How many people on here are from Northamptonshire?

[Ihavenofriends]

Does anyone on here live in Northamptonshire? What are your opinions of the four towns (Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and Northampton) and the rural areas?

I too live near Rushden
Shithole
Kettering
Shithole
Wellingborough
Worse
Northampton
Same
Corby
A mix.
A lot of nice areas too though

I lived in Northampton for years, the reason why I now live in Brackley and absolutely love it

We're in Northampton. :) We live in the south-west of the town and like it. We travel around a lot, and Northampton is very convenient for getting anywhere. You can hop on the train and be in the centre of Birmingham, or London, in an hour.

Neither Wellingborough or Kettering are any great shakes. If anything, the smaller market towns are nicer for living in. Market Harborough is nice, and Daventry is getting better all the time.

The villages are lovely, but very expensive!

I live in a village near Wellingborough and have to say we rarely go to any of the town centres. However I think this is the same for a lot of towns nowadays, Internet shopping has killed off towns.

Daventry used to be called Chaventry a few years ago.

I would agree with everything said here - the big towns are run down and not pleasant places to be. The smaller market towns are pleasant and the villages and countryside are gorgeous.

I live in a village just outside with a name that only the locals pronounce correctly!

Like others if I am shopping I go to Rushden Lakes or MK, or if I want a nice town to visit for coffee / independent shops then over the border to either Market Harborough or Olney.

I do have a soft spot for Corby as I worked there for several years, it used to be so run down but a lot has been spent on making it nice.

Me! I lived in Northampton from the age of 10 and now live in Corby and have done for nearly 5 years. I grew up hearing about how terrible Corby was but it's changed massively and we love living here - so much so that my parents and sister have since loved here as well and they also love it. I avoid Northampton now as it's becoming a bit of a dump, particularly the town centre.

Cogenhoe = Cook-No ?

@MancaroniCheese?

I too live near the North Beds villages beginning with R and S! Wonder if we know each other in real life?!

Northampton towns are dire. Lovely countryside though.

I live in one of the run down towns mentioned and my life is no different to everyone I know who lives in the posher areas - except I have far more disposable income to spend on having fun as my house was so cheap - but lovely and quiet and I have not heard of a crime committed in my street for over 15 years. I never go into town except for odd meals with friends - I simply have no need to.

I would say the main advantage for me in living here is the Royal and Derngate which is an exceptional theatre complex for the size of town

The brilliant access to Bedford for Esquires just voted the best small music venue in Britain but also easy access to Leicester and not being too far from MK/ Nottingham/Oxford/Cambridge for everything they have to offer. Stables in MK have amazing bands on.Easy access to London to see bands/theatre etc. Today we booked tickets for things in Birmingham/Bedford/Northampton/Corby/London/Norfolk Coast/Alton Towers/North Wales and London - all before Xmas - and all doable in a day.

I guess it depends on what you want - I see Rushden Lakes as an abhorrent monstrosity and absolutely hate it. I am out every night of the week at music/arts/craft/wildlife type activities and I question if I personally could have such a good life in many other places.

But I do drive - you need to be able to drive!!!

@FreshwaterBay - not quite...same secondary catchment area, bit closer to Wellingborough

I'm in Rushden Lakes as we speak!
I live in a village in South Northants and we love it, grew up in Boughton.
Wellingborough and Kettering are awful, there's a reason why the property prices are so cheap. Town centre of Northampton itself is also a dive and hardly any shops anymore. The council are pretty much bust.

Some of the villages and countryside are beautiful. I live in Wellingborough and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole if I had any other option. Oundle is lovely.

I live near Abington Park in Northampton and its a fantastic place. The rest of the town is a bit crap. I hardly go to the town centre at all, its dying since BHS and M & S went. The other towns you mention are holes as well. The countryside is beautiful though. County of squires and spires apparently!

@MancaroniCheese I would hazard a guess as your village having 6 letters and a z in it...

BOZEAT!!
Bo-Zat?
Bo-Jut?
Bo-Ze-At?

Who knows.

I'm in the Towcester area and love it here. As others say, the big towns aren't up to much nowadays but I would say that those of us living in the Northamptonshire countryside are lucky.

I was born and bred in Liverpool but have lived in north northants for nearly all my adult life. There are run down areas of all the towns mentioned and the town centres are suffering - but I've been in other towns and cities for example in the NW that are suffering in the same way.

The out of town shopping at Rushden Lakes is good and my children have had so many more activities to choose from compared to the ones on offer in suburban Liverpool when I was a child. The good schools are very good but there is incredible pressure on school places.

The villages are mostly lovely and there is so much green space available within 10 - 30 minutes drive.

The biggest problem I encountered when I moved here was the lack of transport infrastructure. Public transport even now is a bit sketchy and it is still impossible to travel from the north of the county to the south of the county by train and a bus journey from Corby to Northampton takes about an hour and a half.

Totally agree about the Royal and Derngate. Fabulous place.
Love Oundle for the literary talks too.

When did Esquires become cool?! When I were a lass that was where all the underage Bedford shenanigans happened!!

I grew up there. The cities and most of the towns are pretty horrible/bland but the countryside is beautiful.

I would recommend the rural parts.

Oundle, Thrapston, or Stamford (ok fine this is in Lincolnshire, but it's right by the border!) are all lovely.

from south northants. I'm in a little village near the oxfordshire border and the nearest i get to Northampton town itself is sixfields for the cinema. Then straight back out!

Love it here.

This always makes me crease up

I grew up on the border between Northants and Leicestershire. Uppingham and Oakham very nice (not in Northants, I know). Villages very nice. The towns you named, not so much. I remember a news story about a man in Corby who'd approach women saying that their hands were lovely, and then grab their hands and bite their fingernails off.

I'm was born and bred in Northampton, and my family still live there. I feel very attached to the town, am a Cobblers fan, but wouldn't move back.

I always I'd imagine that I'd end up in one of the villages, but the town centre is so depressing these days. Council is in a mess, schools aren't great, shops have gone.

I'm west of northampton. The council is bankrupt so there are no niceties, bin collections are only 3 weekly for example. The villages are pretty but the local towns are a bit shit.