My Floating Home

More stories of people trying to build their dream home on the water. Suffolk boatyard specialists Mary and Simon's dream is a futuristic aquatic pod.

Alan and Val McCoy put their life savings on the line to make their dream of living on water come true, entrusting a boat builder to make them their dream narrow boat floating home. The couple have been together for 11 years and now that they're retired, they've decided that owning a narrow boat could be a unique way to be near their families - all of whom live along the canal system across the Midlands and north-west England.

This edition charts the exploits of Pat and Sue Willan, who now retired plan to buy their very last floating home, which they hope to keep moored on the Thames. They have enlisted the help of a boat-maker in Stoke and opted for a 35-tonne, 55-foot state-of-the-art, all-mod-cons Dutch barge. They have a healthy budget of over £400,000 and elaborate plans for very contemporary kitchen fittings and gadgets and a powerful hydraulic engine.

South African-born Linda, her husband Mark and Coco the cat share a one-bedroom floating home on Tagg's Island in Hampton, Surrey. It's an idyllic location, but their home is also their workplace and it's starting to feel a bit cramped. The couple want to stay put in their exclusive location, so Linda has hatched an ambitious plan to buy the boat next door and do it up all by herself. It's a huge challenge and it remains to be seen whether enthusiasm and passion will be enough to get the job done.

Metal worker John Lloyd search for his own, affordable home has led him to floating homes on the Medway in Kent. John has spent almost all of his funds on a boat that is going to need a lot of work, from rotting timber to a total refurb. His father Pete helps out, as their combined skills with repurposing and reclaiming prove that almost anything is possible.

Retired customs officer Keith has been living and working in New Zealand for 25 years. Now, he wants to return to the UK for part of the year and go touring the waterways of the UK with his wife Pam. He's commissioning a brand-spanking-new semi-cruiser narrowboat complete with all the latest gadgets. However, Keith has never owned a boat before, let alone skippered or crewed a narrowboat, so he needs to learn very quickly.

Mark Evans follows Heike and Torsten Birke on an adventure designing and building a novel floating home - from the factory in Havelberg to testing it out on the German waterways.

Londoners Lily and Natasha are in their mid-twenties and keen to get onto the property ladder. Currently renting a one-bed flat in east London, they have impulsively decided to buy a 35-year-old narrowboat at a knock-down price that needs considerable work. They are determined to save money and do all the work themselves, but it's a significant challenge as neither has any experience of fixing up - or living on - a boat, let alone any knowledge of plumbing, electrics, fabrication work or anything renovation-relevant.