Holdenby

Why you'll love staying here

Holdenby is a comfortable glamping pod set on a working farm, offering breathtaking views across the surrounding countryside from one of the highest points in Northamptonshire. Thoughtfully furnished, it’s ideal for a couple or a small family seeking a peaceful rural retreat.

The open-plan living space has a compact yet well-equipped contemporary shaker-style kitchen with modern appliances, along with a dining table so you can easily rustle up delicious home-cooked meals. Breakfast packs can be ordered from the owner and include eggs, bacon, and sausages from the farm, as well as tinned plum tomatoes, baked beans, and freshly baked bread, everything you need to get your day off to a cracking start.

The seating area has colour-changing mood lighting, adding a special ambience for enjoying a film or listening to music in the evening, perhaps accompanied by a glass of the farm’s own homemade flavoured gin or cider. A double bed with high-quality linens ensures a restful night’s sleep, with mornings greeted by birdsong or the gentle lowing of cattle in the nearby fields. A sleek shower room completes the accommodation, ensuring a refreshing start to the day.

Outside, the pod has a private patio with a picnic bench. Guests can hire a barbecue or fire pit, along with barbecue packs with meat reared on the farm. With blankets provided for cooler evenings, it’s the perfect spot for stargazing.

Steepleton is a family-run livestock farm that raises cattle and pigs, and the owners are passionate about producing natural, sustainable food while working towards achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The farm is also home to an equestrian centre with stables, a full set of jumps, access to a paddock, and many off-road hacking routes around the pod, so you can bring your horse on holiday with you.

Guests are welcome to explore the farm, see the animals being cared for, and wander through the woodland, which has a pretty natural spring. Keep an ear out for woodland birds such as goldcrests and willow warblers, and in spring, the distinctive drumming of woodpeckers.

Close to Steepleton Farm is the Althorp Estate, ancestral seat of the Spencer family for 19 generations and renowned as the childhood home of Diana, Princess of Wales. This Grade II listed stately home contains a fascinating collection of pictures, furniture, ceramics, and fine interiors, all set within 450 acres of stunning parkland. Nearby, is a large garden and a lake, with an island where the Princess is buried. An exhibition, housed in a converted stable block, depicts her childhood, her royal wedding to Prince Charles, her charitable work, and her significant influence on fashion and style.

Coton Manor Gardens is also just a short drive away. Originally laid out in the 1920s, the ten-acre garden occupies a hillside position extending down from a 17th-century manor house. It has extensive herbaceous borders with many unusual plants, old yew and holly hedges, and tranquil water and herb gardens. Beyond the formal grounds lies a magical five-acre bluebell wood and a wildflower meadow.

Outdoor enthusiasts will love Pitsford Water, a 413-hectare reservoir and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It’s a wonderful location for walking and cycling, and birdwatchers should look out for great crested grebes, lapwings, little egrets, and common terns. The surrounding mix of grassland, wetland, woodland, and scrub also supports rare plants and healthy insect, mammal, and amphibian populations. Watersports such as kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and sailing can all be enjoyed on the reservoir, and open-water wild-swimming sessions are organised with trained lifeguards on duty.

If you feel the need for speed, head to Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix and host to a packed calendar of events, including touring car and motorcycle races. Visitors can drive an F1 car or a supercar around the track, and the on-site museum features immersive exhibits, legendary cars and bikes, and stories of the racing heroes who shaped motorsport history.

The county town of Northampton is also well worth a visit. Its museum and art gallery houses the largest collection of shoes in the world - more than 15,000 pairs - spanning from Ancient Egypt to the present day, celebrating the town’s shoemaking heritage. Nearby, 78 Derngate is a Georgian townhouse whose interior was extensively redesigned by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The house is a treasure trove of Art Nouveau design, with a gallery, shop, and education centre.