Northamptonshire canal volunteers feel 'privileged' to care

Volunteers have spoken of their "privilege" of looking after local beauty spots, as a charity celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The Canal and River Trust took over the management of 2,000 miles (3,219km) of waterways in 2012 in the biggest ever transfer of public assets to a charity.

It comes as Stoke Bruerne and Blisworth Tunnel in Northamptonshire were voted in its top 10 sites.

Volunteer Rob Westlake said: "We want people to come and savour this place."

The 200-year-old canal network across England and Wales had been operated by state corporation British Waterways.

To mark the decade milestone, the Canal and River Trust launched a poll for people to vote for the "modern marvels".

They included West Yorkshire's 'staircase' Bingley Five Rise Locks and the Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire, alongside the quaint village of Stoke Bruerne and the two-mile long Blisworth Tunnel.

Nationwide, the waterways are visited by 10 million people every fortnight and used by 35,000 boats.

Volunteer Mr Westlake was drawn to the canals while growing up in Wiltshire and said his love of them had endured throughout his life.

"It's a great privilege and honour. I love the canals and anything to do with the countryside and nature, with all the things a canal brings to a community," he said.

"Everyone lives within a few miles of a canal so everybody has access to this wonderful waterway, which has a towpath, cyclists, walkers and they were built for the horses - horse-drawn boats.

"A number of people and boaters aren't totally switched on to what the Canal and Rivers Trust does, but we are surviving and we have enabled a huge amount of money to be brought in from the central government and local resources to keep the canals in the condition they are today."

Fellow volunteer Kathryn Dodington lives alongside the canal close to Blisworth Tunnel and will get up early to help any wide boats navigate through it.

"I can walk out the front door and be on my tow path - it's effectively my back garden and you have to look after it," she said.

Despite being brought up in New Zealand, she said she had inherited her British mother's love of canals and was still amazed by their history.

"If you brought people back from the early 1800s, they wouldn't notice much change," she said.

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