For the past 25 years we have lived on and built new narrowboats and barges, for ourselves, private customers and the holiday hire boat industry.

We first moved onto boats in our early twenties, in a bid for fun and freedom. It was the idea of being able to just loosen the ropes and let go, that captured our hearts. With time, we realised that although the act of escaping had a certain romance, it was where you escaped to that made it special.  

For some, it’s a favourite country, for others it’s a walk down a lane or a garden shed.  For us, in those years, it was our little traditional boatsmans cabin, warm and cosy.  Our sanctuary, that whisked us away to a bygone era, where generations of people, ‘Water Gypsies’, had lived and worked a simpler life, closer to nature. As much as we loved it, the event of children meant a move to land and a new beginning.

It was not until a family day out to a local museum, where we were both launched back to that familiar comforting world.  It was packed to the rafters with Gypsy Caravans of all shapes and sizes and we immediately felt at home and inspired.