Saints Sports Club

The home of Northampton Saints rugby is a serious bit of sporting real estate just outside the town centre. If you're staying at Billing Aquadrome or one of the caravan parks nearby, it's practically on your doorstep - less than two miles away.

What you get depends entirely on whether there's a match on. Match days are electric; the place fills with proper rugby folk, the noise is tremendous, and even if you're not particularly knowledgeable about the sport, the atmosphere is infectious. The ground itself is a working rugby stadium, so when there's no game, there's not much to do except walk around the car park and take a photo of the stand.

This is firmly one for rugby enthusiasts rather than casual visitors. Families might enjoy a match day if the kids are old enough to sit through eighty minutes, though under-tens could find it tedious. The venue isn't set up as a tourist attraction - it's a functioning club, so facilities are basic outside of matchdays.

If you're staying in one of the nearby holiday parks and you've got a real rugby fan in the group, it's absolutely worth checking the fixture list before you book. A Saints match is a cracking weekend out. But if rugby doesn't speak to you, drive past and save your time for the lakes and walks around Billing Aquadrome itself, which genuinely have more to offer a mixed-age holiday group.