Video Active River DVDs

DVD - River Avon Ref: 740
This DVD follows the present day navigation from Tewkesbury to Stratford. It tells the story of the tremendously ambitious and successful restorations of the navigation, starting in 1950 with Douglas Barwell OBE and the formation of the Lower Avon Navigation Trust.

The tale continues with the formation of the Upper Avon Navigation Trust with David Hutchings MBE and others in 1965. Accounts of the plotting and scheming to thwart obstructive third parties, but overall it's a story of magnificent achievements, culminating in 1974 with the opening of the Upper Avon Navigation by HM The Queen Mother.

Running time: 57 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - Great Ouse & River Cam Ref: 1197
The complex Great Ouse river system, including the River Cam, is a result of a centuries-old three-way battle between millers, the need to drain the fens, and navigators, with the non land-owning navigators usually losing out.

This programme helps you to understand the complexity of the system. It captures the feeling of isolation, and shows you plenty of wildlife. It examines man's historic battle to drain the fens with a look at some massive pumping machinery.

Running time: 70 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - Lee & Stort Navigation Ref: 738
The Rivers Lee & Stort together form a navigational cul-de-sac, from Limehouse Basin to Hertford on the River Lee, and to Bishops Stortford on the River Stort. They can only be reached from the rest of the waterways network by boating through London. Once beyond the M25, these rivers become very beautiful and compare favourably with the finest in Britain.

The Lea Valley was the first area of Britain to be declared a National Park in 1966.

Running time: 57 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - Middle Level Ref: 1694
A Fen is a freshwater lake, and 500 years ago, that's exactly what Fenland Britain was; a series of vast freshwater lakes, with a few sporadic islands sticking up above the water.

Today the drained fens are the richest farmland in Britain, and the drainage channels may be navigated and link the River Nene at Peterborough to the River Great Ouse at Denver. This programme explores not just the recommended route across, but the many backwaters as well.

Running time: 60 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - River Nene Ref: 741
The non tidal River Nene navigation starts at the bottom of the Northampton Arm of the Grand Union Canal and heads through Peterborough to Dog-in-a-Doublet lock. The Nene valley is breathtakingly beautiful and for anyone who wants to get away from it all it is almost perfect.

The wetland habitats of the Nene Valley encourage an amazing variety of wild life and this DVD includes rare footage of several endangered species including a flying display by a red kite.

Running time: 57 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - Rivers Nene, Great Ouse and Middle Level Ref: 1695
This 3 disk set covers all the linked waterways east of the Grand Union Canal at Northampton and out into East Anglia.

Disk 1 - The Middle Level covers the navigable rivers and drains running across the Fens from Peterborough to Downham Market.

Disk 2 - The Great Ouse covers the vast linked system of navigable rivers comprising the Great Ouse, the Cam, The Lark,The Little Ouse and The Wissey.

Disk 3 - The River Nene covers the Northampton branch of the Grand Union Canal, and the River Nene from Northampton to Peterborough.

Running time: 180 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £27.50

DVD - River Severn Ref: 751
The River Severn isn't a nice gentle well behaved river like the Thames. The Severn is to be respected at all times. She's dramatic, thrilling, challenging, a great big beast of a river. At Gloucester she becomes tidal and gives way to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. A ship canal where, once, huge tankers silently plodded their way across the golden cornfields of Gloucestershire.

Running time: 50 mins approx. DVD-R format (PAL).
Price: £14.50

DVD - Thames, Reading to Richmond Ref: 747
The Thames from Reading to Richmond is a journey through English heritage. A heritage spawned by the river itself in its various roles as trade route, water supply, power supply and defensible line.

As we meander along its 60 glorious miles (the road link between the towns is only half that distance) we see some of the world's most famous cultural and historical landmarks; Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Eton College, Runnymede and Henley.

Running time: 57 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - Thames, above Reading Ref: 746
This DVD captures the delights of its upper reaches in a journey commencing at the river's official head of navigation, Lechlade, and continuing down as far as the approach to Reading.

A distance of some 70 miles, this winding course is far removed from the busy capital waterway so often associated with the Thames. Instead it takes you through many riverside towns and villages full of character and individual charm.

Running time: 57 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50

DVD - River Wey Ref: 742
The River Wey can be truly described as an oasis of beauty. Running through the heart of the stock-broker belt from Weybridge down to Godalming, the navigation is quiet, peaceful and quite beautiful.

The DVD also takes a look at the Basingstoke Canal, and highlights a strong naturalists' lobby to reduce the number of boat movements to just a token number every year.

Running time: 48 mins approx. DVD-R format. English PAL.
Price: £14.50