Holiday accommodation in Bedfordshire: Gardens, nature and culture

Bedfordshire is represented at Wrest Park by a 19th-century country house in the style of a French château and gardens that illustrate 300 years of garden design. The house, dating from the 1830s, is set in a restored garden landscape whose origins lie in the 17th century. The ensemble includes the Great Garden, a rare formal woodland garden ensemble in the French style, laid out between 1706 and the 1720s.

Nature

The Dunstable Downs consist of chalk ridges with a rich variety of wildflowers and wildlife, offering panoramic views across the Aylesbury Vale. They lie within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and form the highest point in Bedfordshire. Several Sites of Special Scientific Interest on the Dunstable Downs have been designated because of the quality of their chalk grasslands. Monuments designated as Scheduled Ancient Monuments there include Five Knolls and Medieval Rabbit Warrens.

The Dunstable Downs have a moderate circular route with diverse wildlife, ancient tracks and burial mounds. The Five Knolls Wildlife and Heritage Walk is accessible, signposted and designed as an out-and-back route. The wind-swept ridge provides conditions for various air sports, particularly kite flying.

Whipsnade Zoo is home to over 10,000 animals, including Asian elephants and 30 different species of butterfly, and has one of the largest butterfly biomes in the United Kingdom. Across its 600-acre site, the zoo carries out conservation work for native species; the site includes chalk grassland designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Great Whipsnade Railway takes visitors through the animal areas with the Excelsior and Superior steam locomotives or a diesel vehicle. The Whipsnade Zoo app provides GPS-guided step-by-step navigation through the zoo.

The King’s Wood and Rushmere National Nature Reserve encompasses ancient, semi-natural woodland, acid grassland and lowland heath. Rushmere Country Park covers more than 400 acres of woodland, heathland and meadows. RSPB The Lodge Nature Reserve is home to Bedfordshire’s largest continuous area of heathland and species such as hobby falcons, nightjars, ravens, sand lizards and natterjack toads. The two-mile Turbine Trail and the three-mile Restoration Trail run through the area.

Culture

Shuttleworth combines six hangars containing historic aircraft and veteran vehicles, a nine-acre Regency garden, a Victorian country house and the Grade II* listed Old Warden Park. The visitor programme includes airshows and seasonal markets. Flightline Tours take visitors onto the airfield with a guided tour; the duration is approximately 45 to 55 minutes.

The John Bunyan Museum & Library tells the story of the preacher from Bedford, including The Pilgrim's Progress and his imprisonment because of his faith. The Panacea Museum tells the story of the Panacea Society, a Christian group that created its own “Garden of Eden” in Bedford town centre at the beginning of the 20th century. The museum is housed in several Victorian buildings that served as the headquarters of the Panacea Society.

The Leighton Buzzard Railway operates a three-mile historic railway line in Bedfordshire. In the surrounding area of Bedfordshire, Flitwick (Mount Hill) is home to a castle.

Geographical location

Luton railway station is the nearest railway station to the Dunstable Downs and is seven miles away. Trains from London St Pancras International take 35 minutes. From the centre of Dunstable, visitors can walk or take a bus to the outskirts, then continue via a footpath or by bus to the Chiltern Gateway Centre.

Sandy railway station is 0.9 miles from the entrance to RSPB The Lodge Nature Reserve. Route 51 runs through Bedfordshire between Milton Keynes, Bedford and Sandy.

Further local pages in Bedfordshire: Toddington, Shefford, Sandy, Milton Ernest, Marston Moretaine, Leighton Buzzard, Flitwick, Elstow, Dunstable, Clapham, Bedford, Wyboston, Turvey, Stotfold, Aspley Guise, Woburn, Salford, Henlow, Caddington, Kensworth, Lower Stondon, Biggleswade, Barton-le-Clay, Stagsden, Chalton, Ampthill, Ickwell, Clophill.

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