Kimbolton village

Kimbolton village, is around 8 minutes away by car and is the nearest village with amenities. It has a quaint high street with a few small shops, a decent butchers, a couple of pubs, plus a good-sized Budgens for all your essentials and more.

Supermarkets & Shops

As mentioned, Budgens is an 8 minute drive on the outskirts of Kimbolton. It’s open 7 days a week and is well-stocked.

If you need a big shop, there’s a huge Waitrose in Rushden about 20 mins away, plus a large Aldi within an 18 min drive.

Our favourite local butcher is Gilberts in Great Staughton (around 15 mins away) call ahead if you want something specific and to check opening times: 01480 509788

There is another butcher in Kimbolton (10 mins), Hellet & Son’s, which is also good, but trickier to park. Also recommended to call ahead: 01480 860242

St Neots is 20-25 mins away and has a number of supermarkets, as well as some good independent bakeries including Welch Bakes, and Lorenzos Artisan Bakery.

Pubs/Restaurants

If we’re completely honest, we rarely leave Old Pond House to eat or drink out. We enjoy cooking and hosting when we’re there, as we don’t want to drag ourselves away from the lovely setting. However if we do go out, we are sometimes tempted by the following:

Friday night is Fish and Chip night in Kimbolton (10 mins) - check the Codswallop Mobile Fish & Chip Van’s facebook page for updates - but currently they’re parked in the High Street 3:30-7pm

Pizzeria Venezia in Rushden is a great old-school Italian, 15 mins away and we always take out.

Rushden Lakes retail park is around 20 mins away, and has a Cineworld, Five Guys, Pizza Express, Wagamamas, Nandos etc, plus a number of chain stores.

The George Hotel’s Restaurant, Buckden https://www.thegeorgebuckden.com/ (20 mins) We’ve been recently and this is great for an occasion.

A few other ideas follow below, but please do your own research, as we’ve not sampled many of them:

The Bedford Arms at Souldrop (12 mins) - AA recommended https://www.ratedtrips.com/establishments/the-bedford-arms

The Pheasant at Keyston (14 mins) https://thepheasantatkeyston.co.uk/ (used to be a decent fine dining restaurant, now under new ownership and more of a pub with food - not been recently)

The Plough at Bolnhurst is rated as good in the ‘Good Food Guide’ https://bolnhurst.com/ (18 mins)

The Bedford Arms at Oakley (20 mins) AA guide recommended https://www.thebedfordarmsoakley.co.uk/index

The Vines Brasserie at Barton Hall, Kettering (25 mins away) AA Rosette award https://bartonhall.com/food-and-drink/

The Black Bull at Brampton https://www.blackbullbrampton.co.uk/ (25 mins) (worth a visit in the Good Pub Guide)

The Talbot Pub and Restaurant, Oundle AA Rosette award (30 mins) https://talbothotel.co.uk/food-drink/food/

Pottery/Cricket lessons

Pottery lessons/taster sessions can be arranged with advance notice, in Kimbolton (ten minutes away by car)

Cricket coaching/nets sessions can be arranged in Summer, with advance notice, in Upper Dean (5 mins by car)

Further afield

Grafham Water nature reserve and watersports reservoir https://anglianwaterparks.co.uk/grafham-water (20 mins)

Rushden Lakes -see above (20 mins)

Village of Finedon, with lots of antique shops and a great garden centre (20 mins)

St Neots - local town with cinema, Waitrose, two excellent bakeries (25 mins)

Bedford (25mins)

Oundle (30 mins)

Cambridge (50 mins)