Posted by Richard Head

Thursday January 21, 2010

KEIRA Knightley is living on a houseboat.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actress and her boyfriend Rupert Friend have been using the barge, which is moored on a canal in London’s East End, every weekend and have rented it up until the summer.

The pair were spotted walking along the canal, close to the city’s trendy Hoxton area on Sunday.

“I was really shocked to see an actress as huge as Keira walking about. Everyone walking past was doing a double take,” a source said.

“The pair looked really happy. They were wrapped up warm, linking arms and giggling — just the two of them.”

Keira, 24, is currently starring in Misanthrope at the London Comedy Theatre, while Rupert just began a run in the The Little Dog Laughed at the Garrick Theatre in the British capital.

With many evenings taken up at the theater, the pair are enjoying all their spare time on the canal boat.

“They spend most weekends on it, brewing up pots of tea,” said the source. “They’re a very sweet couple. They regard their houseboat as their sanctuary.”

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