start to 2024 but now is a good time to start dreaming about hot summer days and clear balmy starry nights aboard one of our fantastic holiday hire boats!

Keep an eye on our website for any offers that pop up. Our office phone lines are now open Monday to Friday 11-4pm for any questions you might have.......

Roll on summer!

OXFORDSHIRE NARROWBOATS, THE UK'S BEST SELF DRIVE CANAL HOLIDAYS AND DAYS OUT ABOARD SUPERB NARROWBOATS

21/12/2023

Season's greetings from all of us here at the wharf! 🤩

It's a wrap folks! Today is our last day of trading for 2023. The wharf and shop are open until 4pm today then we will return on the 2nd January 9am.
Wishing you all a very merry Solstice, Yule, Christmas, holiday and new year! 🥂🍾🎄🌞🌟🌟❄️⛄️🎅🧑‍🎄🤶

19/12/2023

***Positions now filled****

We are hiring!!!!!!
For the 2024 summer season hire fleet, from the start of March.
We are looking for cleaner/handover operative staff. Duties include turning around boats in the morning and giving handovers to hirers in the afternoon.
We also need a part time yard hand/general boat hand. Duties will include helping to dock boats, blacking hulls, wet vaccing engine bays and mopping roofs and decks on hire fleet turnaround days. If you have ever wanted to start developing a career on the waterways this position could be a good starting point for the right person!

Relevant experience is not essential as full training will be given. You need to be confident giving information to members of the public, able to work as part of a friendly team but also be able to take your own initiative.
Working days are approx 3 days a week but more or less hours can be negotiated. Some weekend work will be required.
Please call 01869 340348 for more information or pop into the yard when we are open for a chat.

16/11/2023

If you have ever wondered what happens to our hire boats over the winter, the answer is....a lot!!
During the 5 months our fleet is not out on hire we get them into the paint shed, 2 by 2, to either touch up or fully repaint them, depending on how many scratches and scrapes they have had in the summer.
We have two full time painters working flat out all winter getting the boats finished. We also might do other works such as reseal shower units, change fridges, put in new carpets etc etc.
Over the last two winters we have replaced all the engines, all the inverters, all the diesel heaters and we are slowly working our way through all 13 of our boats converting the leisure battery systems to lithium.
We also have 4 Black Prince boats that we hire from our Heyford base, and one of these is being painted in the new livery colours this winter too.
The result of all this hard work means that every summer our boats go out looking clean, shiny, and upgraded, which means YOU enjoy your hire boat holiday experience even more :-)

08/09/2023

The weather this week has been incredible and this group of happy hirers struck lucky for their dayboat trip. We love the drone shots taken over Kirtlington Quarry, and the mouthwatering one of the picnic!

Here is what they said about their day's boating.......

"Thank you for another fabulous day on the Oxfordshire Canal on Sunday. It was our second day trip and equally as enjoyable as our first last year. We have now been North and South from the Marina at Lower Heyford and both provide a picturesque and interesting / fun route for a day trip. We moored at the Kirtlington Quarry for a picnic lunch and then reversed back to the turning point by the pipe bridge which was interesting!!. We will definitely be back for another day trip, probably next year. And also it is out dream to try a long term hire for a few months once the kids are sold enough to leave behind!"

We think he means 'old' rather than 'sold'! :-D

03/08/2023

School's out for summer! 🌞🌞

How about hiring one of our little dayboats and taking a relaxing cruise on the canal? Both our bases at Heyford and Bradford on Avon have dayboats and at this time of the year, the colours in the countryside along the canal are stunning!

It doesn't matter if you have never crewed a boat before. Full tuition including lock demo is given when you arrive to take the boat out. We supply children with buoyancy aids as well. Maximum of 10 people and we are dog friendly too.

Call the office for more info or book online and enjoy a day out. You might even spot a Kingfisher on your cruise!

25/07/2023

Our village pub just got this great review! Book for dinner on your holiday's last evening. Just a couple of minutes walk from the canal in our beautiful village and the perfect way to end your boating holiday....Cheers! 🥂🍻

20/07/2023

Here is what Andy said about their holiday back in May.....

"Just had a lovely Monday to Friday break on an 8-berth narrowboat sailing up the Oxford Canal. There was 16 of us so we had two boats. We left off from Lower Heyford, went through Banbury and got just past Cropredy before we turned back. The boats were very well equipped with two bathrooms, each with a shower. In the kitchen area, there’s a full sink/drainer, fridge and gas oven. The cupboards and drawers have a full inventory of crockery and cutlery. Before we set off, we were given a very thorough brief from Joe on the operation of the boat and the daily checks that we had to complete each morning... Got to meet a lot of nice people at the locks, chatting while we waited for the lock to empty or fill. The countryside is all very peaceful and there’s lots of wildlife to see. We were even joined by a cow who decided to have a paddle. We stopped off at a couple of pubs over the week for a meal. It’s best to research the area to find where you want to eat and call ahead to book, especially if there’s a lot of you. It was a great week!"

