Daventry

The town is 75 miles (121 km) north-northwest of London via the M1 motorway, 13.9 miles (22.4 km) west of Northampton, 10.2 miles (16.4 km) southwest of Rugby.^[2] and 15.8 miles (25.4 km) north-north east of Banbury.

Other nearby places include: Southam, Coventry and the villages of Ashby St Ledgers, Badby, Barby, Braunston, Byfield, Charwelton, Dodford, Dunchurch, Everdon, Fawsley, Hellidon, Kilsby, Long Buckby, Newnham, Norton, Staverton, Welton, Weedon, and Woodford Halse. The town is twinned with Westerburg, Germany.

The town sits at around 440–520 ft (130–160 m) above sea level. It is surrounded to the south and east by hills topping out at 738 ft (225 m). To the north and west the land is generally lower than the town. Daventry sits on the watershed of the River Leam which flows to the west of England and the River Nene which flows east. There is no river in the town and the largest gatherings of water are two reservoirs made to supply the canal that swings from Watford Gap into the west midlands through the 2,042 yd (1.867 km) long Braunston Tunnel around the north of the town. To the north west is Drayton Reservoir^[3] and to the north east is the Daventry Reservoir and country park.

Watford Gap is about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north east of the town. Through this gap pass the A5 (Watling Street Roman road), the Grand Union Canal, West Coast Main Line railway, the Northampton Loop Line and most recently the M1 motorway.

Daventry is near the M1 motorway with access to two junctions: 18 to the northeast and 16 to the southeast of the town. Access to the town is from junction 16 of the M1 via the A45 which forms a ring -road to the south and west bypassing the town centre via Stefen Way, merging with the A425 along Leamington Way and continuing as the A45 through Dunchurch to Coventry. The A425 acts as a ring road to the east of the town centre. The town is also served by junction 18 of the M1 and via a short stretch of the A5 to the northern end of the very long A361. From the south west there is access from junction 11 of the M40 along the A361.

Local and regional bus services are provided by Stagecoach^[4] from their bases in Northampton, Rugby, Banbury and until December 2016, Leamington Spa. Villages without a regular connection to Daventry have a bookable County Connect^[5] bus service run by Centrebus under a County Council contract until 1 September 2014 when the operator changed to Kier Fleet Passenger Services.

The nearest railway station is at Long Buckby - Stagecoach bus D4 from Daventry - where access is gained to London Midland (until London Northwestern take over the franchise on December 10, 2017) services to Birmingham New Street, Northampton and London Euston via the Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line. Inter-city services (Virgin Trains and West Midlands Trains) can be accessed from Rugby railway station - Stagecoach buses D1 and D2 from Daventry and Banbury railway station (Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry and Great Western Railway) - Stagecoach bus 200 from Daventry.

The nearest major international airport is Birmingham Airport.

Daventry has several housing estates, which include: Drayton, Middlemore Farm, Lang Farm, Ashby Fields, Royal Oak, Timken, Stefen Hill, The Grange, The Southbrook, The Headlands and most recently Monksmoor Park.^[6]