Oh STW collective – please bring forth your opinions on living in central Northants… I’d rather it was Market Harborough but the property we have our eye on is in a village outside Kettering.

We’ve done a flying visit but not an in-depth examination of the lifestyle and amenities. No kids, so we are blissfully unconcerned by schools, and not interested in clubs or cocktail bars, but restaurants, a decent cinema and some ‘nice’ pubs are definitely on the list.

Am pretty much entirely a (boo, hiss) roadie when it comes to cycling so MTB trail access is not a factor either, though walking trails/footpaths/woods/scenery etc. are a definite plus.

I work in London part of the week (staying overnight) and it seems the trains to St. Pancras are more than acceptable. Seems pretty well connected by road too – any horror stories of traffic or congestion?

Basically all the middle-class assumptions except where to educate little Henry and Jessica… go!

Which village?

There’s plenty of roadying to be had you can go on a group ride with various clubs/shops almost every day, as far as congestion goes the A14 can be busy around kettering during rush hour getting in to Kettering.

There’s a fairly large Odeon cinema on the outskirts and lots of walking/bridleways/quaint village pubs in the surrounding area, I don’t tend to spend a lot of time in Kettering, I live in Burton Latimer just outside – it ticks all the boxes with eateries, Pubs and access to quiet country roads and bridleways.

I grew up in Northants and still have family there so visit regularly.

Good job you’re more into road than MTB 🙂 Lots of great road riding in all directions.

skell: Occasionally pop in to Burton Latimer to collect beer homebrew kit from Ian at the garden centre.

some nice pubs, this is the one we walk to on occasion and the sirloin steak in here is to die for!

You will have the best shoes in the office.

Which village? I spent a year in Finedon and the place was hideous. The road riding was good, the local scrotes on their scooters / chaved up Subarus less so. Kettering has got an ace burger bar in MuMu’s (peanut butter burger FTW), but apart from that it was utterly uninspiring. Unfortunately I then moved to Oundle so became totally middle class and pretentious. We’ve got a Waitrose up here and everything!

I spent the first 20 years of my life in Finedon and have to concur with your summary.

Has a lovely cricket ground though

Finedon! 😮

Mind you, I grew up in Rushden 😆

It is indeed a lovely Cricket ground! The Samuel Pepys is good for a bite to eat, TBH if its a special occasion I’d drive to either the Cosy Club in Stamford or Tap and Kitchen in Oundle.
Both good food, T&K is pretty pricey for Northants tho.

Rushden? You must have heard this one? My ex is from Rushden, a godforsaken place on the wrong side of the river.

[video]https://youtu.be/QU20L_rEL7E[/video]

Rushden has a railway museum but no actual station 🙂 though does have a Waitrose and soon be getting an M&S 😕

Rushden has a football stadium but no football team!

I believe Kettering was the first town in the UK to make skateboarding a crime.

The real ale bar at said museum (we call it the station) is very good however 🙂

Thanks for the replies so far…

The village in question is Broughton… not sure if that makes a big difference 🙂

the skateboarding shop in Kettering, Chopper, recently closed though they have got a good skate park

My Dad used to be headmaster at the village primary school there 🙂

The village in question is Broughton

Broughton is acceptable, welcome to the neighbourhood! 8)

the vicar of the church in the picture ^^^ was the keyboard player of the Communards now found all over the bbc.

The Alexandra Arms carries a LOT of real ales, including Singletrack 🙂

Otherwise :/

Kettering resident here.

Loads of good road cycling routes around.
Broughton isnt too bad…only traffic issue for you will be the a43 between 0745-0900 towards northampton and vice versa after about 1645-1800

Ohhhhhhhh Rushden….. Just up the A6 from me.

Have family in Burton Latimer.

I’m a Burton Latimer lad, if you look hard enough theres load of singletrack, can’t believe the Finedon lot didn’t use the old railway line a stones throw from the cricket ground, up the slips to Harrowden, then more singletrack right into Wellingborough. Get the OS map and explore.

I spent the first four years of my life up there before the parents moved us to Cornwall. With hindsight, can’t thank them enough! Went back up there for a funeral last year and it was grim.

I grew up in Cornwall and then later moved to Kettering.

Didn’t stay long.

My depot is in Kettering and I can never get out of that place quick enough 🙂

But agree with above road riding is great around surrounding areas.

There’s a reasonable chippy and Bengali restaurants, and a good tropical and marine fish shop

Kettering aquatics on Rockingham road

‘s where this little bugger came from

Psychobiker I used to use that route to get to the BMX track in Wellingborough when I was a kid.

I’m in brixworth, where we have a lot of cyclists – all types.
One of the best things about northants / Leicestershire / rutland area is that you can ride all day and avoid A roads. We have vast numbers of B, C, D roads and you can pretty much be traffic free. East you have flat lands, North you can get lumpy – no Loonng climbs, but you are up and down all day.West and south a good mix.
I would say a cross / gravel bike is a great option as well.
As for kettering its’ grim (As mentioned above) SO are Northampton, finedon, Wellingborough Rushden, corby etc, etc… Market Harborough and Stamford are the shining lights in the area, so aim to use that as a main base. I think you can go straight to London town from there ( Market Harborough) as well. Although one of my riding buddies goes to canary wharf everyday from kettering. It is a fantastic area for riding, but not extreme in any way. and if you venture off road beware of the clay!
House wise there is a lot of choice, depending on budget preference, but certainly in my village, little goes to market 2/3rds sells before it is advertised.
Hope that helps!

Sniff.

I must live in a totally different area to you lot, none of it is that bad. Every town has it’s bad points. All I will say is just check stuff out. I quite often go out riding to find new routes, down to the mines near twyford. Grafton Underwood and Geddington Chase. Fine shades, Wakerly woods. We know there are no mountains here so extreme riding is not possible, but still loads of fun to be had.

My little road route out of Uppingham and around the Welland Valley has 7 ascents. Does me in in under 2 hours. Wakerly Woods is a hoot and seems quiet when I go.

psychobiker have you ridden the jumps in the small wood behind the council houses of a small village east of Kettering ?

Wakerly Woods is a hoot and seems quiet when I go.

Good riding if you like cross country I can ride from my door to Wakerley woods, it’s just over 28 miles of which only 2 are on roads.

psychobiker have you ridden the jumps in the small wood behind the council houses of a small village east of Kettering ?

Harleston Firs or Woodford?

Excellent pub in Woodford – The Dukes arms, good beer, good food, good music – easily accessible offroad/on quiet country roads – utopia.

@maccyb Broughton is well positioned for road rides & mtb routes, I believe the red lion pub is quite good too

Nope not woodford, Unfortunately the landlord of the Dukes is a dick, refused to let us put the bikes in the garden, we drink else where now.

Odd, never had any problems… usually stop in on club rides summer evenings for a few beers

Klunk – Member
Wakerly Woods is a hoot and seems quiet when I go.
Good riding if you like cross country

We’re doing our best to expand the riding in Wakerley and Fineshade with (so far) no support from the FC…

If you hunt around there are a few little nuggets of trail around the woods outside of the blue trails – enough to keep us locals interested in between journeys farther afield.

psychobiker have you ridden the jumps in the small wood behind the council houses of a small village east of Kettering ?

Few miles north east of Kettering (almost in Corby), but is this Stanion that’s being talked about? Pretty much a micro Chicksands just off the A43.