12/07/2023

A happy doggie and family sent in this lovely review from their recent boating holiday with us......

"We hired the boat Oxford last week from Lower Heyford. we had a fantastic holiday. Very comfortable boat and the weather was fabulous. We were impressed by the helpful and thorough communications we had regarding a Lock that was out of action and we were actually able to go a little further than planned and pick up and transport was arranged from an agreed mooring on the final day. We are sure the issue with the lock caused much extra work for the staff, but our relaxed holiday vibe was never compromised. Thank you for a lovely week."

16/06/2023

Please note our office is now operating on winter hours. Phone lines are open Monday to Friday 11-4. Please leave a voice mail if you have any enquiries, or email us and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you need to call the office to book a boat, report an issue, let us know you may be late to pick up your boat, or any other issue related to the hire fleet, day boats, or Black Prince boats, please press Option 1 when calling.

This will take you straight to the bookings office who can deal with you questions. If we are busy when you call please leave a voice mail and we will return your call as soon as we are free :-)

16/06/2023

Well if you have been lucky enough to be out on one of our boats these last couple of weeks, what weather you have had!

These lovely photos have been sent in from one of our hirers this week who says..."Having a wonderful time on your boat. Weather is great! We stopped off at the Pig Place. What a great place for a coffee and a chill....."

09/06/2023

We had these lovely atmospheric photos sent in, thanks to one of our recent hirers, featuring some of the sights you might pass if you hire from our Heyford base on the beautiful Oxford canal.

"Thank you for a wonderful week!"

We love seeing your pics! Keep sending them in :-)

31/05/2023

What a beautiful busy bank holiday weekend it was! All of our boats are out on the waterway this week enjoying themselves. Here is what turnaround day looks like on the wharf when you have 8 boats being shown out!

17/05/2023

Ever fancied working on the hire boats?! We are looking for seasonal staff to increase our dream team....some experience of boating preferable but training on the job as well.....

28/04/2023

Whether you are here at the wharf to hire a holiday boat, or a dayboat or just passing through on your own boat, or on foot, our canal side cafe Kizzies is open all bank holiday weekend(s) to top you up with tea and cake as well as other goodies!

We can't get enough of the homemade Victoria Sponge cake 🍰🍰🍰🥰🥰

Homemade Cakes, Biscuits etc. UE coffee, Assorted teas, soft drinks and Alcoholic beverages.
OPEN FRIDAY TO MONDAY 10 TILL 4.

17/04/2023

One of our hirers on the beautiful Kennet & Avon canal sent us these lovely photographs from his holiday last week.
The K&A features two stunning aqueducts at the west end of the canal, one at Avoncliff and the other pictured here at Dundas. Both were designed and constructed by the canal pioneer John Rennie.

As the canal runs mostly East/West you also get incredible sunsets on the higher parts of the canal East beyond Bradford on Avon.

Follow the link below to book your holiday and see the sights of the K&A for yourself!

https://www.oxfordshire-narrowboats.co.uk/where-to-cruise/bath-kanda

10/04/2023

Our dayboats were popular this weekend, and this one was decked out for a family party, who had a wonderful trip out.

Hiring a dayboat is a great way for friends and family to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries, or just have a get together.

Make it a surprise for your loved ones! You can arrive before the rest of your party and decorate the boat. Bring picnic food for lunches. The boats are equipped with a galley kitchen and toilet as well as a 12v point for cool boxes etc. More details below. Book online and receive a 2.5% discount!

https://www.oxfordshire-narrowboats.co.uk/day-hire

07/04/2023

The weather may not have been great last weekend, but one family who hired a boat from us didn't let that get in the way of having fun!

"Lovely friendly helpful staff to greet us showed us about the boat and the all important show out ( the ins and outs of the boat and canal rules) you also get a booklet with everything in it . the boat that was our home for 3 nights was called Twyford she was all ready and waiting for us when we turned up💜 it was large v clean had everything that you would need had a good sized kitchenette inc oven and hob, the kids were happy they loved helping with the locks even in the rain..saw lots of moorhens and other birdies..unfortunately the lock was damaged just past Aynho but made the most of it... ..stayed at wharf for two sleeps where the pub The Great Western was, super fantastic, food was amazing and the staff were really nice.. it’s got a lovely courtyard at back seats fairy lights v pretty…also there was a pop up coffee place called brew box....the boats are warm as have radiators so v cozy to come back too we also had lots of charging points in the boat so no moaning about iPads etc running out from kids 🤓 .we are all looking forward to going back in summer it’s great waking up to the sound of birds and gentle running water if another boat goes past v therapeutic !! The pub at Lower Heyford The Bell do amazing roast dinners too gorgeous yummy and met Hannah and Ewan front of hse were so nice… Shall definitely be using Oxford narrowboats again !! thanks again."

07/04/2023

Our canalside cafe is open all Easter holidays, selling homemade cakes and beautiful flowers by The Flower Boat