Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a county in the middle of England, a little towards the south-east in the East of England.

Bedfordshire shares borders with Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south.

Towns and villages

• 1 Bedford – the county town is in the north of the county: a typical English market town.
• 2 Ampthill
• 3 Biggleswade
• 4 Dunstable
• 5 Flitwick
• 6 Leighton Buzzard
• 7 Luton
• 8 Shefford
• 9 Harlington
• 10 Woburn

Other destinations

• Chiltern Hills

Get in

By car

• M1 and A1. It is readily accessible from London, Birmingham and elsewhere by these roadways.

By plane

• 1 Luton Airport (LTN ^IATA).

By train

• Thameslink run local commuter services on both the East Coast Mainline and the Midland Mainline:
  • From Peterborough through Sandy and Biggleswade to London St Pancras and on to Horsham
  • From stations between Bedford and Luton to London St Pancras and on to destinations including Brighton and Rainham
• East Midlands Trains run express services from the East Midlands through Bedford and Luton to London St Pancras
• London Northwestern run from Birmingham and Northampton through Leighton Buzzard to London Euston
• Southern run from Milton Keynes through Leighton Buzzard to South Croydon

Get around

By car

Bedfordshire has a good road network and every town and village is reasonably easily accessible by car. The A5, A6 and A1 trunk routes run through the county - the A5 in the west (for Dunstable and Woburn), the A6 in the centre (for Bedford, Luton, Ampthill and Flitwick) and the A1 in the east (for Sandy and Biggleswade)

By bus

Bus services operate in all parts of the county, although they can be infrequent. Bedford operates a Park & Ride system.

See

• Woburn Abbey is set within 3,000 acres of beautiful gardens complete with a deer park and fabulous buildings and really is a must-see if you find yourself in Bedfordshire. The Abbey itself has been home to the Dukes of Bedford for more than 300 years and is now occupied by the 15th Duke and his family. There are many things to do at the Abbey: if the weather is nice maybe a picnic lunch in the stunning grounds watching some of the ten species of deer, or you can join one of the tours looking at the many paintings collected at the Abbey, including those by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Van Dyck and Cuyp. There is also a fabulous Tea Room where you can enjoy traditional afternoon tea in true English style and new for 2008 is the Woburn at War exhibition, which illustrates the impact of wars on Woburn Abbey.

Do

Lion Enclosure, Woburn Safari Park, Bedfordshire

• Woburn Safari Park really offers an amazing safari adventure where you might least expect it! Drive around in your own car and experience the beauty of wild animals up close and personal... but watch out for those mischievous monkeys! Aside from seeing sea lions, birds of prey, elephants, giraffes, tigers, lynxes, penguins and snakes, to name but a few, you can also pre-book a special experience: VIP Tour with a Ranger, walk with elephants or breakfast with the carnivores, and there is also the Great Woburn Railway, Swan Boats and the Mammoth Play Ark to keep you and your family occupied.

• Mead Open Farm, Leighton Buzzard - is great for a family day out.

• ZSL Whipsnade Zoo near Dunstable, is open all year round, apart from Christmas Day and is great if you want a more local, personal experience than London Zoo. One of Europe's largest wildlife conservation parks, you will see the newly opened Cheetah Rock, meet the Lions of the Serengeti and watch the chimps swinging their stuff in their extensive indoor chimpnasium! There are also many unusual things to see such as beautiful African hunting dogs and reptiles, amphibians and fish.

• Cricket: Bedfordshire CCC play in the National Counties Cricket Championship, the tier formerly known as "Minor Counties" below the first class competitions. They don't have a permanent ground but play at half-a-dozen venues around the county.

Stay safe

The same general rules for the UK apply in Bedfordshire as well. It's a primarily rural county and crime is no higher than most places in the UK. However, everyone (not just tourists) should exercise caution, especially in the larger towns such as Bedford and Luton. Luton especially has a (largely undeserved) reputation for being a "rough" town - as with anywhere else, if you don't go looking for trouble you shouldn't find it.