Alvechurch Boats, Wrenbury

This yard is situated at the eastern end of the Langollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal. Finding it by road is really very easy, but there is no easy way of giving precise directions! Assuming you are coming from the Motorway network leave the M6 at junction 16 and head towards Nantwich on the A500, or, to put it another way, away from Stoke (take care as the A500 also exits the M6 at junction 15, use J16).

At Nantwich take the A530 south towards Whitchurch and after about 3 miles you will see signs towards Wrenbury, simply follow them. If you are coming down from the north and using the A49 then, once again, Wrenbury is well signposted from this road, where the best option is to stay on the A49 until you come to The Cholmondy Arms and take the turning down to the side of it.  Once you arrive in the village the yard is situated right next to the lift bridge over the canal. The yard is on the main road passing through the village, not in the area around the railway station.

The site consists of a large building (once the mill) and various smaller outbuildings one of which is the wet dock which contains the interesting, and certainly most unusual, lift. The basin in front of the wet dock is used for the hire fleet, and boat hire is certainly the main thrust of the business here with boats turning around on almost every day of the week! OwnerShips’ boats should return to the basin at the end furthest from the main building.

The main building houses a large gift shop, with provisions also available, as well as the offices for the yard, toilets, showers etc. Should you need to call them the telephone number is 01270 780544 and the manager, Arthur Gerrard, is probably the best person to ask for. There is a fax on 01270 780146.

As you would expect from a hire base all the usual services are available and if you could use this yard on your return I am sure they would appreciate it, with the income from it going some way to cover the costs of doing those little jobs on your boat that they invariably will forget to charge for.