Top 10 PRETTIEST Towns in BEDFORDSHIRE

What are the 10 prettiest towns in the county of Bedfordshire? To determine this, I visited them all. Here’s what I found out.

This video is part of an ongoing series. To catch up with previous episodes, check out the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiddFve-_f9D4rak2082TAtqx_w94SEvk

As a disclaimer, this list is neither a social commentary, nor a guide on which are the nicest towns to live, but purely a judgement on the aesthetics of each respective town centre.

All footage is my own, and originates from my flagship channel, 4K Explorer, which you can check out here: — https://www.youtube.com/@4KExplorer

Thanks for watching, and be sure to tap that like button! And feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, whether you agree or disagree with the selections.

a bit north of London separated by just a short drive or train ride is the county of bedfordshire and this little County in the commut heartlands is full of surprises in fact some of the prettiest towns you might have never heard of are hiding away here but what are its prettiest to establish this I visited the allall personally and my conclusions are presented to you in this top 10 list just to add that Villages are not included here as there are just too many of them and besides they distract from my goal of championing the market town this also means I’ve had to exclude settlements with seemingly ambiguous Village or town status like wurn and ay but with that out of the way let’s get straight to it number 10 we start off with a town with one of the most unusual layouts in not only bedfordshire but the whole country it is stockold so the town center of stockold May maybe a confusing mishmash of shops and houses intertwined together making it resemble more of a suburb than a town in its own rights but there are some particular highlights firstly the Church of St Mary the Virgin dates all the way back to the 12th century and features a Nave of around the same age and then there’s stockold Watermill a late Georgian rebuilding of an earlier Mill powered by the river ivil this along with the surrounding Nature Reserve provides some rather tranquil views number nine now another town with a somewhat disjointed feel in this case right on the border with the county town of Bedford Kempston with scatterings of shops inter dispersed with residential buildings it can be difficult to tell where the Town Center starts and ends nevertheless there are some buildings that are quite pleasing to the eye these include the King William IV Pub which dates from is 1600 incident making it a good deal older than even William himself there’s also an imposing former 19th century Barracks named the keep and a much less imposing series of 19th Century Arms houses not to mention the grade one listed Church of All Saints although being situated just outside the town’s official boundaries getting to the church on time presents its own Challenge number eight now to what claimed to be B’s most important Roman settlement and a town with a particularly quirky name and more so still considering it’s about 70 mil away from the nearest beach the town of Sandy this is one that many commuters will be familiar with at least by name as it is situated on the East Coast Mainline whose southern Terminus is King’s cross it’s also home to the Sandy show an annual ha cultural events which at its peak in the 1920s was described as the greatest one day show in England number seven and speaking of old Roman settlements here’s another situated right on the intersection between wling Street and the nneil way is the former Roman posting station known as duraco beves or as we know it today Donal aside from its Roman past Don conable was also the place where Henry VII an olded his marriage to Katherine of aragan in a prior which was later destroyed by well Henry VII the town of today remains true to its Origins as a literal Crossroads and with some pleasant architecture typically of 19th century Frontage along the way number six now when it comes to big towns in the UK it’s often the case that their growth has has come at a cost aesthetically this is only partially true for the next entry but not enough to deny to spot on this list I’m speaking of course about the County Town Bedford being a Riverside Town through and through Bedford boasts some stunning views across the river grey twos punctuated by the Spy of the grade one listed St Paul’s Church in fact this medieval church can be seen from several Vantage points around the town while the square outside features a statute of prison reformer John Howard in typical 18th century G meanwhile a statue of local author John bonan of the Pilgrim’s Progress Fame overlooks a busy Pelican Crossing however a few modern additions to the skyline leave you wondering what might have been had the council just said no to the brutalists number five now to to another town connected by rail to the east coast Mainline one that combines commuter practicality with Market toown charm bigles Wade situated on the great North Road I.E the historic Stage Coach route between London and Edinburgh bigles Wade once had a thriving coaching in Industry prior to the arrival of the railways the modern equivalent of the great North Road essentially the A1 bypasses the town helping to give it a more peaceful feel especially given its proximity to Central London which is just 45 minutes away by train in 1785 a great fire broke out in bigles Wade sending nearly a third of the Town Up in Smoke consequently the extent buildings are typically late Georgian and Victorian number four and now to the smallest town on this list just up the road from bigles way is the town of poton and it’s not just geography that these two have in common as two years prior to the Great Fire of big old Wade there was would you believe a great fire in poton back in 1783 the similarity ends however with transport links as poton hasn’t had a railway station since 1968 a bad decade for the rail industry this may contribute towards the town’s somewhat quiet and Serene feel one that leaves you forgetting that you’re just under 50 miles north of the very center of London number three now another town you won’t find on any contemporary railway map of Britain a town whose name in Old English literally means River Crossing for sheep shepher so what started out as a convenient spot for Shepherds to guide their sheep over a shallow spot around the river flit and hit and yes those are the actual River names eventually developed into a market town from the 13th century when a charter was granted with the arrival of a canal in the 1820s and an ill fated railway station in the 1850s shefford may have looked on course for major growth at the time though for whatever reason this never really panned out instead it remains to this day a small town in which modern architecture is refreshingly scarce number two when it comes to iconic household names for Market towns few can rival this bird themed Town name I’m speaking of course of late and Buzzard now granted the suffix May in fact come from theobold deusa who was a cannon of Lincoln around the turn of the 13th century rather than any of our Aven friends this does still help to illustrate the town’s vast history complete with a market that’s over 900 years old a market which by the way takes place on a High Street where you won’t find so much as two buildings that look alike oh and in 1963 Leighton buzzer became the location for The Great Train Robbery after the perpetrators stopped a Train by tampering with a signal and they’re making off with 2.6 million from a Royal Male train the ring leaders workout though Ronnie bigs managed to make a mockery of wesworth prison as he escaped with a rope PL number one now with a name that derives from Old English for ant infested Hill you might think this an inauspicious introduction to my number one pick but here’s a town so pretty it doesn’t even need a fancy caly name I present to you amp till ever since Henry III granted it a charter back in 1219 ampil has been a fine Market Town one of its famous historic residents was Katherine of aragan that was until Henry VII divorced her in dille as for the architectural highlights there’s the grade worn listed Church of St Andrew from the 14th and 15th centuries adjacent to the FEI arms houses the oldest of which date from the th Century Fey meaning trustee in Old English by the way there’s also an impressive row of thatch Cottages dating from the early 19th century and at the center of it all is the town clock from 1852 giving it a healthy dose of early Victorian Elegance but in short this is a town greater than the sum of its parts a town where everything comes together in Perfect Harmony thus concluding this list by all means let me know your thoughts in the comments below the plan with this series is to get around every single County so if that’s of Interest feel free to subscribe or catch up with the previous episodes for the link on the screen now thanks for watching and have a great day