Houghton House

Cut-throat Meadow is a 1.5 hectare nature reserve in Ampthill in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.The reserve is in three separate areas off Ailesbury Road. There is a steeply sloping meadow area at the corner of Ailesbury Road and Church Street, a steeply sloping wood at the corner of Ailesbury Road and Snow Hill, and a pond between Rushbrook Close and Manton Close.Meadow saxifrage and field woodrush flower in the spring in the meadow area, and invertebrates include grasshoppers and bush crickets. The main trees in the wood are beech and scots pine, with an understorey of hawthorn, yew and hazel. The pond has reedmace and celery-leaved buttercup, and there are water boatmen and pond skaters on the surface.

Kings Wood and Glebe Meadows is a 36.1-hectare (89-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest in Houghton Conquest in Bedfordshire. A local teenage boy, Peter Sollars, discovered many rich communities of plants there, including a number of rare species, e.g. Butcher's Broom, Small Teasel and Green Hellebore in the wood, and combinations of Lady's Bedstraw, Spiny Restharrow, Great Burnet, Adders Tongue Fern and Cowslips in the meadows. The County Botanist at the time, John Dony, was notified of his findings, which were confirmed by a site visit with Peter . The site was notified in 1984 under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the planning authority is Central Bedfordshire. It is also a Local Nature Reserve.This site has ash and maple woodland on heavy clay, a habitat which has become rare in lowland England. It is biologically diverse, with a number of rare species. Several plants are indicative of ancient woodland, such as wood melick and wood anemone. Glebe Meadows has a rich variety of species due to its traditional management, and there are also some small ponds and mature hedgerows.There is access by a footpath from Rectory Lane.

How End is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The settlement is close to the larger villages of Stewartby and Houghton Conquest. How End forms part of the Houghton Conquest civil parish.

Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered by Ampthill Town Council. The ward of Ampthill which also includes Maulden and Clophill has an estimated population of 13,280 and is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council.

The town of Ampthill in Bedfordshire, England was administered as a Local Government District from 1893 to 1894 and an Urban District from 1894 to 1974. Prior to 1893 the town had formed part of the Ampthill Rural Sanitary District, which had been created in 1875 covering the same area as the Ampthill Poor Law Union. On 18 February 1893 a Local Government District was established for the town, covering the whole parish of Ampthill, removing it from the Ampthill Rural Sanitary District. The first meeting of the new Local Board was held on 14 April 1893 at the town's courthouse on Church Street.Under the Local Government Act 1894, Local Government Districts became Urban Districts from 31 December 1894.

Ampthill Park and Ampthill Park House is a country estate in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England. The park was opened to the public after the Second World War.From the 14th century Ampthill Park was a royal lodge and hunting park. In the 15th century it was occupied by Sir John Cornwall, who had married the king's sister, Elizabeth of Lancaster, Duchess of Exeter. Sir John amassed a large fortune and constructed Ampthill Castle, a fortified house. After his death Ampthill Park passed to Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent before becoming royal property again. Henry VIII used it for hunting and to hold Katherine of Aragon during the annulment of their marriage. By 1600 the castle was ruinous and in 1661 the park was given by Charles II to John Ashburnham, a Royalist supporter.The present house was built from 1687-1689 by architect Robert Grumbold for the Ossory family who held the estate under lease. In the late 1700s the house was remodelled by Sir William Chambers and the grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. On the death of Lord Upper Ossory on 13 February 1818, Ampthill Park became the seat of Lord Holland in whose time Holland House in Kensington, London, became famous as a gathering place for intellectuals. It was home to Sir James Parke, Baron Wensleydale, until 1868, and from 1885 was the residence of Lady Ampthill. Notable 20th-century architect Sir Albert Richardson lived in Ampthill from 1919 until his death in 1964. During World War II the estate was occupied by the army. There was a farming camp near Ampthill, where volunteers recovered sugarbeet and were accommodated in tents in the grounds. After the war it was sold to Bovril Limited, becoming a Cheshire Home for the Disabled in 1955. In 1979, the mansion was rescued from dereliction and divided into four large homes. It is a grade II* listed building. The park is listed grade II.Ampthill Park was the burial place for the golden hare in the Kit Williams treasure hunt Masquerade. Ampthill Park House should not be confused with the former Ampthill House, which was demolished in 1953. The site of Ampthill House 52.031301679473806°N 0.48887789156448314°W / 52.031301679473806; -0.48887789156448314 (Ampthill House location) was developed for housing along today's Church Avenue in Ampthill town.

