Live in Northampton

If you are looking to take part in a charity event, Northampton will be hosting their Cancer Research- Race for Life, June 3^rd and 4^th. This is a popular charity event the runs across all of the UK, and this year Northampton will be hosting theirs in Abington Park.

The great part about race for life is that you can enter with any fitness level, meaning you can complete the 5k or 10k course walking, jogging, running or skipping. The event usually is held on one day, however there has been an extra race added into the mix, the Pretty Muddy Race.  The Pretty Muddy Race includes obstacles, water and of course mud.

If you live in Northampton or any of the surrounding areas and are not taking part in the race, it’s a brilliant event to come down and watch, you can support the racers, and also tuck into a cheeky ice-cream too.

The most renowned race that is annually held in the Towcester Racecourse is the Ebor Handicap, which is happening every August. The racecourse also hosts three of the UK’s 31 Group 1 events making is easy to enjoy a day out at Towcester Racecourse, Northamptonshire.

Several famous races are also run in this renowned race course, one of these races is the Towcester Stakes. The Towcester Stakes is a Group 2 race in Great Britain which is available to thoroughbreds aged 3 years and older. This event is run throughout a length of 1 mile and 88 yards. The Towcester Stakes serves as a test for the succeeding month’s International Stakes.

Another competition that is also run in the Towcester Racecourse is the Acomb Stakes. This race is a Group 3 flat horserace available to thoroughbreds aged between two and three years old. The race is run throughout a length of 7 furlongs and is arranged to be hoisted in August every year.

The spring and summer season is a great time to be in Northampton. The boroughs park starts to bloom and residents hit the streets after being cooped up during the long winter. The diversity of the borough is reflected in the events that go on there. There are a mix of traditions, cultures, activities and people. There is something for everyone so make sure to check community calendars often. With an early Easter this year Northampton has some great things to do for the whole family, including Daventry Country Park’s annual Eggsplorer Trail and Bonnet Competition, don’t forget to book in advance to be involved in this Easter fun filled event.

For those who have children under 12 years old, the national trust charity has teamed up with Cadburys, where there will be competitions for peom writing and egg hunts too.  Another great place for the whole family to enjoy eater egg hunts and crafts over the Easter Sundau and Monday is Kelmarsh Hall. Check out local information on admission prices before venturing out for the day.

Northampton holds some lovely areas to walk and a long Easter weekend is a great time of year to go exploring, and burn off some of those Easter eggs too. Venture through some of the historic villages surrounding Northampton and you will see some fantastic sites, including historic buildings for the children to learn about. Stop of at one of the many old English pubs for some great pub food and a drink to celebrate the Easter weekend.

With the warmer months ahead, Northampton is a great place to be outdoors, however the weather isn’t always on our side and when is raining, there are plenty of shops to take a look around too, from the main high street to the Grosvenor centre or Kingsthorpe shopping centre.

Perhaps, you know Northampton because of the many pincushion cottages featuring Tudor timbered villages as well as a host of grand architectural structures. But, hidden beneath these iconic sights are lots of unsung delights, most notably in the dining scene.

Some great places to stop and eat are:

Seafood Café- As the name insinuates, Seafood Cafe belongs to those who have a craving for fresh, speciality seafood.

Franks Steakhouse– This eatery is popular, not just because it serves well cooked, finger-licking cuts and bites of meat, but also because it’s the first and perhaps the only one that still offer a real meaty treat.

The Church Restaurant- On a stunningly exquisite 12th century building is a seemingly exceptional dining destination in Northampton. It may be barely three years old, but the Church Restaurant serve fabulous food, at an outstanding price and in a warm, friendly manner.

Other great places include Les Olives, Dangs, The Falcon, Thai Emerald, The Vine House, The Folly Inn, and the Cedar Restaurant, among many others.

Northampton shire is a great place to live or work, it can boast about an expanded music and performing arts service, which is provided in way fanning music teaching to the schools of the county. It also provides a variety of county level music groups and keeps 15 local Saturday morning music and performing arts centres that are situated in the county going.

It has only one University, the University of Northampton, which is a medium sized University with student’s attendance in thousands and two campuses just a few miles apart. It offers hundreds of different courses that are required for any person.

