Northampton is a large market town in the East Midlands that has been making shoes since the Middle Ages — at its peak it supplied boots to the British Army, and a handful of quality shoemakers still operate here today. The town's history is older than that: it was a major medieval centre with a royal castle where parliaments were held, though almost nothing survives of either.
What does survive is a scattering of fine churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of only four round churches left in England, built by a Crusader knight in about 1100. St Peter's Church on Marefair is another Norman gem of comparable quality. The market square is one of the largest in the country, overlooked by All Saints' Church with its statue of Charles II. The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery holds one of the world's largest shoe collections, a fitting monument to the town's industrial heritage.
Northampton is not a place many tourists seek out, but it makes a practical base for visiting Althorp House (the Spencer family home where Diana, Princess of Wales, is buried) and the Rushton Triangular Lodge — one of England's most extraordinary follies, built as a coded Catholic monument in the 16th century.