Review: Starks Lark, Llangollen Canal, UK

A narrowboat holiday might not be everyone’s idea of luxury. But approach with an open-mind and you might be surprised. A number of canal boats nowadays are kitted out to a surprisingly high standard, and it’s perhaps more about the luxury of the lifestyle in any case – the slow pace of life and the ability to explore the UK’s canal network and the many treasures along it.

Our recent trip was arranged through Drifters, a collaborative marketing and booking consortium made up of 10 distinct UK canal boat hire companies that account for a collective fleet of over 500 narrowboats, which represents more than half of all the holiday hire boats available on the UK’s inland waterways.

It saw us exploring the Llangollen Canal aboard Starks Lark, a 66-foot, 20-tonne narrowboat available from ABC Boat Hire, one of the main Drifters members, with a reputation for boats that are immaculately maintained.

The welcome

Soon after getting out of our car at Whitchurch Marina, we were spotted by Laurie, warmly welcomed and escorted into the reception and shop where we picked up a proper, detailed canal map — absolutely essential if you want to know what to expect on your route and where you can actually moor up for the night. It was there that we also met Richard who handled our introduction to the boat and provided us with a thorough and much-needed briefing for novices such as ourselves. (I had been on a narrowboat trip before, but it was more than 30 years ago.)

The narrowboat

Starks Lark was our home for our trip. It’s a 66-foot vessel from ABC Leisure’s Lark Class, designed with a semi-traditional stern.

The layout is a clever bit of design; given that narrowboats are, by definition, incredibly narrow, the interior space is remarkably well utilised. It sleeps anywhere from two to six people. There are two private cabins that can be configured as either doubles or twin singles, plus a saloon seating area that flips down into an extra double bed if you’re traveling with a full house.

The real surprise is the domestic spec. As well as two bedrooms, the boat comes with two full bathrooms, each with a proper washbasin, an electric flush toilet and a shower.

A water-cooled diesel engine keeps everything moving quietly, and a 2kW inverter ensures you have constant 240V power at the standard sockets for charging laptops or running the toaster.

The rest of the inventory isn’t too dissimilar to a high-end holiday cottage: full central heating (definitely not required for our trip that coincided with the UK’s highest ever June temperatures, but no doubt useful for an out-of season trip), a massive 200-gallon water tank with double-filtered drinking water, a kitchen with four-burner gas cooker, oven, microwave and fridge.

There’s also free Wi-Fi, a TV and both indoor and outdoor seating at the bow.

The boat is also dog-friendly, meaning we were able to bring George, our Springer spaniel with us (and he loved the experience!).

The location

Our route took us along the Llangollen Canal from Whitchurch up to Ellesmere and back, winding through in an area that’s apparently known as the Shropshire Lake District. As someone living in Cumbria, I am naturally a little biased to our own Lake District. I’ve been to the Italian lakes and heard of the Northern Irish ones, but a Shropshire version was entirely new to me.

It turns out to be a genuinely beautiful, low-lying wetland region centered around the market town of Ellesmere and, whilst it might not have the dramatic, towering fells of the renowned English Lake District in the north-west of England, it was not without its own quiet, cinematic charm.

Geologically, it’s also a fascinating place. And just as Cumbria is the product of the last Ice Age, so too is Shropshire Lake District, albeit through a different set of circumstances. These Shropshire lakes are in fact kettle holes formed as huge blocks of ice broke off from the retreating ice, became buried in sediment, and eventually melted to leave deep, water-filled holes. Because they are fed by underground springs rather than fast rivers, they are rich in nutrients and absolutely teeming with birdlife with Whixall Moss, positioned along the canal and one of Britain’s largest lowland raised bogs, being an excellent location for spotting a variety of species.

The region is very tranquil and relaxed, and a gentle-paced narrowboat cruise is an excellent way to experience it all. We pulled up a short walk from the Sun Inn at Welshampton one evening and they were incredibly accommodating, serving us even though we arrived just as the kitchen was winding down.

We managed a great walk around Cole Mere, went for a wild swim in the lake at Ellesmere, and caught the England-Ghana World Cup match at The Ellesmere pub (they don’t serve food but were happy for us to bring in fish and chips from the takeaway across the road).

Because the geography between Whitchurch and Elleswmere is so flat, the entire stretch is completely lock-free. The only obstacles are a handful of bascule lift bridges, which you open manually using a standard windlass, and the occasional bridge.

Other nice touches

There were a number of understated touches on board Starks Lark that might seem small, but demonstrate a degree of care and attention to detail. As well as a supply of tea and coffee, a small bunch of fresh flowers in the galley, and a custom pack of playing cards to take home as a souvenir all didn’t go unnoticed. There was also a “Welcome to Shropshire” envelope waiting for us, stuffed with local information to save on any aimless Googling, and a picture on the wall telling us all about the Starks Lark (Spizocorys starki), a highly nomadic bird native to Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

The cost

Narrowboats such as Starks Lark fall into Drifters’ Elite Range. To get that classification, a boat has to be under ten years old or recently refitted, and designed for maximum comfort. A Monday-to-Friday mid-week break in an equivalent boat in peak season sits at £1,999. If you want a full week (Friday to Friday), it’s £2,799, though you’ll find some currently discounted to £2,240. If you can travel out of season, those numbers drop to significantly less than half these numbers.

The best bit

The highlight of our trip was the uniqueness of the experience and just how collaborative it is. Modern family holidays nowadays sadly involve everyone staring at their own separate screens, but a narrowboat vacation forces everyone to muck in together. From winding up the lift bridges and scanning the reeds for herons to helping steer a 66-foot boat through a tight brick bridge hole, everyone has a job.

The final verdict

Our time on Starks Lark opened our eyes to what a luxury UK break can look like. Forget any stereotypes of traditional canal boating you may have, and replace them with something genuinely comfortable and modern. Pairing a high-spec boat with the quiet beauty of the Shropshire wetlands is a perfect way to escape the frantic pace of daily life and actually uncoil your mind for a few days. Starks Lark doesn’t just take you down the Llangollen Canal; it drops you into a world where the scenery moves at a walking pace and the only real requirement is to sit back, enjoy and watch it pass.

Disclosure: Our trip was sponsored by Drifters and ABC Boat Hire.