Dotted around Northamptonshire's countryside are charming, stone-built villages with ancient churches and traditional pubs. Bordered by the county’s 2,000 miles of footpaths, many are also located close to areas of outstanding natural beauty.
In some villages the charm lies in the stone; the warmth of the golden ironstone at Yarwell, the orange sandstone of the Bringtons, the extraordinary deep red shades of hilltop Eydon.
In others, the striking waterside setting is the attraction; families flock to Stoke Bruerne, where the Grand Union Canal runs through through the village like a high street; and to Wansford, with its elegant bridge over the Nene.
And yet again the appeal may be an interesting church, a fine manor house, or simply the story the village has to tell. Lovely Aynho, the ‘apricot village’, is so known because at one time the squires here would accept apricots in payment for rent. The Manor House in Ashby St Ledgers was the site of the hatching of the most memorable act of treason in British history; the Gunpowder Plot.
Other beautiful villages that are well worth a visit include Ashton, Canons Ashby, Geddington, the Houghtons, Rockingham and Weekly.
