Hello.
My name is Russell Fletcher.
I run Foxhanger Canal Holidays hire boat company on the Kennet & Avon Canal.
We're also part of the Drifters Hire Boat Group and we are based near Devizes in Wiltshire
on the Kennet & Avon Canal right next to the magnificent flight of 29 locks and today I'd
like to show you our newest boat Darwin's Fox.
She's a luxury 5-star boat and when we go inside we'll give you a quick look, see what
she's like, showing you all the latest mod cons you can expect on a narrowboat nowadays.
So here we are in Darwin's Fox bow area.
You'll see that she has this lovely wrap around seating area which your crew of up to six
people can sit on and enjoy the tranquil views as you're cruising down the canal or moored
up in the evenings.
Now, Darwin's Fox is 65 and a half foot long but she's only 6ft 10 wide.
So as we look down the length of the boat, you'll see that she's actually quite long
but very narrow and that makes her much more nimble to steer than you might think and next
we're going to step down to the stern deck where we'll see the helmsman area and I'll
show you how simple the controls are to operate.
So, here we are at the helmsmen area where you steer the boat from using this rudder
and tiller.
The boat has very simple controls just forward and reverse, but don't worry we give you a
very full handover when you arrive, making sure you know how to operate the boat; stopping,
starting, mooring the boat, turning the boat around and even operating the locks and within
a couple of hours of cruising down the canal you'll be masters at the art of canal boating.
So looking back from where we've just come from I'm now stood in the aft cabin of Darwin's
Fox.
This is a double cabin, private cabin, it's set up as a double.
It will pull out and make a king size double.
Not easy to do - put king size doubles on narrowboats which are only 6ft 10 wide but
it does easily do it.
It has a private bathroom here; full size shower, plenty of hot water.
You can have showers in the morning.
There's a toilet cubicle which has got your usual sort of type of domestic toilet . You
don't normally have to worry about getting the toilet tanks emptied, they usually last
you at least for a week.
And then moving forward into the centre of the boat, to the galley and saloon, you'll
see that you've got a modern, light and airy, with granite work surfaces, got a gas cooker,
oven and grill.
There's a coffee machine, microwave.
You've even got this lovely full sized hatch which is very handy for the passing swans
that'll clean up all the tit bits left over from dinner.
So then we'll move on to the L shaped saloon which is the seating area where up to six
of you can sit and sit around the table . There are several table options and this will also
convert into another double bed.
And as we move forward into the other private bathroom you'll see there's another shower,
another separate toilet cubicle in here and we're back in the bow bedroom which is currently
set up as a double.
It will convert into two singles and, in fact, a third single can be made up as a bunk and
into the bow which is the seated area we started from right at the beginning.
And that was a very quick view of Darwin's Fox.