Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is an English county to the North of London, where the Home Counties meet the Midlands.
It incorporates the flood plain of the River Great Ouse, and a large part of the Chiltern Hills.
The county includes stately homes such as Woburn Abbey and Luton Hoo, as well as the celebrated Whipsnade Zoo and Woburn Safari Park.
Bedford is the county town, and is where John Bunyan wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress" while he was in prison. It has been a thriving town since the Anglo-Saxon period.
Dunstable is an old market town with an outstanding Priory Church, and was one of the original Eleanor Cross sites.
Luton is known today for engineering, but was formerly a centre for making straw hats. Luton Airport is one of the busiest in the country.
Sandy houses the headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.