Ware’s summer boat festival takes place this year from July 4-6. Join IWA Lee & Stort Branch at the beautiful and historic market town on the upper reaches of the River Lee as a colourful cavalcade of boats wends its way through the middle of the town, overlooked by the unique and iconic Victorian gazebos.
You’ll find activities provided as part of the boat festival: Friday evening river-side barbecue, Saturday afternoon themed boat parade, boat handling competition and evening quiz, and Sunday riverside boaters’ service, coffee and cakes. There’s plenty else to see and do as the boat festival runs alongside the wider Ware Festival activities. The river has played a key part in the development of the town, in particular providing a means of transport for agricultural products – especially malted grains from the 140 malthouses of the 19th century – into the heart of London, but before then represented a boundary between the Danelaw and Anglo Saxon lands and – further back still – provided a crossing point of the River Lea for the Roman Ermine Street.
Boat booking is now open. See www.waterways.org/ware-boat-festival
