Onderneming on the quay at Snape Maltings
Built in 1899, she measures 94ft in length and offers guests spacious but cosy accommodation. She sleeps 6 comfortably in three double bedrooms but also has a comfy double sofa bed and a kids’ den.
This magnificent Barge features many historic features, including all her original portholes. Two fully fitted galley kitchen/living/dining areas, and three bathrooms. Fabulous river walks right from the quay.
Woodfarm Barges in the press!
Onderneming appeared in The Times’ “Best Unusual Holiday Homes” and “Ten best places to stay by a river” articles, and Twee Gebroeders was in their feature on “Love Nests: Great Places for two”. She also appeared in The Daily & Sunday Mail articles on unique floating holidays. Both Barges are moored on quays as opposed to offering sailing holidays; think of them as floating holiday cottages.
Onderneming finer details
Built in 1899, she is almost 100ft in length and 18ft wide! She sleeps 6 comfortably in three double bedrooms but also has a double sofa bed in the lower saloon. With high ceilings, no expense has been spared in this conversion, with really comfy beds and all the best bits of modern living, she still retains many original features such as her portholes and panelling inside, and her original wheel and colossal dagger boards on the outside. She has one en-suite wet room and 2 additional bathrooms including one with a bath.
There are 2 large saloons (lounge & dining areas to you and I), with lots of seating and both have fully fitted kitchens so you can cook and chat in either! The upper saloon benefits from the beautiful river views and the lower saloon has a fabulous wood-burning stove for cosy evenings by the fire. You can also sit up on the deck with your morning coffee or watch the sun go down, it’s up to you. We can recommend both!
You enter Onderneming via the large wheelhouse at the stern (back end!).
The upper saloon has a large, fully fitted kitchen and an L-shaped seating area around a dining table with additional leather chairs. The Barge features bespoke cabinetry with plenty of storage space.
The port side overlooks the fabulous Snape Maltings, with its range of coffee shops, deli, pub, and boutique shops. Snape Maltings is a cultural Mecca for classical music aficionados. The starboard side overlooks the reed beds and the River Alde, and you’ll see lots of wild birds.
The kids’ den leads down from the saloon and has a bench setting and a built-in bunk bed.
A corridor leads off the upper saloon, with a bathroom and double cabin either side and leads down to the lower saloon, which features all her original portholes. This saloon would originally have been a large cargo hold and would shock the original crew as it now houses a superb wood-burning stove, comfy sofa bed, fully fitted galley kitchen, a built-in L-shaped leather seating area around a beautiful old wooden dining table, with extra leather chairs and a 32” flat screen TV and DVD Player, and DAB radio.
Another corridor leads off this saloon, with storage cupboards, then on to another bathroom and double cabin with built-in wardrobe, then round to a further double cabin, with dressing room and en-suite wet room.
She is huge!
Onderneming is fully centrally heated at no extra cost. We also provide logs for your open fire.
Please note that our Snape Maltings maintenance colleague has to empty the onboard ‘grey tank’ every few days, as well as top up your water. He does this on the deck and won’t need internal access. He always endeavours to do this like a ninja but don’t be surprised if you see someone on board first thing in the morning.
Dog friendly
We welcome up to three dogs on board and we have a reputation for combining luxury, with a highly open, dog-friendly approach. The best of both worlds for you and your dogs. In case you’re worried, we do have Doggy life jackets on board.
She is moored on the River Alde at the iconic Snape Maltings, a stunning location near the beautiful Heritage Coast of Suffolk, with an incredibly popular, well-known, dog-friendly pub, as well as coffee shops, independent boutique shops and amazing river walks on either side of the river.
Location
Onderneming is moored so this is not a sailing holiday. She is static but due to her size and weight you will not really feel her moving at all! You have two parking spaces adjacent to the Barge, and there is plenty of other parking too.
If you want to escape the real world for a bit, this is the perfect place to do it! An unparalleled mooring at Snape Maltings on the River Alde. Stunning river views one side and easy access to the very best retail therapy in Suffolk. Snape Maltings has a wonderful deli, pub, a choice of coffee shops, as well as homewares, giftwares, crafts and an amazing food hall. You have a breathtaking river walk on either side of the Alde, once you’ve finished in the pub. What more could you want?
Snape Maltings is a cultural ‘Mecca’ in Suffolk, within easy reach of Aldeburgh, Orford, Southwold and the rest of Suffolk’s beautiful Heritage Coast.
You have wonderful walks in either direction and if you cross Snape Bridge you can follow the River Alde right round to the sea at Aldeburgh. It’s around a 6-mile walk. The River has an abundance of wildlife including Avocets and Seals so do keep your eyes and ears peeled!
It’s a buzzy, vibrant place by day, with a very up-market range of distinctive independent shops, cafés & galleries. We are so lucky to have all this on our ‘Port’ side, whilst on the ‘Starboard’ side, there’s a breathtaking expanse of reeds, water and sky.
