BEDFORDSHIRE |
| Elstow Moot Hall |
Off A5134, 1.5 miles south of Bedford |
This late 15th century building is closely linked with John Bunyan. The
hall was built in about 1500, in connection with the famous May Fair at Elstow, held by
the nuns of Elstow Abbey, and was used both for storing goods for the fair, and as a court
(or 'moot') house. After the abbey was dissolved at the Reformation, the Moot Hall
continued as a local court house; and in the 19th century the upper floor was used for
worship and as a village school. After a period of neglect, the Moot Hall was restored in
1951. |
| Luton Hoo |
Off B653, 1 mile south of Luton |
At the heart of Luton Hoo's 1200 acre Capability Brown park is the
large mansion, whose plain exterior hides a treasure house within. The house was begun in
1767 but suffered a disastrous fire in 1843. It owes its present appearance, both inside
and out, to Sir Julius Wernher. He bought it in 1903 and filled it with medieval carved
ivories, Limoges enamels, Renaissance jewels, and French furniture, porcelain and
tapestries. His son, Sir Harold Wernher, added to the collection, but was equally
interested in horseracing. Sir Harold's wife was the daughter of a Russian Grand Duke and
added Russian items to the collection, including Faberge. |
| Luton Museum and Art Gallery |
On A6, north of Luton town centre |
Buckinghamshire Point Ground and Bedfordshire Maltese are not small
dogs, as some might guess, but the two main types of lace made in Bedfordshire in the 19th
century. A number of the displays in Luton's fine museum, housed in a Victorian mansion
set in a 40 acre park, are devoted to such local crafts, which included hat-making. The
museum is unusual in being registered as a goldsmith, and it produces replicas of some of
its items in conjunction with local craftsmen. |
| Sharpenhoe Clappers |
Off A6, 6 miles north of Luton |
The men of the Iron Age saw the strategic value of this northern
outpost of the Chilterns and built a hill-fort here, dominating the flat Midlands plain
below. Rising to 525ft, Sharpenhoe Clappers is crowned by the beech trees of Clappers
Wood, where paths wind along the ridge. In summer, the open ground where the trees thin
out is covered with chalkland flowers. |
| The Shuttleworth Collection |
Off A1, 3 miles west of Biggleswade |
On the last Sunday of every month, from April to September, the engine
drone of Spitfire and Sopwith Pup, Gloster Gladiator and De Havilland Moth fills the air
above Old Warden Aerodrome's grass runways. These are a few of the 30 historic aircraft of
The Shuttleworth Collection, founded in the 1930s. The oldest aircraft in the collection
is a Bleriot XI of 1909, similar to the machine that made the first crossing of the
Channel. The collection also includes horse-drawn and motor-driven vehicles built between
1860 and 1954. |
| Woburn Abbey |
Off A4012, 9 miles north-west of Dunstable |
Woburn has belonged to the Russell family since 1547, when Edward VI
granted the Cistercian abbey, founded in 1145, to John Russell, Earl of Bedford. Restored
during the 17th century, it owes its present appearance mainly to successive 18th century
Dukes who employed architects to turn the antiquated monastic-style building into a
palatial country mansion. Inside, Woburn is crammed with the paintings, furniture,
porcelain and silver collected by the Dukes of Bedford over the past 250 years. The Long
Gallery contains a unique collection of portraits from the mid-15th century to the
mid-17th century. A major attraction at Woburn is the Wild Animal Kingdom. |
| Wrest Park |
On A6, 10 miles north of Luton |
Watercourses dug dead straight of fancifully curved, a star-shaped,
domed pavilion, a pagan altar, a Chinese bridge, snaking paths leading to summerhouses
beneath the shade of trees - these are just some of the details that go to make up Wrest
Park's garden. It represents 150 years of garden design, starting with the formality of
the early 1700s, passing through the more relaxed style of Capability Brown, and ending
with a return to French-style symmetry in early Victorian times. The 19th century mansion
is now occupied by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, but the staterooms
can be seen. |
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