Tea boat stocked with cakes and drinks to sail back into Doncaster this weekend

The Shanti Tea Boat will be on the canal at Kirk Sandall from Friday to Sunday, serving up tasty and tempting treats.

The bright purple boat will be moored near to St Oswald’s Church off Pilkington Road from 10am to 4pm on all days.

The narrowboat is a familiar sight on the canals of Yorkshire and is the brainchild of floating adventurer Claire Burgoyne.

A seasoned traveller who spent time in India and south east Asia as well as across Europe, Claire said: “It was life-changing. It gave me an inner strength I didn’t know I had and a sense of freedom. I have always been a free spirit, and I gave everything away and had a rucksack of clothes, and it was liberating not to have those ties.”

On her return to the UK, the idea for the tea boat was born.

“I was sat with my daughter and we were watching some boats out of the window and my daughter said ‘that would suit you’.”

When the perfect narrowboat popped up on a forum, Claire knew the time was right.

Elizabeth, a 32-year-old 58ft long narrowboat, offered potential to Claire, who began transforming it with business in mind.

“I didn’t want to go back into a house, and I had talked about it as a dream with friends about turning it into a café and floating around the canal network and making a living, but I couldn’t think how to make it happen,” says Claire.

“With Shanti, they say it a lot in India when people are rushing around, ‘Shanti’, slow down and relax, and that is the vibe I wanted to reproduce with the café.

"It’s also about enjoying nature. I often walk and sit by the canal and have a cup of coffee, and that is the vibe, sitting in nature. I don’t want to sit in a crowded pub or a café with my dogs. I want people to hang out, read a book and meet new people.”

She added: “Please double check before setting out to visit – as the nature of my little floating business, plus the canal gods and British weather, means plans could change last minute.”