Bed and breakfast availability
Kettering b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Kettering and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Kettering, Northamptonshire, is an industrial town set in pleasant countryside, with footwear as its main industry, for which it has its own Boot and Shoe College. It is an ancient town, dating back to 956, and in 1227 Henry III granted it market rights.

Its places of architectural interest are mostly near the church, which is reached by a narrow twisting High Street, round the bend of which is the large market place where open markets are held three times a week. There are many Victorian and Edwardian public buildings, including the Alfred East Gallery which has a good collection of paintings, with many by the artist who gave his name to the gallery, himself a native of the town. The Museum has local Roman and Anglo-Saxon remains, and the Corn Exchange and public library are typically Victorian. In Sheep Street are the 17^th-century Sawyer's Aimshouses and beside the church is the old Georgian manor, now the Town Health Department. There are two earlier buildings: one in Gold Street is the Toiler Chapel, which has records of early persecuted Nonconformists, and in Lower Street is the Mission House, where the Baptist Missionary Society was founded in 1792.

The steeple of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, behind the market place, soars above the busy town. It is of Barnack limestone with lead roofs. Although much restored, it was originally Perpendicular and parts still remain of this period. The body is long and low.

About 1 mile from the town, towards Barton Seagrave, is Wicksteed Park which covers 100 acres of ground and was purchased by Charles Wicksteed at the turn of the century to create a pleasure park for the people of Kettering. It has many amenities, including a lake, miniature railway, ponies, and pools for model yachting, bathing and paddling.

Three miles north on the road to Corby, set in flat, lush countryside, is Boughton House, resembling a miniature Versailles, for the Duke of Montagu, who lived there, had been Ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV. He brought back with him a fine collection of French furniture and china, which the house still contains. Many royal visitors have stayed there, for it is one of the seats of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. The superb avenues of elm which surround the house were planted by the 2nd Duke of Montagu with the idea of linking the house with his London residence, 70 miles away.

Nearby towns: Corby, Higham Ferrers, Market Harborough, Northampton, Oundle, Rothwell, Rushden, Thrapston, Wellingborough

Nearby villages: Brigstock, Burton Latimer, Cranford St John, Desborough, Finedon, Geddington

Have you decided to visit Kettering or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Kettering bed and breakfast (a Kettering B&B or Kettering b and b)
• a Kettering guesthouse
• a Kettering hotel (or motel)
• a Kettering self-catering establishment, or
• other Kettering accommodation