Avon Boating

For information on current service due to COVID-19 please see our website for details. Avon Boating is one of England's oldest and largest traditional boating companies, offering boats for hire on one of the finest rivers in the country, the Avon at Stratford. We operate a fleet of classic Edwardian passenger vessels on regular public cruises from the Bancroft Gardens next to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre now with personal digital audio guides, and offer a variety of private cruises for groups. From our Boathouse on the edge of the river bank, we hire outs rowing boats, punts, canoes and self-drive motor boats for those wanting to explore the further reaches of the river. Also available to hire is one worlds most romantic forms of water transport, the gondola. This elegant boat is extra special as not only was it built back in 1909, making it one the oldest gondolas available in the world, it also belonged to Marie Corelli who was the worlds most popular writer of that time.