Northamptonshire has had a bumper Easter with some attractions reporting three times the number of visitors seen last year. How exciting!

Northamptonshire’s Statelys feature prominently in our new campaign and visitors to these houses are up countywide, including at Boughton House, Canons Ashby, Deene Park, Kelmarsh Hall, Lamport Hall, Stamford Hall and Holdenby House who saw numbers triple over the Easter period. Northamptonshire’s museums have been busy, Canoe2 outperformed previous years and Tap & Kitchen had their busiest Saturday on record. How was Easter for you? Please do let us know.

Since the campaign launch we've seen over 12,000 visits to the website, so news of a bumper Easter whilst hugely exciting is not unexpected. Northamptonshire’s audience is growing, but this is only the beginning.

So why is Northamptonshire Britain’s Best Surprise?  Of course, there’s the stunning countryside, with its country parks, world class gardens, the Nene and Welland rivers and Grand Union canal. In this countryside sit the most magnificent historic houses in the country as well as some of the best Anglo Saxon, Norman & Gothic churches anywhere. It contains the birth place of Richard III, was the scene of Mary Queen of Scot’s execution, the cradle of The Gunpowder Plot, the place of Charles I’s imprisonment, as well as the Civil war battle that put him there, Naseby… arguably Britain’s most important battle.

But most surprising is that amongst all this beauty and history sits a very 21^st century county. The place where 80% of the world’s F1 cars are built and the Grand Prix is held, where some of the country’s best artisan food and drink is made, and where the award winning Royal & Derngate produces some of the country’s best theatre.  The place that makes the most prestigious shoes is also the inspiration for the international hit film and musical, Kinky Boots.

To enjoy all this you can stay in luxurious 16^th century hotels or enchanting B&Bs and also enjoy a series of established food and literary festivals at Althorp, The Nene Valley Festival and Oundle Music Festival as well enjoy great sport at Silverstone, The Saints and The Cobblers.