Droitwich Spa & Diglis Basin

[robtheplod]

Hi All

 

We're 6 months into our Tattenhall stay and now looking at other Marinas for next year. Due to the 3 month notice we've started early and quite fancy the Worcestershire area, with the two marinas in the title..... does anyone have any views on these?  does either have that certain 'something' the other doesn't?

[Rob-M]

Lots of locks to go boating.

[BEngo]

Both subject to possible river interference.  Only one way from each, though you might get trapped between the Severn and the Salwarpe, but...

 

 

Choice of routes is not bad, with either suitable for the Droitwich Ring.

 

Worcester has more non- boating activity opportunities than Droitwich.

 

N

[Rob-M]

Have you thought about moving within the Lakeland group, there seems to be quite a few spaces in Great Haywood.  That is what we did when we moved from Saul Junction.

[Captain Pegg]

7 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Both subject to possible river interference.  Only one way from each, though you might get trapped between the Severn and the Salwarpe, but...

 

 

Choice of routes is not bad, with either suitable for the Droitwich Ring.

 

Worcester has more non- boating activity opportunities than Droitwich.

 

N

I’m assuming the Droitwich question refers to the marina so the risk of getting trapped between Severn and Salwarpe doesn’t apply.

 

Personally if I intended to do widespread cruising I wouldn’t choose to moor somewhere where there are so many locks in one direction, unless it was a fairly short term arrangement to explore the canals in that area.

 

The catchment for Droitwich - and I wouldn’t be surprised if Diglis was similar - is folk that live further down the M5 and want access to their boat before they get snarled up in the traffic of Birmingham.

[Rob-M]

My parents choose Alvechurch as it was not too far from the M5 and didn't involve doing Tardebigge nearly every time you go on holiday.

Similarly we moved away from Saul Junction as having to go up and down the Severn every time we went on holiday was a bind.

[Sea Dog]

We had 5 years in Droitwich Spa Marina until about 5 years ago. Nick and his team were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Reasonable walk into Droitwich, easy drive to Worcester.

The river issue at DSM is the Salwarpe if you choose to go down the Droitwich canal to join the Severn as it can decrease the already low headroom in the M5 culvert. Once you've done that once or twice, you'd probably choose to go down the B&W to Worcester (we  popped to Worcester quite a lot) where you can join the Severn with appropriate river level planning. We never had a problem on either route. The nicest section of the Severn (imho) is between Worcester and Stourport, which is about half a day taking you to the rather lovely Staffs & Worcs. Alternatively, you can go up the B&W via the Tardebigge flight either on to Birmingham or down the North Stratford, which is never a problem other than during winter maintenance. Those options could get dull after a while I suppose, but the OP appears to be choosing a base for a while then moving on so not really an issue here. 

[robtheplod]

Fab thanks everyone so much for the replies... pretty much my feelings most of this...   we're looking at this area also to be close to elderly family as we tend to use the boat as our mobile emergency visitor accommodation!

 

It could be interesting having rivers so close....

 

rob

[Stroudwater1]

1 hour ago, robtheplod said:

Fab thanks everyone so much for the replies... pretty much my feelings most of this...   we're looking at this area also to be close to elderly family as we tend to use the boat as our mobile emergency visitor accommodation!

 

It could be interesting having rivers so close....

 

rob

Go the whole way and stay at Tewkesbury or Upton  Marina then 🤣

[Rob-M]

As a kid we spent several years moored at Tewkesbury and Brendon.  After a week's holiday stranded in floods we moved on to the canals.

[gatekrash]

Not sure when you're planning on moving but the winter maintenance this year has closed the W&B at Tardebigge, the Droitwich at bridge 12 and the W&B at Offerton, effectively cutting Droitwich marina off from the network for 3 months from the beginning of January. Just one to plan in !

 

We're at the marina and really like it there. The facilities are good, the staff really friendly and we don't mind Tardebigge in the slightest. We can do the run from the marina to the top of the flight in an 8 hour day, or Stourport via the barge canal in about the same. Worcester is about 6-7 hours.

 

Hanbury flight can get quite queued during busy periods which can take a while to get through, but we usually just make sure we start early or else move the boat either up to Astwood or down to Dunhampstead the evening before if we're needing to go somewhere on a schedule.

[Annie cariad]

Been in both as a visitor prefer Worcester the town offers more and has good communication links 

[David Floyd]

We on our 3rd year at Droitwich Spa Marina, the service has always been excellent, very easy nice weekend trips to Worcester, lots to see there.

 

Not much mooring past the town on the Droitwich canal, but you soon reach the seven.

 

The other way up the Birmingham and Worcester get you onto the Tardebigge locks, this takes a few hours, but after that lock free to Birmingham, but you can turn at King's Norton Junction and again the world is your oyster 🙂

 

The Marina is clean and tidy, the nearby rugby club has a bar and does breakfast, the town is a 15 minute walk away.

 

Its all good

 

David
NB Floydtilla
Please see our mooring map https://floydtilla.co.uk/uk-canal-and-river-marinas/