Local Attractions
Activity World
Contained within Dunstable Leisure Centre, this indoor adventure playground is for children under 1.2 metres tall and offers a softplay frame with roads, village and kitchens.
Phone 01582 604307 for details
Website: Activity World
Ascott House
A National Trust property, Ascott is a black-and-white 19th century house set in 30 acres of grounds at Wing, near Leighton Buzzard. It houses Anthony de Rothschild's collection of fine pictures, French and English furniture and exceptional oriental porcelain. The garden contains unusual trees, flower borders, topiary sundial, Italian garden, fountain statuary, naturalised bulbs and water lilies.
Phone 01296 688242 for details
Website: Ascott Estate
Barton Hills
A National Nature Reserve with footpath access protects precious chalkland flowers, insects and butterflies on the Barton Hills, a landscape of deep valleys and grass hillsides that rise 500 feet above the surrounding countryside. Barton Springs, reached from Church Road in the village of Barton, was a popular spot for day trippers at the turn of the century when watercress grew in a stream which gushed from the chalk hillside. The spring can still be seen, although its flow is much reduced, and those who climb on up the valley can follow field paths to the Icknield Way long distance footpath. The hills and spring are reputed to be the Delectable Mountains and Fountains referred to in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Dunstable Downs
The Downs offer 130 acres of public access in The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with circular walks, a picnic area, a visitor centre and spectacular views.
The Downs are used by hang-gliders and visitors can also watch traditional gliders taking off and landing at the London Gliding Club below.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Ford End Watermill, Ivinghoe
This small watermill was recorded as working in 1798 but is probably much older. In use until 1963 and now restored by Pitstone Local History Society, it is the only working watermill to survive in Buckinghamshire with its original machinery.
Phone 01582 600391 for details and milling days.
Website: Ford End Watermill
Greensand Ridge Walk
Bedfordshire's premier 40-mile footpath, with its convenient circular walks, runs north-east across the entire county from Leighton Buzzard to Gamlingey Cinques, which is just across the border in Cambridgeshire. It takes in major attractions like the Grand Union Canal, Stockgrove Country Park, Woburn Abbey, Ampthill Park and Houghton House along the way.
Website: Greensand Ridge Walk
Icknield Way Path
This is a strategic route linking the Ridgeway Path at Ivinghoe Beacon with the Peddar's Way on the Norfolk border. It passes through Dunstable, Luton and continues on Warden & Galley Hills into Herts.
Phone 01462 742684 for details
Website: Icknield Way Path
Leighton Buzzard Railway
'England's Friendly Little Line' is an award winning restored narrow gauge railway offering visitors a 5 and a half-mile train journey lasting 65 minutes. The railway has over 50 locomotives, including 11 steam engines, to see or ride behind. Its origins as a sand-carrying line are portrayed regularly at special events and heritage displays featuring freight trains and working quarry excavators. The station has a souvenir shop and cafe.
Phone 01525 373888 for details and special events.
Website: Leighton Buzzard Railway
Leighton Lady Cruises
Specially designed to carry passengers, Leighton Lady is a 70ft-long narrowboat retaining all the canal traditions of polished brasses, bright paintwork and hand-painted roses and castles. Based at Linslade, she cruises the Grand Union Canal through attractive countryside, passing through an occasional lock.
Phone 01525 384563 for details
Website: Leighton Lady Cruises
London Gliding Club
London Gliding Club has been on its present site at the foot of Dunstable Downs since the 1930s and is a part of aviation history. Nearly 100 gliders, from vintage aircraft to modern machines, fly from the club which has a restaurant, bar and souvenir shop.
The club welcomes visitors and offers trial lessons, one-day courses, five-day holiday courses and group evening lessons.
Phone 01582 663419 for details.
Website: London Gliding Club
Mead Open Farm
This is a family-run farm with traditional farm animals and many rare breeds. Young visitors can groom ponies, collect eggs, cuddle rabbits and feed animals, and there are also special events such as falconry demonstrations and traditional harvesting days. Other attractions include tractor and trailer rides, pets corner, tea room, sandpit and log play area.
Phone 01525 852954 for details.
Website: Mead Open Farm
Pitstone Green Farm Museum
The farm museum is in the village of Pitstone, near Leighton Buzzard. It contains a fascinating collection of farming and rural bygones displayed against domestic and workshop backgrounds, including listed 19th century farm buildings. There is also a large horizontal gas engine and model railway.
Phone 01296 662151 for details and special events.
Website: Pitstone Green Farm Museum
Pitstone Windmill
Beautifully situated beneath the Chiltern Hills, near the delightful village of Ivinghoe, this 17th century post mill is one of the oldest in England. Owned by the National Trust and restored to working order by volunteers, it is a living tribute to the village craftsmen who built and worked it during a bygone age.
Phone 01582 872303 for details.
