The late Vic Miller owned a trail-boat which he took around the country for about 20 years. It was launched at the 1998 National Trail-boat Festival held at Templar’s Firs, and was named “Nonsuch" by Professor David Bellamy, seen here alongside Vic Miller.

Vic grew up in Surrey near where “Nonsuch Palace” was built by King Henry VIII in 1538 to celebrate his 30 years as King, as well as the birth of his son Edward. Henry wanted it to be his grandest, most lavish palace, without equal – hence the name “None Such”. The Tudor royal palace, near to one of the King’s main hunting grounds, was built to match the French king’s Chateau de Chambord. John Speed’s 1610 map of Surrey shows Nonsuch Palace in one corner:

Henry should have checked that there was a handy nearby water supply, but there wasn’t. It was incomplete when Henry died in 1547, and in 1556 Queen Mary sold it. A hundred years later, Charles II bought Nonsuch Palace for his mistress, Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine. She pulled it down in 1682-3 to pay off gambling debts, but the foundations of the palace can still be seen from the air. It’s in Nonsuch Park near Epsom. Vic’s boat had an image of the floor plan of the palace.

Vic wanted his “Nonsuch” to be used as a trip-boat, but the design wasn’t suitable; it would have failed the ‘tilt test’. Our “Nonsuch” is licensed to carry 10 people: 8 passengers and 2 crew.