Here’s what this historic former military depot in Northamptonshire has to offer for all the family

Volunteer Doreen Addicott is the visitor centre manager at Weedon Depot, and she is a familiar face having been in the role since the day it opened in 2018.

“We meet and greet visitors, ask them if they’ve been before, show them around or let them look round on their own,” Doreen told the Chronicle & Echo. “Occasionally we have events and our annual heritage weekend in September.”

Ghost walks and history tours are also available at Weedon Depot, and the area’s past is of great interest to those who visit.

Doreen continued: “When you volunteer here or when you’re a tenant, as soon as you get here it’s different. There’s an atmosphere I can’t explain. You get to love the place very quickly and every volunteer tells you something slightly different so you learn more.”

Weedon Depot Visitor Centre relies on donations and is the ideal place to visit for families during the holidays. Not only does it have dressing up, colouring in and duck food available to purchase, but there is a games room upstairs in the bookshop just a short distance away.

“Weedon Depot has a microbrewery,” said Doreen. “They brew their beer on site and people can go, sit outside under a gazebo and have a drink.

“There’s Binkys Boutique. I can’t leave Charlotte out, I think she’s brilliant. Binkys is in Building 2. Everyone comes to the right hand side and not the left as they don’t realise it’s there. There’s a potters below Binkys.

“There’s a lovely cafe on-site as well, Yellow Bourbon Coffee Roasters. They’re on the ground floor of the three storey building and they ground their own coffee.”

Doreen hopes that future donations will fund more storage for the Visitor Centre, as well as display cabinets for saddles they want to show off to visitors.

Looking back on the history of Weedon Depot, its title was The Royal Ordnance Depot when it was a small arms depot for the military. The earthworks began in 1803 and the first brick was laid in 1804.

A decade later by 1814, the eight main store houses and two portcullis were finished. The Visitor Centre clock, which was installed that year, still works with maintenance. It chimes on the hour and at each quarter.

Between 1804 and 1965, Weedon Depot played a part in every war that England was involved in. The army left in 1965 and that is when it was closed down to them. It was kept by the government until 1984.

For more information on Weedon Depot’s Visitor Centre, visit their website here.