Anna Murby updates us on the Carlsberg Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards… With a greater number of entries than ever before and a wealth of new companies engaging with the competition, a fresh line-up of county producers find themselves battling it out for culinary glory in the Carlsberg [...]

SB Jones  writes and dabbles in drawing and painting.  She  also dabbles in deep-space astronomy and astro-physics, botany and other natural history.  As well as comets and planets, she loves trees and bats, and all sorts of music.  Some Nene Quirer readers might remember that she also rings [...]

Richard Hollingum takes us on and English country safari in Northamptonshire Readers of a certain age may recall – or not, if of that age – the primary school nature walk. Lining up in pairs and walking in crocodile formation to the local park to look at nature. Birds were watched for, [...]

Steve & Caroline Ward , owners of St Giles cheese bring you their choice fromage of the month. Cobblers Nibble is very much the cheese of the moment around these parts since its 15 minutes of fame on prime time TV (Countryfile) last month. Made completely by hand by former printer-turned [...]

Chris Harris reflects on his first encounter with Northampton’s Umbrella Festival… The sound of silence was all there was to be heard on Northampton’s Racecourse at 11:30am. To the untrained eye, there was just a smattering of fences, vehicles and tents sitting in a field. Look [...]

Helen Blaby reflects on the future of bowls… As I write this, I’m keeping an eye on the live scoring from the Bowls England National Championships which are taking place in Leamington Spa. As a keen bowler it’s somewhere I aspire to play, and have nearly made it a couple of times with my [...]

At 12.30pm on a late summer day in the Grosvenor Centre, Northampton’s shoppers paused for a brief moment of showbiz. The stars of this year’s Derngate panto Aladdin were gathered for the now traditional annual unveiling of the cast. It was a little bit like the theatrical version of [...]

Royal & Derngate has announced that Tom Hewer, in partnership with award-winning chef Lee Scott, is bringing a new dining experience to the theatre this Autumn. Restaurant Hibiscus, which will be situated in a private dining room adjacent to the Royal auditorium, will be opening on Saturday [...]

After a multi-million pound project to open its 900 year history to the public, Delapre Abbey has removed its covers and opened its cafe. The new conservatory cafe is a beautiful reveal and the Billiard Room next door is a pleasant space to take afternoon tea. But are the prices putting people off [...]

Penda has been keen to go to Ginza in Northampton for some months. And no, it’s definitely not just raw fish. A Japanese restaurant on Wellingborough Road ticks lots of culinary boxes – a wide range of options, hot and cold, light and substantial and an emphasis on cooking fresh. It makes a [...]

I sunbathed in the dusty Croatian hell of Heatwave Lucifer this summer. I saw lizards, hornets, a circling bird of a prey in an empty blue sky and a bear sized dog panting in the shade of small parched trees. A kitten called Mazda lazily batted a dead mouse around on crispy curled grass while my [...]

Reviewing the situation with Lena Davis Lena has been a music producer, writer and Personal Manager; a photographer and journalist and, over thirty years ago, got together with Caroline Scattergood to create the Caring & Sharing Trust to bring music, hope and love into the lives of people with [...]

Joe Turvey looks how computer games developed as he did… Why do people play video games? To me, it is an old question. I remember being asked by my parents, not overtly, but in their tone. I was interrogated simply in their dismissal of my time spent in front of an Amstrad CPC monitor, [...]

Julie Teckman writes about getting involved in the guerilla film making scene in Northampton… One of the great, if less known, things about Northampton is that it is a hotbed of guerrilla filmmaking with a whole bunch of very talented people based here who write screenplays, produce and [...]

Following a smash-hit West End season, the tea-guzzling Tiger pounces into Northampton this Autumn in a truly magical Olivier Award-nominated production of The Tiger Who Came to Tea, which can be seen at Royal & Derngate from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 September. Adapted and directed by David Wood [...]