DUCK !!

We have a challenge for all of our guests who book a holiday with us. Buy a duck from us and take it on your boating holiday with you. We ask that you take a photo of your duck enjoying his or her holiday and put it on Facebook and share it. We ask you send us a copy too. For every photo published on our monthly blog, we will donate £1.00 to the https://www.thames21.org.uk/

We would love to see funny photos, cute photos and photos of the farthest travelled duck. Please give your duck a suitable name and maybe write a short caption too!

Here is our entry for the duck competition from boat Gina. We decided our duck is going to be named Chas and here he is with our westiepoo Willow whilst moored at Sonning. Stowaways the two of them!

We hope you like our entry

The Gibbons Family 23rd July 2020

Spring is here! The latest on the River Thames Flooding

After a weekend of lovely sunshine and dry weather, we are cautiously optimistic that the River will be back to normal by the end of March. Providing it doesn’t rain again. So, thank you to everyone for NOT doing rain dances this week.

The Thames is going down here and has dropped a foot. The current is still flowing strong however and it is still a waiting game on this but fingers crossed, it will continue to go down and then the Environment Agency can then start to draw in the weirs to slow the river flow down.

Please enjoy these pictures which I took today in Henley-On-Thames. Keep thinking positive thoughts and here’s hoping we can all get out there cruising again soon.

UK Summer holidays – why not try boating holidays on the River Thames for your summer holiday 2014

Despite the winter rain and weather, January always gives us the promise of better things to come and we all start thinking about what to do, where to go in our summer holidays. Having just arrived back from our annual holiday which we took abroad this year (hoping to catch some winter sun) we have decided to stay in the UK next year. We had forgotten about the long check in queues at the airport and our family holiday this year didn’t get off to a brilliant start as we spent the first 4 hours on the taxi way at Gatwick Airport, eventually arriving at our destination 8 hours late. There is alot to be said about holidays in the UK.

More and more people are looking for unusual places to stay in the UK, something a bit different to do for their family summer holidays. We ourselves are not content to sit on a beach for more than 24 hours (Ok, maybe a bit longer) but we soon get a bit bored and the kids start to get bored and so on. Having paid a small fortune on all the holiday extras, such as trips, car hire, excursions etc to provide something to do whilst on holiday, it made us reflect on the boating holidays we offer and especially value for money.

There is nothing quite like setting sail and doing your own narrowboat holiday on the Thames. Many of our guests are first timers, never having driven a boat before. Our narrowboat holidays on the River Thames always start with a 1 – 2 hour tuition where a qualified instructor goes out with you, going through a lock and general boat handling skills until you are happy to go off on your own and enjoy your boating holiday. We train not just the driver (helmsman) but also the rest of your party, especially any children in the crew. It’s a great way to get the whole family involved and children especially take their crew duties very seriously! For more information on Boat Gina narrow boat holidays on the Thames click here.

Many guests don’t actually want to drive the boat but normally look at holiday cottages in UK as a holiday inspiration, stumbling eventually across our Boat Geanna, which is essentially a 4 star luxury cottage on water. This year we are promoting events in Henley-On-Thames which is a popular destination and mooring place. There is so much to do in Henley that guests never get bored and London is only a 40-minute train journey away. Windsor and Legland are also nearby and extremely popular places to visit whilst staying on Boat Geanna. For more information on boating holidays on Boat Geanna click here

winner of 4 in a bed wide beam canal boat geanna

boat holidays River Thames UK – Four In A Bed Channel Four episodes shown Boat Geanna

Boating Holidays UK- Channel 4 Four-In-A-Bed Boat Geanna Episodes Shown (repeat)

On Sunday 10th March, ‘Four In A Bed’ Channel Four, featuring our hotel boat Geanna was shown. It is hard to believe that this was filmed nearly 3 years ago and the series has now been repeated at least twice in the UK and shown around the world!

It is hard to believe how far we’ve come since starting the business. The guests on the Channel Four TV programme ‘Four In A Bed’ were our very first guests which was filmed and initially shown on TV 3 years ago. It was incredibly nerve wracking to have our very first guests examine the cabins and scrutinise every detail. Needless to say, we had tremendous fun filming the programme and all the contestants were great people. Would we do it all again? Yes!!

Many people would never have considered a boating holiday on the River Thames and so we were delighted to welcome so many first time boaters. We are even more delighted in subsequent years to welcome back guests for a boating holiday on the Thames.

