In my experience
Georgina Moore’s family home is a houseboat on the Thames, where she’s bringing up two children. She shares the sense of freedom that comes from living on the water
Houseboats are not for everyone. They have their own quirks and houseboat communities are that little bit more eccentric than life on your average terraced street. Our island home is like a floating village: everyone knowing everyone’s business, lots of socialising, a communal area for parties. On houseboats you are more aware of the weather – rain on a wooden roof is loud, stormy winds will rock even the sturdiest of boats and from time to time you’ll see your pictures swinging on the walls. But once you have embraced the uniqueness, it can be hard to imagine living anywhere else.
It’s all about the view, the water, the light. Reflections of the willow, the blush of a sunset on the water, mist rising up from the river on a cold winter’s morning. All the holidayish sounds that accompany living on water – the stroke of an oar, the splutter of an engine, the laughter of a group of paddleboarders as they go past your window. Summer on the terrace, waving at friends as they speed past; trips along the river to moor up at a pub. I even like the continuous honking of the geese and the prehistoric shriek of the heron.
I was living a fun single-girl life, with a career in publishing and a flat in London, where I could easily get back from Soho in the early hours of the morning. Then I met James in 2008 and things changed. We knew that we wanted a family and that time was of the essence. James lived on a houseboat on Taggs Island on the Thames and, on our first date – a perfect summer’s day in July – we swam in the sparkling river together and drank wine in his garden overlooking the water, and the whole place seemed like a paradise. I couldn’t understand how he knew everyone. Neighbours just walked into the garden to chat to him – people really did pop round with wine.
When James suggested I live with him there full-time, I initially had doubts. It was a world somehow removed from real life and also, practically speaking, it was an hour and a half from my office. For a while, I alternated between my flat and the houseboat, but soon I was pregnant with our first child and we had to settle. The idea of houseboat living with little children seemed risky. But I had started to get to know people on the island – other families bringing up children and people who had spent their childhood on the island and wanted to raise their own family that way. People told me it was a magical place to be a child, with the freedom to run around the island, playing in the communal garden,
