Carole's retirement adventures

UK County High Points: Northamptonshire

County: Northamptonshire

Name of high Point: Arbury Hill 229m (738ft)

Date completed: August 21st 2026

The second county high point on my summer road trip saw me conquer the heady heights (229m) of Northamptonshire’s high point at Arbury Hill, also known as Big Hill. It is located 5.5 miles south of Daventry with it’s peak sitting on a drainage divide between the catchment areas of the River Nene, the River Cherwell and the River Leam. The summit has remnants of an Iron Age hillfort but only visible as a square ditch and embankment 200m across. The actual summit is on privately owned land and not generally accessible.

I started my walk from the White Feather Campsite at the top end of the small village of Badby in Northamptonshire, following a route on All Trails.

Turning left out of the driveway I walked to the junction of the A361, crossed the road carefully as it is a busy main road and took the lane directly opposite.

I followed this lane for a while until I reached a bridleway on the left. I met a local lady there with her three dogs who told me that although the high point was on private land, she didn’t think the farmer who owned it minded people going on his land to reach the summit.

I followed the bridleway up the hill through a couple of fields but then realised I had to cross the fence at some point to get onto the hill itself. I went along two different footpaths as I wasn’t totally sure which bit was the summit exactly.

I eventually found a low enough gate to cross and tried to be as quick as possible to get to the top of the hill. I used OS maps to pinpoint the exact location of the highest point as it wasn’t obvious being in a field. I quickly took the obligatory photos and got out of there as quickly as possible (Much easier going down than up!!) startling a few sheep in the process.

Again, this was an uninspiring high point and I was beginning to wonder why I was doing this challenge. However, it was another one ticked off and I realised I had to do the ‘less exciting’ ones as well as the exciting ones and by now I was getting used to uninspiring high points.

I continued to follow a byway down to a lane. A hare ran across my path and soon disappeared into the undergrowth.

I followed the lane past a couple of lovely houses and turned left onto a public footpath just after the last house. I saw two Red Kites flying overhead and watched them for a while.

I continued along the field edge on the footpath before passing through a paddock with some small ponies in back to the lane.

I walked back up the lane to cross the main road and back to the campsite in Badby, appreciating the many early signs that Autumn is fast approaching.