The beginning of a life afloat for Stefan and Julie stemmed from a love of water and the outdoors. They spent two years living on a narrowboat on the UK canals and enjoyed the simplicity of the lifestyle. Their interest in boats and boating progressed to the purchase of a larger ship, a 69ft (21m) long 1910 Dutch Beurtschip, and

From the outside Chester looks like a conventional Luxemotor Dutch barge, but take a step inside and you realise she is a little bit special. The entire interior was custom built in solid teak with the bathroom and galley built from scratch. There are some pretty clever details, including a dining table that is stored in the ceiling, a hand-carved

Amsterdam is the European city most famous for its collection of houseboats and this is where Arie and his wife Gerda live aboard their barge Apelonia Maria . She is a 75ft (27.2m) long traditional type of barge known as a Luxemotor and was built in Alphen aan de Rijn, the Netherlands, in 1913 to transport sand. Arie and Gerda

Chris and Alison were searching for a home with soul when they moved to London in 1988. They had always liked the idea of living on a boat but it took another seven years until they moved aboard their first ever floating home, a Dutch barge called Anna Maria . She is a traditional Luxemotor design, measuring 82ft (25m) and her