On the other side of the main Maltings buildings is The Plough & Sail, a great pub serving the ubiquitous ‘Adnams’, as well as a wide variety of wines and spirits, and superb food.
‘Onderneming’ does attract a lot of attention from passers-by so do be aware that you may be asked questions about her. Most people want to know how you’ll get her under Snape Bridge!
By night and early morning it’s so peaceful and just the most magical place to be, and even during the day it’s still very chilled as you are just on the periphery of this amazing location.
There’s a full calendar of events throughout the year so do see what’s on during your stay if you haven’t already. It’ll obviously have people milling about in the evening during the Aldeburgh Festival and other times during their event calendar. This is a truly unique and special location.
Snape Maltings have also embraced our ‘Preferred Partners Programme’ and our guests will be able to get 10% off many of the things on offer!
It’s an unparalleled mooring on the quayside with allocated parking right next to your Barge, and you will have wonderful walks along the river, directly from the quay. It’s such a tranquil location still but with so much more to see and do, as you will see.
Have a good look around and do check the Snape Maltings website for lots more info.
Out & About
If you do actually want more, then you have access to some of the best of the British coast, with historic Woodbridge, Orford and Aldeburgh within easy reach, or you could carry on up the coast a little to Dunwich, Walberswick and Southwold; all well worth a visit.
Onderneming is situated within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is a designated Conservation Area. We have bikes available for you.
Onderneming history
Built in 1899, she measures 28.7m in length by 5.5m wide (beam) with a draft (amount of the boat underwater) of 1.6m. She is fitted with a DAF 1160 engine (160hp) though of course she was originally purely a sailing barge and this is a later addition.
Built in the Van Den Andel yard in Papendercht, Holland as a single mast sailing Klipper of 23m. De-rigged in 1963 she continued to work as a motor barge under the name of ‘Johanna’, carrying general cargos on the Rhine between Lobith and Emerich in Holland, and between Duisberg and Wesel in Germany. She continued trading under the skippers Johannes Meeuwsen and Jan De Hoog until the 1970s. In the 1980s she was used as a boat-building workshop before being returned to sail under her original name of Onderneming and operating as a charter barge under sail out of Harlingen in Friesland. In 2009 she was brought to London for restoration and conversion to a residential and cruising barge.
Getting here
From the A12 take the A1094 signposted towards Snape Maltings. At Snape Church turn on to the B1069 into the village of Snape itself before turning left into Snape Maltings. The postcode is IP17 1SP.
Guests joining us by train will head to Saxmundham on Greater Anglia, via Ipswich. It’s 2 hours from London Liverpool Street. You are then around 4 miles from Snape Maltings and we suggest booking a cab in advance (A2B Cars on 01728 633003 or Gull’s on 01728 602344).
Important information about our Barges:
A stay aboard one of our Barges is unique, and has some differences to a standard holiday cottage. Here is some important info for you to be aware of.
Both of our Barges are moored on Quays. You are not able to take them out, nor do we offer trips. Think of them as floating holiday cottages.
We have Macerator pumps on all the toilets on our barges. We have signs up saying that wet wipes, sanitary products and nappies must not be flushed down the toilet. This will result in a broken pump and we will have to charge for replacement. They are £400, plus fitting. We provide the appropriate bags and bins for the disposal of items such as described above.
Additionally, these ‘holiday cottages’ are boats on water. We ask that you take great care and attention at all times and we cannot be held responsible in any way for any incidents or accidents whilst aboard. We cannot stress this enough. They are boats. We’ve made that fairly clear. And boats are a little different, that’s why you book them. It’s a unique holiday but access is not the same as a cottage. Just check out the videos and you’ll get a good feel for each barge and it’s location. They are not suitable for disabled or infirm guests and there’s nothing we can do about it.
We cannot stress enough, these are boats. They are on the water. You may experience a diesel or heating oil smell as that’s how the barges are heated. As with all boats heated in this way we cannot avoid this, but both systems are regularly checked and serviced to ensure correct and safe operation. We also need to carry out maintenance such as refuelling, emptying of grey water tanks etc, and this may well need to be done whilst you are on board. We will do our level best to ensure you are not disturbed, but these routines are necessary.
Neither of our Barges are suitable for disabled or less agile guests. They are both accessed via gangplanks and steps across water due to the very nature of this unique kind of holiday. Similarly the tides rise and fall twice a day and we can’t do anything about that. It’s a planet thing. This means the gangplanks will be steeper either up or down at certain times of the day. Both have secure handrails though.
In adverse weather they may face unique challenges, but they do offer a unique break. Twee Gebroeders is connected to a mains water supply, fed along the quay. It is lagged but if it does freeze then you’ll be without running water. You have a key on board for the shower block, which is a short walk and you’ll need to put bottled water down the loo. If we see this coming, we will put some bottles on board for you. We appreciate this would be inconvenient but this is beyond our control and under such circumstances we cannot offer compensation. We’ve really done our best to stress that a barge holiday is different.