Right from the undergraduate level to postgraduate level and doctoral qualifications are provided here. Subjects here are sciences subjects, traditional arts and humanities, along with modern subjects like advertising, entrepreneurship and product designing.

The space that has occurred in the hills at Watford Gap meant that several routes passed through Northamptonshire from southeast to northwest. The Roman Road, Watling Street, which now is a part of the A5, ran through here, as did many major roads, railways and canals.

The M1 motorway and the A14 join Northamptonshire with notable transport links, from both north to south and east to west. The A43 connects the M1 with the M40; it runs from the south of the county to the Junction west of Brackley. The previous steel town of Corby has become a home to vast regions of warehousing and distribution companies.

At Braunston two main canals, the Oxford and the Grand Union join the county. Eminent features of these rivers include the canal museum at Stoke Bruerne, a flight of 17 locks on the Grand Union located at Rothersthorpe and a tunnel at Blisworth, which is situated at 2813 m or 3076 yards and is the third longest navigable canal tunnel in the UK.

If you’ve picked up the Northamptonshire Telegraph recently you may be aware of the skate park incident in Corby. It caused the entire park to be closed down for a few days but we only know a little about the incident at the moment. The skate park had been holding an ‘All Nighter’ event from 10pm on December 29 (Thursday) to 8am the following morning at the time of the incident, and we can only guess that a rider was badly injured. He or she has not been named and nothing has been revealed to the local press as yet, but why would an accident cause a rider to entire park to shutdown? It’s a weird one really but I’m sure we will find out more in the coming weeks. Hopefully it was a small incident that has been blown out of proportion, but locals are demanding answers as to why it was shut down with people fearing it was due to the poor quality of the equipment.

Northampton is a great place to live, however if you don’t it’s definitely worth a visit this festive season.

Northampton’s Christmas lights turn on presented by Heart breakfast was a definite crowd pleaser on the 19^st November, The Christmas spirit was captured and enjoyed by the whole family as Paralympic gold medal holder, Ellie Robinson lit up the town.

With late night shopping starting Northampton are offering free parking after 3pm, so save those extra pennies for a warm hot chocolate or mulled wine.

With a Victorian inspired Christmas market taking place in Market walk, there really is something for everyone. Santa will also be in his grotto, waiting for the children to visit and tell him what they want for Christmas.

If this isn’t enough to get you in the Christmas mood, there are plenty of festive street food markets and carol signers to help with the festive fun.

There are a number of printing firms in Northampton but choosing the right one for you will depend on your requirements. For example, if you need to print a few hundred brochures, several magazines or some flyers for your village, then you need to find a company who specialises in small jobs. The big printing firms in Northamptonshire will only take on jobs if you’re talking 5,000 or more brochures, magazines or adverts. Printing isn’t cheap but traditional marketing still works so you could easily make a return on investment. The one thing you do need to do, however, is to not print too many. Let’s say you print more but there’s not enough demand, you could find you have wasted a lot of money. With printing, you have to get everything right first time; there can be no mistakes or errors in terms of design, copy, prices and quantities.

Northampton is a really nice place to live whether you’re young, middle aged or retired. There are many beautiful green parks, like the Racecourse, to walk around, whilst the university was voted number one for employability, so there’s plenty here for prospective uni students. There are lots of schools in the area too, and a town centre that gives you pretty much everything you will ever need. If you are interested in sport, there are three big teams to follow, the Cobblers, the Saints and Northampton County Cricket. There are also plenty of places to eat at, covering Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, Indian, Chinese and Mexican to name a few. Sixfields has the cinema and the bowling alley as well as bars and many more restaurants, so really for a British town that’s centrally located, you can’t go wrong with Northampton. Of course we’re slightly biased here.

At last a player we can all get excited about…hopefully! Paul Anderson has recently signed for the Cobblers having spent the whole of last season at Bradford. Having signed on deadline day, it came as pretty big news. Many fans thought the time was up and we wouldn’t get any more players in before the start of the season, but by singing an experienced midfielder like Anderson, it shows the club is moving in the right direction. The 28 year old started his career as a youth player for Liverpool and though he never quite made the step up, he has had a successful career in the lower leagues, but he’s now in his prime and hopefully he’ll help Northampton up their performance this season. A win at MK dons could be on the cards early next month, but only if the players can gel quite quickly.