New figures released by British Waterways showed the number of people using waterways across the country last year increased by 13 per cent.

Many people are attracted to places such as the National Waterways Museum at Stoke Bruerne for a day out and Northamptonshire is reaping the benefits of the rise in popularity.

The museum's general manager, David Henderson, said: "I have no reason to doubt those figures.

"We're a very small part of the waterways and we're recognised as one of the best canal villages in the country, and our visitor numbers have improved.

"There is quite a bit of investment going on in canals."

Mr Henderson said he was aware that such was the resurgence in canals, some supermarkets were using them for the transportation of alcohol, while developers on the Olympic village in London were using them to move construction materials and waste.

Last year, more than 31,000 boats travelled on the UK's waterways and 11 million anglers, walkers and cyclists used the towpaths, a rise of 13 per cent.

Tim Coghlan, owner of Braunston Marina, said there had been a decrease in the number of fishermen using the waterways in the past 20 or 30 years but added: "We have wonderful facilities around here and we are one of the best counties in the country for waterways.

"If you compare the canals today with where they were in the 1950s and 1960s, they are in another world."

Robin Evans, chief executive of British Waterways, said: "The waterways today are being used and enjoyed in ways that few people could have imagined when they were built 250 years ago.

"The leisure use of the canals has been central to their revival but it is the adaptability of the network, including the ways in which it remains relevant to canalside communities, which holds the key to a prosperous future."