Live in Northampton

With September just around the corner and the children heading back to school, it is important to fill the weekends with fun and laughter, and Northampton has an array of things for you and your family.

Northampton is your typical English town, with a shopping centre, football and rugby stadium, great food and restaurant options and much more, there is something for everyone.

Northampton has the best of both, with busy compact streets to beautiful country parks, heading over to the race course or Abington Park can be a lovely way to spend your day with the family. Northampton parks are great for keeping fit, with many morning runners completing laps of the park and taking your dog on a long weekend walk is well recommended.

If you are looking for some fun and entertainment, Sixfields is the place to be, with and cinema, bowling and plenty of food establishments to choose from, you can have a great night out here.

A short drive away is the centre MK, which is home to a large shopping centre, if you don’t mind a 20-30 minute drive then this is a great alternative to Northampton’s shopping centre.

If you are struggling to balance your job with looking after your children, the six-week summer holidays can be very tough. Holiday camps or play schemes can, therefore, be the perfect solution. From sports such as football to a mixture of other games and fun, these camps are ideal for school age children. Holiday camps can be run privately or by the local council. While some schemes concentrate on certain types of sports, others involve a mixture of activities and even outings.

If you are looking for a good holiday scheme for your children, you need to consider holiday play schemes within your local area. They are not only fun and exciting but also you’re your children to meet new and old friends too.

Some of the popular sports include cricket, hockey, rugby, multi-skills, judo athletics, dodge ball and netball. They can also offer a variety of skills which will help your child with the basic skills with some camping and survival type teachings.

Northampton is a great place to live and visit, with many events over the summer, including music, food, sports and culture there is something for everyone. With the school summer holidays around the corner and the weather beginning to show the sun, there is no better place to spend quality time with the entire family than at one of our many beautiful parks.

A family favourite is Abington Park, famous for its paths lined with trees, decorative gardens, lakes, play area and birdlife. You can also head over to the Abington Manor museum which has free entry, and a great place to learn about the history of Northampton.

If you are looking for a large green open space, perfect for a picnic, sports playing or a spot of sunbathing, why not head over to the old racecourse.

If you want a lovely stroll with the family, try the riverside walk. This long walk provides you with beautiful scenery stretching from Carlsberg Brewery in the west to Barnes Meadow nature reserve in the east.

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.