Website: National Trust - Pitstone Windmill
Sewell Nature Reserve
This Local Nature Reserve runs through an old railway cutting south of Dunstable and is important for its orchids and chalkland flora. Nearby are Maidenbower, Bedfordshire's most important prehistoric earthwork, and a network of ancient downland Green Lanes.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Sharpenhoe Clappers
Owned by the National Trust, Sharpenhoe Clappers, near Streatley village, is an attractive chalkland spur crowned by a graceful stand of beeches and an Iron Age fort. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Someries Castle
Dating from the 15th century, Someries Castle, Hyde, is one of the county's earliest brick buildings and its impressive gatehouse and chapel survive as a romantic and substantial ruin. The castle is reached by lanes from the B653 road south of Luton.
Open all year round.
Admission free.
Stockgrove Country Park
Situated between the villages of Heath and Reach and Great Brickhill, the country park has over 74 acres of woods and parkland, an ornamental lake and a picnic area.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Pay and Display parking.
Sundon Hills Country Park
Set in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, near the village of Sundon, this 93-acre country park offers stunning views of the surrounding countryside. There are waymarked walks taking in woods, chalk hillsides, grassland and picnic facilities.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Tiddenfoot Waterside Park
This canal-side park in Mentmore Road, Linslade, has been developed around a water-filled former sand quarry. The park is owned by South Bedfordshire District Council and activities include fishing, picnics and walks.
Toddington Manor
This delightful country estate, near the village of Toddington, offers a relaxing day out reminiscent of a gentler way of life. The gardens which are probably the main attraction and have a * in the Good Gardens Guide, are especially noted for the ernormous herbaceuos borders edged with hostas and ferns, abundances of peonies, delphiniums and roses. A stream runs through the garden leading into three ponds. The large woods, with two lakes, make excellent walks for the dogs (who are welcomed on leads).
Children will love the animals (Pigs, Goats and Sheep) and the Vintage Tractor collection (over 100) and the Pond Dipping (nets & buckets lent)
Cricket matches most Saturdays.
Open Mon-Sat 12.00-5.00 (Closed Sundays) 1st May - 1st Sept.
Website: Toddington Manor
Totternhoe Knolls
Totternhoe Knolls, near the village of Totternhoe, is a wooded chalkland spur with beech woods and downland paths, a castle mound and a picnic site. The Local Nature Reserve is known nationally for its orchids and insects.
Open all year .
Admission free.
Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
Now in the care of the National Trust, Whipsnade Tree Cathedral was created by local landowner, Edmund Kell Blyth. After the First World War, he planted a variety of trees that have matured to give the effect of the nave, transepts, cloisters and chapels of a large open-air cathedral.
Open all year.
Admission free.
Website: The National Trust - Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
Whipsnade Wild Animal Park
Set in 600 acres of beautiful parkland, Whipsnade is home to 2,500 animals and is one of Europe's largest conservation centres. Things to do and see include Birds of the World demonstrations, sea-lions, Elephant Encounter, Discovery Centre, Squirrel Monkey Island, Passage through Asia, children's farm, Runwild play area, Tiger Falls, hippo pools, lemurs and the Great Whipsnade Railway.
Phone 01582 872171 for details.
Website: Whipsnade Wild Animal Park
Woburn Abbey
Home of the Dukes of Bedford for over 350 years, Woburn Abbey contains an impressive and important private collection of furniture, porcelain, silver and works of art including paintings by many of the world's great masters. Woburn was the first stately home in England to open its doors to the public. It is set in a beautiful landscaped 3,000-acre deer park containing nine different species of deer
Phone 01525 290666 for details.
Website: Woburn Abbey
Woburn Safari Park
Britains largest drive-through safari park offers action-packed leisure facilities and animal contact areas. See lions, tigers, bears and wolves at close quarters. Then observe elephants at work, watch sea-lion and parrot shows and visit Rainbow Landing to feed the colourful lorikeets. Other attractions include a large indoor adventure play area accessible to disabled children, a restaurant, boating lake and interactive computer centre.
Phone 01525 290407 for details.
Website: Woburn Safari Park
Woodside Animal Farm and Park
Woodside, at Slip End near Caddington, is one of Englands largest poultry centres with over 160 breeds of birds and animals to see, handle and feed with special rations from the Farm Shop. The barns, waterfowl parks, pheasantry and piggery house many rare and pure breeds and there are also owl aviaries. Visitors can collect eggs from the hen houses, and enjoy indoor and outdoor picnic areas, Tarzan trails, forts, toytown, miniature farmyard, farm tractors, bouncy castles, birds of prey and daily tractor rides.
Phone 01582 841044 for details.
Website: Woodside Animal Farm
Wyvern Shipping Co Ltd
The Wyvern Shipping Company is based at Bossington Wharf in Linslade and offers cruises along the Grand Union Canal aboard luxury self-drive narrowboats. There are 25 boats, all with full central heating, shower and colour television, available for holidays ranging from a weekend or mid-week break to a three-week holiday.
Phone 01525 372355 for details.
