New to Staverton? Lovely to have you.
Everything we wish someone had handed us on moving day — how to get on the village WhatsApp, the best dog walks, where to eat, what's nearby and why you'll like it here.
The Welcome Pack
Everything we wish someone had handed us on moving day — how to get on the village WhatsApp, the best dog walks, where to eat, what's nearby and why you'll like it here.
Everything we wish someone had handed us on moving day — the village WhatsApp, the best dog walks, where to eat, what's nearby and why you'll like it here.
Day-to-day Staverton happens on the village WhatsApp group — it's the quickest way to feel like a local. Ask to join and one of the volunteers who runs it will add you.
A volunteer checks each request before adding you, so it may take a day or two.
Thank you — your request is with the volunteers. You'll get a WhatsApp notification once you've been added.
The parish is laced with footpaths — the long-distance Jurassic Way runs right through the village — so most walks start from your own front door.
Round the green, up past St Mary's and back along the lanes. Twenty minutes, no stiles, and you'll meet half the village's dogs doing the same circuit before breakfast.
Follow the Jurassic Way waymarkers south out of the village and across the fields. In late April and May carry on into Badby Woods for the bluebells — worth the extra mile.
A flat, buggy-friendly circuit of the reservoir with a café at the visitor centre. Dogs on leads near the wildfowl, but plenty of open space elsewhere.
Park near the marina and follow the Grand Union towpath past the locks and boats. Level going in both directions, and a canalside pub when you turn around.
One pub you can walk to, and a handful of very good reasons to drive a few miles. Booking ahead at weekends is wise everywhere round here.
Staverton's own pub, on the Daventry Road. Proper pub food, a good Sunday roast and the default venue for "shall we just go to the pub?" It's where you'll first put faces to WhatsApp names.
Open in Google MapsThe hotel on the hill has a bar and restaurant open to non-residents — handy for breakfast meetings, coffee and cake after a walk, or when the family descends and your kitchen can't cope.
Open in Google MapsStone-built inn on the edge of the hills, reopened in 2019 after a full refurbishment. Food is the focus, so book ahead, and it's a favourite with walkers.
Open in Google MapsCountry inn on the green in Badby, with real ales, a garden and an open fire. Food from Thursday to Sunday; closed on Tuesdays.
Open in Google MapsSmart-ish dining pub in one of the prettiest villages in the county — the one with the Gunpowder Plot manor house. Good for birthdays and visiting parents.
Open in Google MapsCanalside pub by the locks on the Grand Union. Eat outside on a summer evening and watch the narrowboats negotiate the flight.
Open in Google MapsTudor manor turned country-house hotel in a Capability Brown landscape. Afternoon tea here is the local move for anniversaries and impressing grandmothers.
Open in Google MapsStaverton sits just off the A425 in the far west of Northamptonshire, so you get a surprising choice of towns within an easy drive.
Your everyday town — supermarkets, the surgery-and-chemist run, leisure centre, and the country park. Market on the high street and most errands sorted in one trip.
Open in Google MapsThe nearest mainline station — trains to London Euston in around 50 minutes, which is the commuter secret of living out here. Decent shopping and the birthplace of the game.
Open in Google MapsA handy small market town over the Warwickshire border — useful shops, cafés and a farmers' market without the traffic of anywhere bigger.
Open in Google MapsThe big county town when you need it — larger shops, hospital, theatres (Royal & Derngate) and the football and rugby.
Open in Google MapsSouth down pretty lanes — Castle Quay shopping, the M40 for Oxford and London, and trains to Marylebone. Also: the cross, as in the nursery rhyme.
Open in Google MapsThe day-out choice — Regency terraces, Jephson Gardens, proper coffee and better shopping. Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon are just beyond it.
Open in Google MapsEverywhere to eat and every town above. Tap a pin, then open it in Google Maps for directions. Use the buttons to zoom in on one group.
The map couldn't load. Each place above has its own Google Maps link.
Quiz and curry night, bingo, the WI, dance classes, yoga and seated exercise, all at the village hall and all better with new faces. Check the diary.
The Jurassic Way long-distance path passes straight through the village, and field paths radiate in every direction. You can walk for an hour and cross one road.
Staverton Park's 18 holes start at the edge of the village. Even if you don't play, the driving range is a solid rainy-Saturday activity.
Staverton sits on a hilltop, so you get sunsets across open country and, on a clear night, more stars than you've seen since childhood. Bring a coat — hilltops are breezy.
Ironstone cottages, thatch, and St Mary's keeping time over it all. The church is open for services and the bells still ring — see service times.
Ten minutes to the A5 and M45, mainline trains from Rugby, and Birmingham or Oxford inside an hour. You live in a field-fringed village; your commute doesn't have to know that.