Nine Pounds Seventy: One Entire Corby Saturday, One Tenner, No Regrets

There's a particular kind of January-to-March Saturday that can cost a family forty quid before anyone has had a proper lunch. Entrance fee here, parking there, a round of coffees, the inevitable soft play. Multiply by four and you might as well have gone to a theme park.

So we set ourselves a silly but useful challenge: one full winter Saturday in Corby, per person, for under ten pounds. Not "cheap-ish". Under. With a running total, done honestly, in the order we actually spent the money.

Before we start, the rules. No driving between stops if it can be walked. Nothing counts as free if you have to pay to park to reach it. And the tenner is per adult — children get their own version, as noted below.

9.15am — East Carlton Country Park (£0 so far)

Start here, because it's the best free morning in Corby and the car park doesn't charge. In winter, the park gives you two things a paid day out struggles to beat: a genuinely bracing walk and the kind of view over the Welland valley that makes people say "I didn't know this was here" about a place twenty minutes from home.

Take a flask. We're serious about this — it's the single biggest budget fix in the whole plan. Nobody looks at you twice filling a cup by the car.

10.45am — The library (£0)

In, warm, off the wind. The library is doing the quiet work of a good town on a Saturday morning: toddlers on the rug, a few people at the computers, somebody reading every Saturday paper in existence.

Given that the day costs nothing so far, use the time properly. Pick one thing to come back for. Read the local noticeboard. Let the children pick a book each and don't buy anything.

Running total: £0.00.

12.00pm — The market (£5.10)

Here's where the money starts. Corby market on a Saturday is the correct answer to "where do we eat" on a tenner, and it's not a compromise — it's genuinely the best-value hot food in town. A bacon cob from one of the stalls: £3.50. A mug of tea: £1.60. Sit down, eat slowly, watch the town go about its business.

Don't be tempted by the second item. One cob, one hot drink. That's £5.10 and we've got the whole afternoon ahead.

1.30pm — Old Village wander (80p)

Reasonable people disagree on whether the Old Village is best approached slowly or just turned loose on. We vote slowly. The church, the grass, the oldest bits of Corby sitting quietly while the new town does its thing around them.

Budget spend: 80p on a paperback from a charity shop. That's it. Some of the shops will sell you a lot more than a book, and we are not going in there.

Running total: £5.90.

2.45pm — A bakery stop (£1.80)

Two tattie scones and a morning roll. £1.80. This is the strategically clever bit: you're not eating them now, you're taking them home for Sunday breakfast, which means the tenner is effectively paying for two days. Ask for them at the counter, pay in cash if you can, and feel smug.

Running total: £7.70.

4.00pm — Home, or one last lap (£2.00)

If you've walked everything, walk back. If you're parked further out, £2.00 covers a single fare on the bus back to the car, or takes one chunk out of the day for anyone who's flagging.

Grand total: £9.70. Thirty pence left.

The running total, in one place

• East Carlton car park and park: £0.00
• Library entry: £0.00
• Bacon cob at the market: £3.50
• Mug of tea: £1.60
• Charity shop paperback: £0.80
• Two tattie scones and a roll: £1.80
• Bus back to the car: £2.00
• Total: £9.70

If you're arriving by train

Do the same day, in the same order, minus the bus — the station is a short, unglamorous walk from the town centre and, from there, the market and the library are a few minutes on foot. Cut the £2.00 bus fare and you're at £7.70, which leaves you comfortable room for a second cuppa somewhere and still change from a tenner.

For visitors, the honest pitch is this: Corby is not a town you come to for a big-ticket attraction. It's a town you come to for a decent market, a proper walk and a cup of tea that doesn't cost four pounds fifty. That's a good Saturday.

Doing it with children

A few practical bits.

• A child's portion is usually smaller than the adult version, and most market stalls will do a half-size or a smaller drink without fuss. Budget roughly £5 per child instead of £10.
• Carrying a flask and a couple of snacks is the difference between €10 and €25. Nobody has ever been judged in a country park for eating their own biscuits.
• Give each child £1 in coins at the start and let them decide where it goes. It slows the whole day down in the best possible way and turns a walk into a small adventure.
• The library is warm, dry and free, which makes it the natural halfway point of the day when the weather turns.

What we skipped, and why

Mostly, we skipped anything with an entrance fee, and we didn't buy drinks in three different cafés because that's how a tenner disappears without anyone noticing. That's the trick of a cheap Saturday — not finding free things, but resisting the second coffee.

Good local days out don't need a big spend. They need a bit of planning, a decent pair of shoes and the willingness to eat your lunch sitting down on a market stall. Nine pounds seventy. We'll take that.