★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Lark - Tawny Lark from Hilperton Marina
Fabulous holiday. Can't recommend it enough for a family holiday with teenagers. So nice to see the countryside from a completely different angel.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Warbler - Blackcap Warbler from Anderton Marina
Another excellent holiday with ABC
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Lark - Tawny Lark from Hilperton Marina
Fantastic service and great briefing on the boats features and operation. The equipment on board was great and the bedding comfy.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Warbler - Blackcap Warbler from Anderton Marina
Blackcap 8 birth was everything we expected as we’ve used ‘Warbler model beef.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Sandpiper - Spotted Sandpiper from Hilperton Marina
Great freindly informative staff and boat was sptless
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Grebe - Hooded Grebe from Springwood Haven Marina
See above comments. See above comments,
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Grebe - Hooded Grebe from Springwood Haven Marina
Hire centre: We rented from Springwood Haven, near Nuneaton for a 4-day break along the Coventry and Ashby canals. The boatyard is on a not-very-busy section of the canal with easy hire boat mooring outside the main basin. Nice and quiet. Lots of parking. The staff were very friendly and efficient, with the depth of the handover tuned to the renter's previous experience. The canal has a winding hole not far away, so convenient for the compulsory 'driving test and turn around' before being allowed off on your own. Arrival to eventual 'sail away' was c. 1 hour, including unpacking the car, loading up the gear onto the boat, handover paperwork, boat walk through, and 'driving test'.
The boat: We had the 47ft Hooded Grebe. In good condition despite the usual and obvious scrapes and usage associated with a hire boat. A good range of utensils, furnishings etc per their website and there wasn't anything that we missed being available. Wifi was good enough for email but probably not streaming movies. 3 Windlasses, 3 mooring stakes, 2 mallets and 2 mooring 'nappy pins' were provided. We took our own mooring chains also, which we preferred to the nappy pins - maybe something for ABC to think about as they are more versatile and only cost a tenner each. Two things that we rated below average were the ergonomics of the steering / throttle configuration - when standing up for a clear view when manoeuvring, the throttle was out of reach other than by bending down, which made slow speed control via in-out movement from neutral to tickover awkward. The other was the toilet - easy enough to operate but occasionally burped back what you'd just flushed down!
The routes: We did the Coventry canal through Nuneaton, then up the Ashby canal to Snarestone terminus (and back). It was an unrushed 3 full days plus a couple of hours on the first evening. Back at base by 6pm before handback the following morning at 9am.
We have used ABC before this and will continue to use them in the future.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Swift - African Swift from Hilperton Marina
Simple to rent, friendly staff, clean boat, easy to park and leave vehicle, no problems at all.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Swift - African Swift from Hilperton Marina
Canal and river trust put a restriction on a local lock which meant we had to rush to ensure we got back in time, but we understand this can happen.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Swift - Alpine Swift from Blackwater Meadow Marina
It was more than perfect
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Swift - Alpine Swift from Blackwater Meadow Marina
Everything was perfectly clean and the boat was well equipped.
28 Aug 2026
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Your recent holiday on Mist - Scotch Mist from Falkirk Marina
Nice helpful friendly staff. Well equipped boat.
28 Aug 2026
