Oundle Museum - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

​Barnwell Country Park comprises 37 acres of lakes, riverbank and meadows to explore, situated close to the historic market town of Oundle.There is a range of walks around the park and you can download or pick up maps to help you find your way around. The walks are waymarked along the way. There is a nature trail and an orienteering map. Plus activity packs for kids and scavenger hunts. The park has a woodland adventure play area and a hobbit garden for toddlers.

Barnwell Castle is a strongly fortified manorial residence built during the period of the Second Baron’s War (1264-1267), which was at the forefront of medieval military architecture in Britain; It is quadrilateral in shape with cylinder towers on the northeast, northwest and southwest corners. On the southeast corner is a twin-towered gatehouse. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Fotheringhay Castle was a motte-and-bailey fortification raised in the early twelfth century by the Earl of Northampton. It was subsequently owned by various Scottish Princes before being incorporated into the Dukedom of York. In 1587 the castle was chosen to host the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. The castle was dismantled in the 1630s and most of the masonry was removed, leaving only the earthworks. The site is protected as a Scheduled Monument and is open to the public.

The National Trust's Lyveden New Bield, Northamptonshire, is an incomplete Elizabethan lodge and moated garden. It is a wonderful survivor of the Elizabethan age and a rare example of late Tudor landscape design. There are tranquil moats, viewing terraces and an Elizabethan orchard to explore, as well as an enigmatic garden lodge covered in religious symbols. The exterior of the building is decorated by friezes of a religious nature. The metopes contain the emblems and motifs found also at the

Elton Hall was built in 1666, on the site of a medieval house, and there have been many additions. A compartment garden was made in the 1670s. The house has been the home of the Proby family since 1660, although previous generations held land at Elton from the time of Elizabeth I. The Victorian gardens have been skillfully restored in recent years and contain a knot garden, a new rose, and herbaceous garden, fine hedges, and a Gothic orangery built to celebrate the Millennium.

Titchmarsh Nature Reserve is a 72.7 hectare Local Nature Reserve north of Thrapston in East Northamptonshire. The River Nene runs through this site, which also has large areas of open water and grassland. There are nationally important numbers of goosanders, wigeons and gadwalls in winter, and banded demoiselle damselflies nest on nettles along the river bank. It is owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. It is part of the Upper Nene Valley