Sally Boats

Established during 1990 Sally Boats is family owned and run with the support of a team of canal narrow boat professionals available at all times to guarantee your canal boat holiday lives up to expectations.

Sally Boats offers a superb fleet of modern narrow boats, built to extremely exacting specifications. In our efforts to continue to meet the highest standards of comfort seven of the boats in our fleet have been replaced in the last three years. Unrivalled cruising facilities include:

Spacious main cabins
Well - appointed bathroom
Fresh Water Flush Toilets
Full Central Heating
Duvets in all Double Berths
Carpeting Throughout
Colour Television & Stereo Radio/Cassette
Well appointed Galley

Our reputation as a leading provider of canal narrow boat holidays ensures that the décor throughout the boats is of the highest standards. Prior to each new hire our boats are thoroughly cleaned to a high standard, and all services are checked to guarantee they are working efficiently.

Planning your cruise
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a popular navigable waterway crossing Southern England from Bristol to Reading. The gentle pace of the canal has a seductive charm of its own, allowing the opportunity to study the prolific wildlife, which inhabits the canal and the surrounding environment.

After a morning or day's cruising, you may have developed a healthy appetite. Satisfying this hunger isn't difficult with a host of waterside pubs available along the canal. Many of these grew up with the canal and thus have interesting stories to tell. Apart from quenching the cruiser's thirst the majority of them serve a variety of good food, ranging from a bar snack to a three course meal.

Sally Boats located in Bradford on Avon can cater for your ideal canal holiday, in terms of the service we provide, the variety of canal narrow boats and perhaps most importantly the type of holiday which allows our guests to select their own pace of activity, which certainly gives the opportunity to unwind in idyllic surroundings, in the rolling Wiltshire, Avon and Berkshire countryside.

To ensure that your journey is as enjoyable as possible, the table below incorporates suggestions for locations, which are within acceptable cruising distances depending upon the time, which is available.

More Short Breaks
With an eye on the shifting market Sally Boats has moved a further two boats to Friday start giving even more weekend and short break availability. We recognise that you can't always spare the time to take a boat for a full week and therefore we now offer pre-booked short breaks throughout the year.

10 and 11 Night Breaks
All of the Friday start boats are also available for 10 or 11 night breaks giving you even more flexibility in your holiday. For example, why not collect a boat one Friday afternoon and not return until a week Monday, giving you ten nights aboard including two weekends? These breaks are charged at only 150% of the weekly rate so they also represent good value for money.

Open Days
Over recent years many yards have heavily promoted their 'open days' when they allow guests to look around their boats. Here at Sally Boats every day is an 'open day'! If you would like to look around our boats before making a decision we are always willing to show you around. Obviously if a boat is out on holiday then we would have to show you an alternative, but give us a call and we can normally arrange to show you a similar boat at a time to suit yourself.

FAQs
What is a short break? Short breaks run either from Friday afternoon to Monday morning or Monday afternoon to Friday morning.

What time do we collect and return the boat? Normal collection time is 2.30pm. Boats must be back at the base by 9.00am and vacated not later than 9.30am.

Do you provide bedding and towels? For each of the berths we provide quilts and quilt covers, bottom sheets, mattress covers, pillows and pillow cases. Extra pillows are available free of charge on request. Towels are your responsibility unless you are booking from overseas in which case we supply them free of charge to save luggage space.

What if we have never been boating before? Don't worry! About half of our guests have never been narrowboating before. We will give you instructions on safe handling and operation of the boat. Also, on board each boat, there is a comprehensive 'Skipper's Manual' that serves as a reminder during your holiday.

Do I need to be able to swim? Canals are intrinsically safe places and are not very deep: However we do advise that you wear a lifejacket when moving around the outside of the boat - these are available free of charge and should be requested on arrival.

Can we recharge our mobile phone / video battery? All of our fleet have a 12-volt 'cigarette lighter socket'. Provided that you bring your in-car charger you will be able to recharge your phone and video batteries while aboard.

Can we bring our pet? We welcome well behaved dogs (maximum two per boat) but regret that cats are not permitted. A small charge is made to cover the additional cleaning that is required (see price list).

Can we bring our bicycles? Yes, but there is limited space on the roof of the boats and you must protect the roof paint from damage.

We offer:

• Canal boat holidays
• Boat hire

Services for your boat

• Dry dock
• Wet dock