A family trip on the River Avon

Last month we spent a few days in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire. It’s a place I really enjoy visiting and though I was actually born down in Warwickshire I haven’t been for a good few years now so it was lovely to be able to take the boys there.

The children, my mum, my grandma and I spent four nights in Romeo Cottage, part of a collection of holiday let properties from Shakespeare Holidays.

I’ll write up a quick review of the cottage another day if I get chance, but today I wanted to share our experience with Avon Boating.

There are other providers operating on this stretch of the river and there are also self-hire options including rowing boats, motor boats and canoes.

My mum and I took the children on an Edwardian style passenger vessel where we were lucky enough to have the weather to be able to sit out in the open air seating area.

The river cruise takes around 40 minutes and that felt like just the right length of time. We set off in the middle of our route, first heading one way then turning around and taking in the whole stretch of the part of the river we were exploring.

The website and leaflets from Avon Boating make a special note about their multi-lingual audio guides but these were not offered to passengers at all. I spotted them in a box and asked about using one, and found the audio guide to be really interesting.

I particularly liked the little side story about Marie Corelli – pretty feisty sounding woman indeed! This quote of hers made me smile… I think she was a force to be reckoned with!

There were some lovely sights along our river cruise as we passed the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Holy Trinity Church and more beautiful buildings besides and architecture.

Stratford upon Avon was busy as we walked through the town, and the boat ride was about half full, but that didn’t detract from the tranquillity of the river. The children thoroughly enjoyed it and they are somehow calmer when they’re on the water – I think many of us are, aren’t we? They particularly enjoyed waving at fishermen and passers by along the route.

The cost of the trip was £18.00 for a family of five (2 adults and 3 children) and I would happily pay that again for the trip, it was worth the money in my opinion. We even had some visitors on our little jaunt.

I am due to return to Stratford upon Avon in April next year and would like to do another boat trip. On my visit I spotted another boat – The Countess of Evesham – which seemed to offer dining cruises, so that’s next on my to-do list when I visit.

We also visited Warwick Castle, and a Tudor museum during our visit so I’ll try to write those up soon.