Great West Way® Travel Magazine | Issue 02

Pictured
top-left then
clockwise:
Canal boats
on the river;
Henley
Greenlands
Hotel;
Honeystreet
Boats
ON OR BY THE WATER
On the River Thames, Henley Greenlands Hotel, once home
to the WH Smith family, is set within the 30 acre Henley
Business School estate in the Oxfordshire countryside, while
Sir Christopher Wren Hotel and Spa is a 4-star comprising
several characterful buildings clustered around a historic
cobbled street by Eton Bridge and Windsor Castle, with a
gym, spa treatments, outdoor whirlpool and sauna.
The stunning hotel is located right on the River Thames,
within easy walking distance of Windsor’s restaurants, shops
and attractions including Windsor Castle. The world-famous
Eton College is a seven-minute walk from the hotel, just over
Eton Bridge and down the High Street. Also in Windsor, both
Castle Hotel MGallery and Sir Christopher Wren Hotel & Spa
offer spectacular views of the Thames and Windsor Castle.
Thought boats were just for day trips? Well, along the
Great West Way you can sleep on them too. You’ll never
forget waking up on the water, peering through portholes at
passing ducks as you prepare to rise and shine.
Canal boat hire in England is easy to organise and
incredibly rewarding, enabling you to fully experience the
pleasures of the wildlife-rich waterways, including such
delights as Caen Hill Locks and Bathampton. The Canal and
River Trust can give you all the information you need about
how to take to the waters. Along the River Thames and the
Kennet & Avon Canal you can hire your own boldly painted
boat and take the journey at your own pace.
Consider a boating holiday on a self-drive barge or
motor cruiser, or for a more relaxing break a river cruise on a
hotel boat. Honeystreet Boats provides friendly canal boat
holidays on the Kennet & Avon Canal. Sally Narrowboats, in
the Bradford on Avon Marina, is great to cruise to Bath in a
westerly direction and Reading in the east. Hobbs of Henley
has 2 luxury Linnsen motor cruisers to cruise from Henley
to Oxford or Henley to Reading. While Bruce Boats at Great
Bedwyn Wharf, Kennet & Avon Canal, offers canal holidays
for older people and Devizes Marina Village offer selfcatering
lodges with hot tubs and fantastic views.
Or for somewhere where there’s quite literally water,
water everywhere, visit the Cotswold Water Park, just a short
detour off the route, and enjoy 40 square miles, with more
than 150 lakes set in beautiful countryside.
Fun fact:
People who
like observing
England’s canal
life from the
sidelines are
affectionately
called
‘gongoozlers’.
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