The Anne Marie Houseboat for sale

Life aboard

Despite what many people think, life aboard the Anne Marie is very much the same as life anywhere else. We have bills to pay, stuff to buy, food to cook and all the other things that make up modern life. We watch TV, use the phone, go on Facebook and enjoy technology like the rest of the population. At night we close the blinds, adjust the heating and curl up on the sofa just like anyone else. If you think that day-to-day living on a houseboat is, in some way, totally different to living in a house in the middle of Burnham then you will be disappointed.

 

That being said, when you look past the day-to-day aspect of life wherever you live and begin to look at the bigger picture, life on board the Anne Marie becomes AWESOME!

 

A good day

Everyone has breakfast, but there aren't many people who have breakfast looking out onto the River Crouch in all its early morning beauty? Perhaps a seal in our 'garden'; swans gliding by; brent geese in their hundreds making the most wonderful honking racket; seagulls wheeling about the boat and the human life on the river waking up with their yachts, fishing boats, dinghys etc. If we're lucky and the day is fine, we can be sitting on the balcony enjoying the early sunshine with a full 180 degree vista spread out in front of us.

 

During the day the river becomes fully active and there are Dragon yachts racing right outside our windows; a huge timber ship glides up the river making less wash than a small fishing boat (how do they do that?) and expertly turns to moor at Wallasea. Gulls wheel about fighting for the bread that someone has been feeding them with off the quay. Binoculars are permanently kept at close reach to study the wildlife of the river and the antics of some of the sailors. 

 

Evening arrives and it's still a lovely day. We get the barbeque out on the the balcony and put some of our home-made wine in the fridge. The sun is starting to drop and we can see that a great sunset is in the offing. One thing that its hard to get used to is the magnificent large skies that we get from the balcony. On a clear night the balcony lets you see the universe in all its glory. The tide is in, the wind light and there is the occasional splashing which could be a seal, mullet jumping or just some ducks moving by.

 

It's getting late, the food has all gone, the wine drunk and still a warm and gentle breeze blowing. One of those nights when the only thing to do is get out the air bed and fall asleep on the balcony under the stars.

 

A not so good day

Sleeping downstairs in the hull has huge benefits, it's cool in Summer, dark and quiet and It's hard not to get a good night sleep. As a result, it's often not possible to tell what the day is like until you've come upstairs.

 

This morning is not so good, rain beating against the lounge windows and a 45 knot wind blowing from the south west. A quick check on the tidal situation shows 4.9m at 11:30am. That means we'll float 0.2m (8") for a short while around high tide (we float over 4.8m) but the wind will probably keep the tide out so we won't float at all. Not that it really matters, the Anne Marie weighs 200 tonnes and we hardly move when the wind is strong. 

 

When the wind is from the south west, we are the first property to be hit in Burnham and it can be quite exciting when there's a real blow. When the tide reaches the hull, the waves slam into the side with quite a bang and you can occasionally feel her move with the force of it. The Anne Marie has been shrugging off storm-after-storm for nearly 70 years and even the Great Storm of 1987 left her unscathed. A trip round the deck, waterproofs on, is a sensible precaution to check that everything not fixed down can't be blown overboard. It's great to watch the storm from the leeward gangway and watch the waves and moored yachts bouncing around. The seagulls love the wind and spend their time showing off to you.

 

Both good days and not so good days are exciting on board the Anne Marie. It can be a scorching hot summers day; a cold and snowy winters day; a wild and windy autumn day or a still and foggy spring day but they all are special. On board the Anne Marie you are so much more aware of the weather than living anywhere else because you are in it, it directly affects your day.

 

Being here

Living on the picturesque River Crouch at Burnham is a privilege extended to only a very few people. The pleasure of owning and living aboard a houseboat moored on West Quay in Burnham-on-Crouch cannot be overstated. Around the country, many people live aboard narrowboats, sea going ships, purpose built houseboats and converted vessels of many different types. It is estimated that over 15,000 people live afloat in the UK*. What we enjoy in Burnham, that most other houseboat owners lack, is security of tenure. The five houseboats along West Quay are in the unique position of having a long-term lease from Maldon District Council (MDC) for the foreshore our barges sit on. All five houseboats belong collectively to the West Quay Houseboat Association (WQHA) which negotiated the lease. The peace of mind that this security gives us has resulted in owners investing significant resources into their vessels. Some people have invested significantly in the historic vessels in which they live and have thus contributed greatly to the river’s heritage. This has resulted in houseboats of charm and character which are a source of fascination to tourists and locals alike. 

 

On a warm sunny day, particularly at weekends or Bank Holidays, it is difficult to work on the shore side of the boat because of the number of people who stop to ask questions. The interest shown by passers-by is so frequent that we have put an information notice on the Quay to answer some of the more common questions:

"What do you do in the Winter?"

"Is it REALLY made of concrete?"

"If it's concrete, how does it float?"

"Do you float all the time?"

"Can you go anywhere?"

"How can I buy one?"

 

This website is a direct result of the many people who have shown an interest in the Anne Marie and asked so many questions. We thank them for pushing us to do this.

​

* information from 'A Life Afloat', a Thames Festival Trust project. read it here