Guide To Kate Boats

We booked in June, planned our route (Warwick castle / Stratford upon Avon) was really looking forward to it.

A few weeks prior to our date we got an email telling us that due to low water the boats weee being moved to another location, what we weren’t told is the location was actually at the other end of Warwickshire (actually on the Leicestershire border) at this point I emailed KB to see if we could still get to Warwick castle and the response I got was, “we sent a link with the email we sent you”

The link didn’t open a map, though later through the holiday I realised it’s at the bottom of the page it opens, however it’s not a very clear map as the canal we were on is in yellow?

On Arrival we were shown to the boat, unpacked and parked, given a form to complete and then had to wait for a quick tutorial before leaving, I asked if we could get to Warwick castle and the lady just grinned and said no chance, she then went and got a map and suggested a couple of destinations.

We then asked about getting out on Saturday or Sunday so we could at least drive to WC and SUA and she said she would see if she could arrange anyone to be here to let us out.

We never heard any more from her, despite two emails (one on a Thursday so not a weekend!) I definitely wouldn’t have chose to holiday on the canal network we were on, we live 40 minutes from Leicestershire so the holiday was a little bit of a disappointment.

I know KB can’t be held responsible for lack off water in the canal but I do think we should have been given an option to cancel or reschedule rather than just move us with very little choice.

Fortunately we managed to get out on the Sunday so packed up, headed off to WC and then home.

The boat was okay, and very very clean!

Once again great service. The guys did all they could to make our narrowboat holiday happen through very challenging times (due to the water levels). We had a great week and would like to thank everyone once again. I have, and would wholeheartedly recommend this company again.

Just completed a 148 lock (extra locks because of fallen tree blocking the northern Stratford canal) 106 mile transit of the “Warwickshire Ring” in a week with 9 experienced boating lads.

The good points: fantastically friendly helpful team at the yard making for easy hassle-free embarkation and disembarkation, clean comfortable boat with clean bedding and towels, comfortable beds, big showers and large capacity toilet tanks. The boat performed faultlessly (although it usually required 2 starts in the morning inexplicably stalling a few seconds after the first one) with no breakdowns.

The slight niggles: very little storage space for food (we catered for ourselves rather than eating ashore); cooking pots very small for a large crew; lack of power points for charging everyone’s mobile phone; heavy rather unresponsive steering that we all quickly got used too; small water tank capacity- we ran out on our second full day despite only one small shower having been taken (to be fair the yard did advise filling up every day).

Thank you Kate Boats and Anglo Welsh

2nd year spending a week aboard a Kate’s Boat, very friendly and helpful. We had a great time again, the boat (Dorothy Constance) was ideal for the 2 of us, not too big whilst feeling spacious inside too. Great value with the fuel being included.

We spent a long weekend on Thomas David. A cracking, little narrowboat with central heating and well-equipped kitchen. It was immaculate! Kate Boats staff were very welcoming and helped us get to grips with the boat and the locks. Highly recommend a stop at The Folly, Napton. Route to Warwick via Leamington was stunning in the autumn sun. Plenty of locks which we loved doing. Everyone on the canal is so friendly. We can’t wait to be back and do it all over again!