Right now we are extremely busy getting the boats ready for the spring and summer season. Narrow boat Gina has had a complete ‘makeover’ with brand new panelling. beams and a complete fresh look. Boat geanna has had a thorough spring clean and is now sparkling, ready for her guests.

Boating-Holidays-In-UK

We have had many bookings this year for boat Geanna and for Boat Gina and we still have availability. Boating holidays in the UK and canal boat holidays in the UK are an ideal way to perhaps celebrate a 40th birthday party, or a 60th birthday party. This year, several rowing teams have booked Boat Geanna and Boat Gina to accommodate the rowing teams competing in the Royal Henley Regatta this year.

We are thrilled to be working in conjunction with HRA Henley Rowing Association and hope many of our guests will take up the opportuinty of enjoying a day’s rowing experience on the River Thames.

holidays UK – Boating holidays on the River Thames – no airport tax or Air passenger Duty

Having just been on line searching for a ‘cheap holiday break’ for our family, we couldn’t believe how expensive it was to go abroad this Christmas period. As we are working during the summer months with river cruises and our boating holidays on the Thames, the winter time is the only time we can take our annual holiday. Having made a few enquiries as to why the prices per person to go on a package holiday were so high, it transpires it is largely due to Air passenger Duty (APD) and other related airport taxes.

So, may be a holiday in the UK is the best idea for our family holiday this year.

We are fortunate to operate our cruises in some of the most stunning countryside in England which provide the perfect holiday setting for our boat trips on the Thames.

Henley-On-Thames is an idyllic town combining a market town full of cafes, restaurants and pubs with countryside setting and an abundance of festivals such as the Henley 80’s Rewind Festival, Henley-On-Thames Royal Regatta, Henley Music Festival and many more. This makes our cruise destination Henley a popular choice with our guests. Henley is also close to Windsor and many guests use this as a base to visit Windsor castle, Legoland, Ascot Races as these places are only 25 minutes or so away by car or by train from Henley Train station.

Each week, we are featuring another video which we had made this summer to give our potential guests more of an idea of what our boat cruises and boating holidays. This week, the video is of Boat Geanna.

Hotel Boat Geanna is a skippered hire boat on the River Thames. We drive the boat and then having arrived at the destination, we moor up safely and leave guests to enjoy their holiday, whilst being only a few minutes away by car should they need us. Boat Geanna is 4 star rated with visitengland.com. The aim is to provide a comfortable, luxury boat with all the facilities one would expect from a 4 star holiday cottage, but on water. This is an ideal way for holiday makers to experience a boating holiday without all the stress of having to drive the boat. As the boat can accommodate up to 11 people, it is the perfect venue for hen parties, get-togethers, family holidays and other social events. Everyone under one roof, but with seperate cabins for privacy etc.

This boat has already been featured in the channel 4 programme ‘Four In A Bed’ which is a programme where B&B owners and hoteliers stay in each other’s establishment and then rate their stay. We were delighted to have won this competition and if you would like to watch it, here is the link to view it http://www.channel4.com/programmes/four-in-a-bed/episode-guide/series-2/episode-53

Alternatively why not have a look at our own video of boat Geanna. We’ve thought outside the box for our video’s and this one is no exception. Guess which advert on TV inspired this one! here’s the link to our Geanna boating holiday page where the video is located.

Boat Geanna river cruise video

Olympic Torch passes by Boat Geanna River Thames Henley-On-Thames

Our guests on board Hotel boat Geanna were treated to an unexpected close up of the Olympic torch as it was carried by Steve Redgrave on a rowing boat, right past boat Geanna. The crowds came out in force along the bank of the Thames. The best vantage point was Geanna’s stern deck as Steve Redgrave’s boat stopped right outside to turn around. We were definitely in the right place at the right time!

Special Offers

January Sale – save up to £250 on a River Thames Boating Holiday

Save up to £250 on a 4 night mid-week holiday or 3 night weekend holiday

This offer is for Boating Holidays River Thames on Boat Geanna. For larger groups of over 6 people (up to 11 people max) pay only the 6 person price, meaning your extra guests go free.

Extra guests (above 6 people) are usually £50 per person in addition to the base price, so for bookings of 11 people, this means 5 guests go free saving £250.

This offer is only valid for bookings made from 1st January 2015 – 30th January 2015 on Boat Geanna for holiday dates up to 23rd May 2015.

So if you are planning a hen party and are looking for a bargain, then this deal is for you. Offer expires 30th January 2015

To Book Click Here

Call 07780 88 71 72 to reserve your special offer!

boating holidays river thames

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