Moorings on the South Stratford Canal

The South Stratford Canal runs 21 kilometres from Kingswood Junction at Lapworth down through Preston Bagot, Wootton Wawen and Wilmcote to Bancroft Basin in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, where it locks down into the River Avon. Abandoned and nearly lost in the 1950s, it was restored by volunteers under the National Trust and reopened in 1964 — one of the founding successes of the waterway restoration movement.

It is a working canal in the old sense: 36 narrow locks, cast-iron aqueducts at Wootton Wawen and Edstone, barrel-roofed lock cottages and split bridges. The countryside is Warwickshire at its most agreeable, and the arrival into Bancroft Basin beside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is one of the finest terminations on the system.

The canal's junction with the River Avon makes it a key leg of the Avon Ring, so summer traffic is steady. Long-stay moorings are available at Wootton Wawen, Wilmcote and in and around Stratford itself, where demand — and price — reflects the town's tourist appeal. Boat owners choosing the South Stratford typically want rural Warwickshire mooring with river access at one end and the Grand Union at the other. Wootton Wawen, Wilmcote and Stratford-upon-Avon all have stations on the Birmingham line.