To be found in a delightfully tranquil setting within easy reach of Banbury and Daventry midway between the M40 and M1 motorways, Brickhill Farm is a small and intimate venue with carefully mown grass banks and wooden platform pegs on two pools.

Both pools are stocked with a mix of tench, bream, perch, roach and rudd as well as a good smattering of crucian, mirror, common, koi and grass carp.

As its name suggests, the fishery was developed on the site of an old brickyard which dates back to 1834.

The excavated clay was used to make bricks, pipes, tiles and coping stones but when digging finished the resultant pits filled with water from natural springs.

In 1996, Brian Rose, the current owner, decided to stock the two small pools with trout before converting them to coarse fishing lakes about five years ago.

Work has just been completed on totally refurbishing a small fishing lodge where all-day breakfasts and a range of light meals and snacks can be purchased throughout summer and during matches in winter.

Run as out-and-out pleasure waters which are also available for small club matches, Brickhill Farm has few rules with the only restriction being that anglers must use only barbless hooks and that braid is not allowed.

Keepnets can be used, but fish over 3lbs should be returned to the water immediately.

All nets must be dipped before use and dogs are not allowed on site.

The fishery closes two weeks before Christmas until two weeks after Christmas to allow annual maintenance to be carried out.

All the fish are home grown and were fed for two years before the fishery opened for business.

Because the majority have never been caught the fish are in pristine condition.

Although the tench, bream and crucians only run to about 1lb, both pools hold some stunning perch, several of which go to an impressive 4lbs(see photographs below) with some much bigger.

As our story above shows, fishery owner Brian Rose knows he has even bigger perch, at least one of which goes to 6lbs.

There are also some good hard - fighting mirror, common, grass and koi carp.

Whilst there is a large head of fish around the 3lb to 4lb mark which are great fun to catch as they scrap like crazy for their size, there are a decent number of bigger fish - the largest of which are now well over 20lbs - including a lovely 28lb 6oz linear mirror which was caught in July 2013 by Omar Osman(left) - a new record for the biggest fish to be caught at Brickhill.

The previous biggest carp to have come out of Brickhill Fishery was caught in early summer 2012 by an angler from Northampton from the peg by the bungalow.

Weighing 26lbs 0oz, it fell to luncheon meat fished on light pole tackle and took an hour and a half to bring to the net!A photograph of the fish can be seen on the Gallery page which can be opened by clicking on the link.

The roach and rudd average between 4ozs and 8ozs in size although there are some larger fish whilst the crucians run between 4oz and 2lbs and are beautiful fish.

Parking is convenient and both pools have well maintained grass banks and wooden platform pegs which makes the fishery suitable for disabled anglers.

On arrival anglers should start fishing as their day ticket monies will be collected on the bank.