Northamptonshire — the "county of spires and squires" — is among England's more underrated family photography counties. The county's landscape is characterised by gently rolling farmland, ancient oak woodland (Salcey Forest, Rockingham Forest), river valley meadows (the Nene Valley, the Great Ouse headwaters), and a high concentration of historic country houses (Althorp, Boughton, Holdenby, Canons Ashby, Cottesbrooke). The combination of accessible ancient woodland with a network of estate parkland settings gives Northamptonshire a wider family portrait location range than most English counties of its size.

Salcey Forest

Salcey Forest — the ancient royal hunting forest between Northampton and Milton Keynes, now a Forestry England managed woodland — is the most used family photography location in southern Northamptonshire. The ancient oak rides, the tree-canopy walkway (treetop walk for children), the oak pollards of great age along the main rides, and the dappled light of the woodland floor in summer provide a classic English woodland family portrait setting. Salcey is at its best in spring (bluebells in the ancient oak areas) and autumn (the golden light through the oak canopy in October).

Barnwell Country Park

Barnwell Country Park — the 37-acre nature reserve and country park beside the River Nene near Oundle — provides a compact open-air family photography setting on the Nene meadows. The riverside meadows, the old gravel workings now converted to wildlife lakes, and the willow-fringed river bank combine to give Barnwell a variety of landscape portrait settings within a short walking distance. The park is particularly good for younger children (safe paths, accessible terrain) and for the riverine landscape quality of the Nene Valley at Oundle — one of Northamptonshire's most photographically attractive riverside towns.

Althorp

Althorp — the Spencer family seat and burial place of Diana, Princess of Wales, 7 miles north-west of Northampton — is one of Northamptonshire's most significant country house family portrait settings. The 500-acre park (landscaped by Capability Brown), the lake, the formal entrance avenue, and the 17th-century stable block provide family portrait settings of estate character as a backdrop. Family portrait commissions in the Althorp area often use the parkland roads and estate woodland rather than the house itself; the tree-lined avenue approaching the house from the Great Brington road is among the most classically proportioned landscape portrait settings in the county.

Rockingham Forest

Rockingham Forest — the ancient royal forest in the north of Northamptonshire, now fragmented into woodland blocks (Fermyn Woods, Fineshade Wood, Wakerley Great Wood, Rockingham Castle's parkland) — provides the county's most varied family portrait woodland. Fermyn Woods Country Park, the largest accessible woodland block, has ancient oak and ash woodland, wild deer (muntjac and roe are common), and wide rides suitable for family portrait sessions throughout the year. The spring bluebell flowering at Fermyn (usually mid-April to mid-May) is one of the best in the East Midlands.

Nene Valley

The Nene Valley — the pastoral river valley running east from Northampton through Wellingborough, Thrapston, Oundle and Stamford to The Wash — provides Northamptonshire's most extensive river landscape portrait setting. The Nene's water meadows, ox-bow lakes, stone-built riverside villages (Aldwincle, Wadenhoe, Fotheringhay with its famous castle mound), and the valley's gentle scale provide family portrait settings of a consistent pastoral quaility. Fotheringhay — where Richard III was born and Mary Queen of Scots was executed — has one of the most photogenic church and river settings in inland England.