Canal Holiday Hire with Chas. Hardern

Canal breaks on UK canals are quite unlike any other experience. Both in the variety of the surroundings and in actually having time to look at them, canal holiday boat hire provides an escape from the rush and monotony of ordinary life.

But there is also a magic at work. Sometimes it is the looking glass magic of familiar scenes viewed from a new angle and in a different light – these are the rural stretches, the fields with the inquisitive sheep and cattle, the swans bringing their dignified selves to accept your bits of bread, the ducks who loudly demand the same, the endless variety of trees and bushes and flowers, of flying and swimming and scuttling wildlife, the nice humpy bridges.

And the industrial stretches have a curious and potent charm all their own – you often have a feeling of having dropped through time straight back into history. Much of the old workmanship is so good and so enduring, the old warehouses and wharfs and tunnels with their beautifully set bricks are memorials of the strength and assurance of a bygone age.

Then there are the huge embankments, the aqueducts, the deep, still cuttings where the trees twist into fantastic shapes as they somehow cling to the rocky sides, and bridges incredibly high and slender soaring up into misty shade. Canal holiday boat hire opens up a world only seen in dreams, or occasionally glimpsed in a very old engraving!

Chas Hardern

Our company has been established for 40 years and is one of the very few family hire fleets still run by the original family.

We live onsite so should your arrival be delayed do not worry -we will still be here, although a phone call is appreciated.

We can collect public transport arrivals from the nearest village and assist with your grocery shopping.

As you pay for the fuel at the end of your holiday you are only paying for the amount you personally use, by far the fairest way.

Hireboat Handover

Our staff have completed the British Marine Federation Hire Boat Handover Audit so you can be assured that your instruction will be undertaken by fully qualified and experienced personnel. We only send out two boats at a time and so have plenty of time to spend with you. Your instruction will include being accompanied whilst you turn the boat around and go through your first lock.

Canal Boat Holidays on England’s waterways with the friendly family firm, based beneath Cheshire’s castles, who aim to give you a relaxing enjoyable canal holiday.