Church of All Saints is a Grade I listed church in Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire, England. It became a listed building on 23 January 1961. The parish church, dedicated to All Saints, was built during the 14th century. There are also several monuments. Houghton Conquest's rectory was united with that of Houghton-Gildable in 1637, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln. It was under the patronage of the Master and Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge.On 4 October 2018 it was reported that the entire lead roof had been stolen.

Ampthill was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It entirely surrounded but did not include the urban district of Ampthill. The district had its origins in the Ampthill Rural Sanitary District. This had been created under the Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1875, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing Boards of Guardians of Poor Law Unions.Under the Local Government Act 1894, Rural Sanitary Districts became Rural Districts from 28 December 1894. The link with the Poor Law Union continued, with all the elected councillors of the Rural District Council being ex officio members of the Ampthill Board of Guardians. The first meeting of the new council was held on 3 January 1895 in the board room of the Ampthill Union Workhouse. The council's first chairman, Edward Crouch, had been the chairman of the previous Board of Guardians.In 1900 the district was significantly enlarged, when the neighbouring Woburn Rural District was abolished, with the majority of the former Woburn district becoming part of the Ampthill Rural District. The council was granted a coat of arms in 1957.The rural district contained the following civil parishes. All the parishes added to the district in 1900 were from the abolished Woburn Rural District:

Ampthill Town Football Club is a football club based in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England. The club are currently members of Spartan South Midlands League Division One and play at Ampthill Park. They are affiliated to the Bedfordshire County Football Association.

Maulden is a village and civil parish located in the county of Bedfordshire. The village is located 1.5 miles east of Ampthill and about 8 miles (13 km) south of Bedford. It has about 1,250 homes and 3130 residents.Maulden is referred to in the Domesday Book as Meldone and the meanings ascribed to the various versions of the name include "cross on the hill", "high down" and "place of meeting". The village forms part of the Ampthill ward in the administrative area of Central Bedfordshire. An active Parish Council meets every five weeks - the clerk is Tracey Bearton.

The Forest of Marston Vale is an evolving community forest in Marston Vale, which runs south west from the towns of Bedford and Kempston in Bedfordshire, England towards the M1 motorway. It is operated by a registered charity called the Forest of Marston Vale Trust. The vale is traditionally a brickmaking area, but brickmaking industry has been running down since the 1970s. It has left a large amount of spoiled countryside containing several large empty pits some of which have now been converted into lakes. The Forest of Marston Vale is one of twelve of community forest projects in the United Kingdom. It was initiated by the Countryside Agency and the Forestry Commission, in partnership with Bedfordshire County Council, Mid Bedfordshire District Council, and Bedford Borough Council. The total area covered is 61 square miles (158 km2), but most of this land is in private ownership. There are incentives for landowners to plant trees, and the target for community forests in general is to reach 30% tree cover. The principal public open space in the Forest is Marston Vale is the Millennium Country Park which covers 2.5 km2 (1 mile2) and was opened in 2000. The park features several lakes including the large Stewartby Lake and extensive wetlands. There is a visitor centre called the Forest Centre, which has a Lakeside Cafe, shop, toilets and bike rental. According to the official website the park attracts around a quarter of a million visitors a year. There are plans to create a larger park of over 3 square miles (7.8 km2) to the east of Bedford, which will be called Bedford River Valley Park. On 26 January 2018, the UK Environmental Agency granted a permit to Covanta Energy Limited to operate what will be the UK's largest waste incinerator, next to the Forest. The effect of this development remains to be seen.

Houghton Conquest is a village and civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish also includes the hamlet of How End.