On The Wild Side

School holidays means time for the annual family pilgrimage on the Thames for Sarah Mackfall and Richard Harrison.

I truly love our 69ft narrowboat Foxy Lady, named after the Jimi Hendrix song – in hindsight maybe a mistake after the comments I got when we boated through London. We purposely bought her (our second boat) to be a family home. She was made in 2007 and our daughter Mia was made in 2010.

Looking for our ‘perfect’ home, we vowed not to get another project boat, but she ticked most things on our list of ‘wants’, and was a good price, but unfortunately another project.

Over the past eight years, we have created a beautiful, functioning floating home. Richard, who is a computer programmer, already had sound knowledge of mechanics and electrics,he has now become a skilled carpenter and boat painter too. Most visitors to our boat will comment on its tidiness and how large it feels for a narrowboat. That’s down to Richard’s clever storage designs, and me running a tight ship. You need to live in a small space or you’re constantly looking for things in the Tardis.

Foxy Lady is our life, our love and our identity, a comfortable and stylish home and also the place where I work. She is perfect for our family of three and two guinea pigs.

Most of the year we are at our communal mooring in Newbury, on the K&A. For five years we have been residential on this island, and prior to this we were nomadic, continual cruisers for five years.