Emily Astor and Jacqui Turner were delighted to join the fully restored Liddesdale for the return trip to Cliveden following her success at the TRAD boat festival in Henley on Thames on Monday 21 July.

The Thames Traditional Boat Festival or TRAD festival is held annually in July at Henley on Thames. It was first held in 1978 as a rally for enthusiasts, passionate about the older, traditionally built craft that were fast disappearing from the river Thames. The TRAD festival awards prizes in multiple boating categories and attracts interest the world over. The Liddesdale won a second place in her category.

Courtesy of the National Trust

The Liddesdale is an electric canoe, built for Viscountess Nancy Astor circa 1920 and is kept in the Duke of Sutherland’s boat house on the Cliveden estate, now owned by the National Trust. It was originally built in Buckinghamshire and restored by the National Trust largely in the local area. She is 25 feet 7 ¾ inches (approx. 7.8 metres) ioa and clinker built of Brazilian mahogany on rock elm timbers, with ash stems and pitch pine keel and is part of the National Trust Collection. Electric canoes were the very height of fashion on the Thames in the 1920s but there are now less than 10 that we are aware of including the Liddesdale.

From NT Cliveden social media:

Did you spot the Cliveden National Trust team or Liddesdale at Thames Traditional Boat Festival this weekend?

What a wonderful weekend, Liddesdale was awarded Runner Up in the Thames Heritage Cup category which is an incredible achievement. Thank you Thames Traditional Boat Festival – Friday 18th to Sunday 20th July 2025 for having us.

We would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in Liddesdale’s restoration project and the generosity of our donors and supporters as without them, we would have not been able to take part. It was a great pleasure to work alongside Boating at Cliveden over the weekend.

We also had the wonderful opportunity to host Emily Astor (Granddaughter of Nancy Astor) and Dr Jacqui Turner (foremost expert on Nancy Astor, based University of Reading on the return journey from Henley to Cliveden.

 

Courtesy of the National Trust

#Accessibility Three visitors and a member of the Boating at Cliveden crew cruising on Liddesdale in the water. Two ladies with sunglasses on, one holding a blue rosette badge in front of Liddesdale. Two gentleman enjoying a cruise on Liddesdale and two gentleman standing on Liddesdale on the River Thames.

©National Trust / Hugh Mothersole

#NationalTrust #NationalTrustSouthEast #TRADFestival #BoatingAtCliveden #Liddesdale #NancyAstor #ElectricCanoe #Thames #TravellingOnTheThames    #NationalTrustDaysOut #NationalTrustCliveden #GuidedCruise #TraditionalBoatFestival #HistoricBoating #HeritageCraft #RiverDays #ClassicBoat #CanoeLove #ThamesTradFestival #Cliveden #Buckinghamshire

You can find the original National Trust Cliveden post on Instagram and Facebook

What was it like gliding along the Thames on the Liddesdale, skippered by Captain Chris and Josh? Simply idyllic. The lack of a traditional petrol or diesel motor meant that it was smooth, quiet and the only smell came from the banks of the river, earthy and green but fresh and far more noticeable that on a motor powered vessel. It was quiet, only the sound of the water, our chatter and Captain Chris’ expert comment. It felt traditional yet the way it was powered made it feel way ahead of its time.

Here at the University of Reading, we have played a very, very small part in supporting the restoration of the Liddesdale over the years, scouring the Cliveden Estate files which are part of Waldorf Astor’s Papers here in Special Collections. We searched the archive for mentions of the canoe but found only brief comments. Emily (Nancy and Waldorf Astor’s granddaughter) remembers only sitting in it as a child but had never taken the trip along the Thames. She also sat in her Uncle David’s scull which she recalled being like a ‘piece of spaghetti’. It is still in the boat house and it absolutely is!

Enroute back to Cliveden, we were privileged to share the lock with the Aquabelle, one of only 100 remaining  Dunkirk Small Boats, captained by the grandson of the original skipper who sailed her to pick up troops during the defence and evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

More on the The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships.

 

Find out more about the restoration of the Liddesdale here Our conservation projects at Cliveden | National Trust

And from the crafts people who carried out much of the work here The ‘Liddesdale’, Nancy Astor’s Electric Canoe Restoration. – Seb vanden Bogaerde, Boatbuilder and Designer maker. Portfolio.

You can also book a trip on the Liddesdale for yourself from Boating at Cliveden Electric Canoe Liddesdale for hire at Cliveden – experience the grandeur of Lady Astor’s electric canoe.