Season End at Beacon Park Boats

It is the final day of the narrowboat hire season, and the last of our customers returned this morning after a year like few others.

March saw us emerging from lockdown straight into staycations as people rushed to find self-contained luxury accommodation in the beautiful Brecon Beacons.  And the team of engineers, cleaners, housekeepers, and office staff were up to the challenge, turning round up to 20 boats a week as well as day boats every day.

Beacon Park Boats’ owner, Alasdair Kirkpatrick, said: “To say we have been busy would be something of an understatement.  The only people we are missing are our guests from overseas, but we look forward to welcoming them back next year.”

The happiest looking people on the deck were Mark and Sam, the two on-call engineers, who won’t have to stand by for boaters calls at evenings and weekends.  But for the rest of the staff, there is a chance to repair and refurbish the boats ready for Christmas and New Year, when we have ten boats available for an extraordinary Festive Season. And the two eight-seater day boats are available for hire until Christmas, too.

There was an added poignancy this morning because this is Beacon Park Boats’ 20th Season.  In November, we will have a special look-back over two decades of boating with Beacon, which have seen an epidemic in the Brecon Beacons, a Global Pandemic, breaches of the canal, as well as thousands of successful holidays.

Take a look at our video below as we welcomed back the last boat of the season.

But don't worry the next season is right around the corner! While of course we also remain open for houseboat visitors in the winter months.