The Crick Narrowboat Show 2026.

Friday 22nd to Monday 25th May 2026 at Crick Marina.

Tiffany of Kingsground, builders of MM, had asked us if we would exhibit MM as a 15 year old boat next to one of their new boats at the huge annual narrowboat show at Crick, in Northamptonshire. The idea was to demonstrate that when Kingsground builds a boat, it stands the test of time so well that it is hard to tell the older boat from a new one. We had delivered MM to Crick on the 12th and gone home for a few days. We came back to Crick on Monday 18th and spent the next few days polishing, cleaning and de-cluttering MM to make sure that she looked her very best. When we arrived on the Monday, there was no indication that a huge national show was just four days away. Initially, MM was there by the marina office in splendid isolation! Two days later, she was joined by her sister Kingsground boat "La Sorciere II" and for a while, we were almost the only boats there. Keith and Helen, the owners of La Sorciere II, were delightful and we became good friends over the course of the show.

Gradually, other boats started to arrive, some by water and some by being craned into the water from a flat bed truck - always an exciting sight which brings back happy memories of the day that MM was launched at Enslow.  

Our brokers, Lakeland Leisure, arrived and set up their marquee so we had the opportunity to get to know them all. Some of their advertising was very amusing:

It was a very emotional moment when the "For Sale" sign appeared on MM's roof.

Next door to Lakeland was the Kingsground marquee, both of them were directly in front of us. The show always takes place over four days from Friday to Monday on the Whitsun Bank Holiday towards the end of May. It runs from 10:00 to 5:00pm each day and this year was attended by 28,000 people. About 600 of them came to see round MM over the four days.

Friday the 22nd was the "Trade Day" with a limited number of tickets available to the public. Nonetheless, it was absolutely full on.  When the gates opened, a tidal wave of visitors poured through the gates, making a beeline for the boats. Fortunately, we had discussed with Ant of Lakeland, a system for showing visitors round the boat. Sonia, one of his staff, showed one small group round while Robin took another.  Meanwhile, M sat on the stern of the boat, doing a sort of "meet and greet" routine and keeping the waiting queue of visitors "entertained". Below is a photo of the queue waiting patiently for a tour of MM.

 

It was incredibly hard work in temperatures reaching well over 30 degrees and in blazingly hot sun but also a great pleasure to see all the visitors having such a good time. The highlight of Friday for us was the visit of Jim Sparkes, who built MM's steel shell and who retired last year. 

Our reward to ourselves that evening was to walk up to The Wheatsheaf pub in the village for dinner.  It's a lovely pub and the food was excellent.

Saturday was even busier but at least we knew what to expect! It was wonderful to see Simon, who was our engineer during MM's build. At some point, Ant called us into the Lakeland marquee to introduce us to a lovely couple who were prepared to offer the full asking price, plus a hefty deposit, to buy MM. We would have gladly agreed to the sale but unfortunately, they had a house to sell and, since the house had already been on the market for 2.5 years, it wasn't realistic. 

Sunday was much the same; neither the temperature nor the flow of visitors eased! Once more, Ant called us into his marquee to meet a couple who wanted to put in an offer. Originally they had come to make an offer on the Aqualine boat next door to us and were downcast to find it had just been sold.  Ant suggested they come to see round MM instead and it turned out that in fact, MM was far more what they were looking for.  They too have a house to sell but their position is such that they should be able to complete very soon  So the sale was agreed.  It was a highly emotional moment for us both as the "For Sale" signs were removed from MM. M retired briefly to the KG marquee to have a bit of a cry. 

 

That evening we had a small celebration with all the Lakeland people, plus Tiffany and the Kingsground crew. Clearly, having Champagne to hand is one of the benefits of having a cellar on MM!

 

Monday was thankfully a quieter day. We even had time to spend with some very welcome visitors. In the morning, we were thrilled to see Jon Atwood, MM's cabinet maker, with his wife Panutcha and little daughter Isla.  We hadn't seen Jon for about ten years. Later in the day, Scott (M's "second son") arrived, along with our friends Andy and Michelle, and we were able to take some quiet time with them in the Kingsground marquee. 

 

During the show, the public are invited to vote for their favourite boat as "Best in Show". All the boats, including MM, had a poster inviting people to vote for them.

 At 2pm, the results were announced, as voted for by the visiting public.  We were delighted to hear that KG's La Sorciere II came fourth. We had been extremely touched by the number of visitors to MM who said they would be voting for us.

The show officially closed at 3pm, but visitors continued to ask to see over MM until 6pm. What a rollercoaster of a weekend! It was incredibly hard work but also incredibly rewarding because, without exception, the visitors were absolutely enthralled with MM. None of them could believe she isn't brand new.  Time after time, we heard the words "stunning, amazing, beautiful, outstanding", sometimes it brought tears to our eyes. On Monday evening, we sat quietly on MM with a glass of wine and contemplated the events of the weekend as the sun slowly set. Such a lot to think about. 

 

Lakeland Leisure was our chosen broker for the sale of MM and their whole crew were a delight throughout the weekend and so supportive and helpful. They made a very emotional weekend into more happy memories and we cannot thank them enough. We would especially like to thank Sonia, who helped us to "show" MM over the four days.

We are so very grateful to Tiffany for giving us such a superb opportunity to display MM at the nation's biggest boat show. She, and the entire KG team, worked tirelessly for the whole four days in the unrelenting heat.  We could not have done any of the above without them.  We had no idea how the show would go and whether we would have any interest in a fifteen year old boat but, in the end, we could have sold her at least four times over! Thank you, Tiff, so very much!

We now have to move MM up to Tattenhall Marina. near Chester. where the sale will be finalised.  This is wonderful for us, as it gives up the opportunity for one last cruise on our beloved boat. We are calling it our "Last Hurrah". It will be a very emotional journey ....

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