Nine of the 49 Heritage Open Days events near Northampton must be booked in advance. Two are already full, one is cancelled, and 78 Derngate has ten places.
West Northamptonshire Council announced last week that more than 60 free attractions and organisations have registered events for this year’s Heritage Open Days, which run from 11 to 20 September 2026. Its release names the venues. It does not say which ones you can turn up to.
That matters, because a good number of them you cannot.
The national register, run by the National Trust, lists 49 separate events within ten miles of Northampton. Nine of those require you to book in advance. Two are already full and one has been cancelled, a week and a half before the festival starts.
What the register shows
| Booking | Events |
|---|---|
| Pre-booking not required | 32 |
| Pre-booking required | 9 |
| Pre-booking preferred | 7 |
| Book on the day | 1 |
| Total | 49 |
Twenty-six of the 49 run on a single fixed date, 21 run across several dates and two are available anytime. Forty of them are in Northampton itself. Four are in Towcester, three in Earls Barton, one in Weedon Bec and one just over the county line at Hanslope. The council’s own count of “more than 60” covers the whole of West Northamptonshire, which stretches to Brackley and Daventry, so the two numbers are measuring different areas. (Heritage Open Days event search, read 2 September 2026)
The nine you have to book
| Event | Where | When | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 78 Derngate, the Mackintosh house | Derngate, NN1 | Fri 11 Sept, 11.30am to 4pm | Ten places, two per booking |
| Phipps Brewery | Kingswell Street, NN1 | Sat 12 Sept, 12.30pm, 1.45pm, 3pm | Open |
| Royal & Derngate theatre tour | Guildhall Road, NN1 | Sat 12 Sept, 10am, 12pm, 2pm | Max 20 per tour |
| Life at Towcester Workhouse | Towcester, NN12 | Sat 12 Sept | Open |
| Towcester Town Heritage Walk | Towcester, NN12 | Sat 12 Sept | Open |
| Crusader Community Boating, Grand Union Canal | Blisworth, NN7 | Sat 12 Sept | Cancelled |
| Beneath the Grandeur: the Workers of Delapré Abbey | Delapré Park, NN4 | 13, 16, 17 and 20 Sept | Open, book on the abbey's site |
| Church Tour: the Holy Sepulchre | Church Lane, NN1 | Thu 17 Sept, 2.30pm to 4pm | Max 25, booking closes 15 Sept |
| Crusader Community Boating, River Nene | Beckets Park, NN1 | 12, 13, 19 and 20 Sept | Fully booked |
Two of those are worth reading twice.
78 Derngate takes ten people all day. The only Charles Rennie Mackintosh house outside Scotland is open on Friday 11 September from 11.30am to 4pm, and the register gives a maximum of ten people, restricted to two per booking. You book by calling reception on 01604 603407. Booking opened on 1 August.
The Holy Sepulchre tour closes its list on 15 September, two days before the tour itself. The 90-minute tour of the round church runs from 2.30pm on Thursday 17 September, capped at 25 people, and places are reserved by email rather than through a website.
Two are already full, one is off
Crusader Community Boating’s Grand Union Canal trip from Blisworth on Saturday 12 September is cancelled. The organiser’s listing says the trip is no longer available “due to unforeseen circumstances” and that no bookings will be taken for it in 2026.
The same charity’s River Nene cruises from Beckets Park are full. The organiser has renamed the listing “EVENT NOW CLOSED AS FULLY BOOKED”. It had been running two-hour cruises at 10am and 1pm on 12, 13, 19 and 20 September on a boat built for wheelchair access.
The Boot and Shoe Tour on Tuesday 15 September is also full. That one is listed as “pre-booking preferred” rather than required, and it carries a “Fully booked” badge against its 1pm to 3.30pm slot. Its listing caps the walk at 20 people, first come first served, and notes that a paid walk at £10 a head is planned for 20 September.
The council’s release singles out shoe heritage as a highlight of this year’s programme, and it is the part that has sold out first.
The free heritage buses run on two days, not ten
The council says free heritage bus services will operate “from Northampton and Daventry during the festival”. The register is more specific. The Heritage Bus Services listing gives Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, 9.30am to 4.30pm, with the classic buses picking up near All Saints Church in the middle of town. No booking is needed.
The listing also carries a warning the press release does not. These are classic vehicles, steps are involved, they have no seatbelts, and buggies, prams, pushchairs and wheelchairs cannot be carried unless they fold.
The council put £4,500 of UK Shared Prosperity Fund money into the heritage bus tours. (West Northamptonshire Council)
What is open without booking
The 32 events you can simply turn up to include:
- St Peter’s Church and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Northampton
- St John the Baptist, Kingsthorpe, and St Luke’s, Duston
- the Sikh Museum Northampton and SGSS Gurdwara on Sunday 13 September
- Thornby Hall open day, Sunday 13 September
- Weedon Depot Visitor Centre, Sunday 20 September
- the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation and Towcester Museum, both Saturday 19 September
- Remembering British Timken in Duston, an exhibition on the works that employed much of the village
- the NN Arts Collective in the former county council building on Guildhall Road
- Hunsbury Hill ancient hillfort, and Cogenhoe village heritage trail
- the Amazing Northampton Walk and the AudaTours audio tour of the boot and shoe quarter, both available anytime
This year’s national theme is the everyday lives of working people, which is why the programme leans on the shoe trade, Timken, the Towcester workhouse and the servants’ floors at Delapré rather than the state rooms.
What it means for you
- If you want 78 Derngate, ring today. Ten places, two per booking, one day only.
- If you want the Holy Sepulchre tour, email by 15 September. The list closes two days before the tour.
- The Delapré Abbey workers’ tour needs a ticket from the abbey’s own website, not from the Heritage Open Days page. It runs on four days: 13, 16, 17 and 20 September, with the house open 11am to 4pm and last entry at 3pm.
- Do not plan a canal trip. The Blisworth trip is cancelled and the Nene cruises are full.
- The free heritage buses are a weekend thing, 19 and 20 September only, and they cannot take an unfolded pushchair or wheelchair.
- Everything listed is free, apart from the £10 shoe-quarter walk on 20 September.
Getting into town is the other thing to check. Upper Mounts and Newlands car parks lost about 200 spaces to archaeological trenching on 1 September, and four town centre streets moved to a higher parking tariff last month. See Northampton roadworks and travel for what is shut, and parking in Northampton for the current charges.
Sources
- Heritage Open Days 2026 event search, National Trust, filtered to within ten miles of Northampton and read on 2 September 2026. Counts are of distinct listings; several run on more than one date.
- 78 Derngate - The Charles Rennie Mackintosh House, organiser’s listing.
- Church Tour: The Holy Sepulchre and its History, organiser’s listing.
- Beneath the Grandeur: The Workers of Delapré Abbey, organiser’s listing.
- Phipps Brewery, The Story of a Remarkable Building, organiser’s listing.
- Royal & Derngate Theatre Tour, organiser’s listing.
- Boot and Shoe Tour in Northampton, organiser’s listing.
- Crusader Community Boating - Grand Union Canal and River Nene, organiser’s listings.
- Heritage Bus Services, organiser’s listing.
- Discover West Northamptonshire’s history with over 60 free Heritage Open Days activities, West Northamptonshire Council, 27 August 2026.
Booking status changes. Check the organiser’s listing before you set off.
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