By james art 
During her long stay as a tenant in London, the thing that really frustrated Emily Garland was the constant moving.
“I just had no luck with landlords,” she says. “They always seemed to want to sell the flat I was in and I think I moved 22 times in 17 years. I was exhausted and never felt rested.”
When Emily’s grandfather died six years ago and left her some money, she decided to act. The inheritance wasn’t enough to buy an apartment, but it was enough for a 32-foot traditional narrowboat.
Emily has probably the most amazing job imaginable. After a lifetime of baking for fun, she decided to turn professional and carved out a niche making gingerbread houses from a commercial kitchen in Hackney (emilygarland.com).
To avoid the huge expense of hiring a permanent berth in London, she was what is called a “continuous cruise”, moving from berth to berth every two weeks, but always staying close to the galley.
Unfortunately, the business was decimated by the pandemic, and to make ends meet, Emily took on remote work as a proofreader of court transcripts.
Not having to be in the kitchen every day meant that Emily was no longer tied to central London. “It was quite liberating,” she says.
Houseboat mooring rules changed during the pandemic, and boat owners were told to stay put, just like the rest of us. Emily, 42, found a place on the River Lea in Hertfordshire, near the town of Cheshunt.
“I realized how comforting it was to be in the country and it was quite demoralizing to be in London when there was none of the fun stuff,” she says.
After the pandemic, Emily returned to London by boat, but last year she made what she hopes will be her last move for a while.
She now has a permanent berth near Ware, Hertfordshire. She costs £470pcm – berths in central London could easily cost twice that.
And she also decided to revamp her business, finding a spacious and affordable new kitchen in the village of Watton-at-Stone.
She will bake gingerbread in the winter and other baked goods to sell by mail order the rest of the year, with the help of her travel writer boyfriend Matt Traver, 38, who moved onto the boat with her last year.
After years of packing and lugging all her belongings from apartment to apartment, getting around by boat is easy.
“I did it in a few weeks, visiting all my favorite places along the way,” she says. “It was like a holiday.”