Inner Dowsing Lightship

Fantastic accommodation on this wonderful lightship. It has a history going back to 1839, and has now been lovingly restored to accommodation with wonderful views of the river Medway. The accommodation has everything you need for a great stay & nights sleep, we were lucky enough to see great firework displays over Rochester. The owner met us at the gate and gave us the keys and was very friendly and informative. The rooms were decorated beautifully and spotlessly clean. Highly recommend

We stole one night away from London and were rewarded with the most breathtaking views from our floating cabin on the Medway. From the deck, we looked straight across to the spire of Rochester Cathedral and the turrets of the Castle - a magical backdrop. This grand old lady of a ship, once working to keep sailors safe in the Lincolnshire Wash, is now retired from those duties but still hard at work offering travellers a unique and welcoming berth. As if on cue, a double rainbow greeted us on arrival, dazzling the sky for over 20 minutes after a sudden downpour - the perfect start to our stay.

A lovely place to stay,great views looking down Medway,can be a bit noisy from motorway bridge nearby,really needs to offer breakfast as its not cheap just for a bed but staying on an old boat looking down the Medway and Rochester makes the price more bearable.

I know the area really well, as I used to live nearby. The surrounding area doesn’t have a great deal to do, but if you have a car there’s plenty of choice within a few miles. I was visiting my mother, and wasn’t looking for entertainment. Fancied staying on a boat, which was good Amazing river views, especially the first night as it was 33c and beautiful to sit outside on the deck area. .

Absolutely amazing and unique stay, the view, the comfort and the history of the ship were all genuinely wonderful. We arrived on the hottest day of the year so far and the lovely hosts kindly ungraded us to the much larger self catering accommodation as this was much cooler and was much appreciated! Everything was just amazing!

We absolutely loved this place. Unique accommodation, thoughtfully provided, lovely hosts, and just so perfect. The lightship is almost 200 years old and an incredible piece of history. The accommodation is perfectly designed; we had 'Crew Quarters 1' which is upper deck, no cooking facilities but otherwise perfect in every way, facing east and therefore getting the morning sun. We loved waking up to the early sun, and eating our simple rolls and jam (bought previous day from a bakery in town) on the deck outside our room. The lightship is fairly close to a big bridge that carries a lot of traffic, but sitting on the eastern side is as quiet as anything, and that also has the best view, towards Rochester with its river, castle and cathedral. Also of great interest to us is the fact that that view takes in the location of the old Short Brothers aircraft factory by the river - an amazing location that we realised the significance of only after we arrived. The Short flying boats graced the skies between England and Australia in the 1930s for the very, very rich, and then amazingly played a key role in protecting shipping in the Atlantic from the Luftwaffe and the U-boat fleet during World War 2. An incredible story. Our room didn't have a fridge, but Eunha stored our precious bottle of French champagne in her fridge and then brought it up to us in an ice-bucket with champagne flutes on our last night - that is service! We cannot recommend this place highly enough for location, service, peacefulness, uniqueness.