Pirton, Hertfordshire

Knocking Hoe is a 7.7 hectare National Nature Reserve and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is mentioned in A Nature Conservation Review. It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is managed by Natural England.The site is a flat bottomed valley with steep sides. The unimproved chalk grassland has several nationally rare plants, including moon carrot, spotted catsear, field fleawort, burnt tip orchid and pasque flower. There are also a variety of wild flowers such as the autumn lady’s tresses, which has been studied on the site for over fifty years. The ancient strip lynchet field system is of archaeological interest.There is access by a footpath from Hitchin Road in Pegsdon.

Yeshivas Toras Chessed is a Jewish yeshiva, or rabbinical school. Its curriculum focuses on Torah study, emphasizing the study of Talmud and Jewish law. It is based in Wellbury House, Great Offley, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. Previously Wellbury House had been a private school for Catholic boys aged 7 to 13.Founded in about 1989, the yeshiva follows the Ashkenazi Orthodox ritual and is affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. The yeshiva has about 200 students on a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site.

Holwell is a small village and a civil parish two miles north of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England, near the Bedfordshire border. The parish was historically part of Bedfordshire, being transferred to Hertfordshire on 30 September 1897. At the 2011 Census the population of the village was 361. The church is unusual and, although largely rebuilt, retains some Perpendicular features and an interesting brass to Richard Wodehouse. The school, almshouses, and rectory are all in a similar Tudor style erected in the 1830s, but are no longer in use and have been converted into housing. Fragments of early wall paintings and wooden mullioned windows have been discovered in the mediaeval timber-framed Church Farmhouse. It is not to be confused with Holwell Court, near Essendon, also in Hertfordshire, or "Hole-well"; the fictional well in which 'wholesome' children would fall as described in the brothers' Grimm Fairy Tales.

The Shillington Hoard is a Roman coin hoard found in Shillington, Bedfordshire in 1998. It consisted of 127 gold aurei, the latest of which was from 79 AD. The coins were issued by Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.Metal detectorists Shane Pyper and Simon Leete discovered 123 aurei in October 1998. They also found a much smaller hoard of seven silver denarii a few metres away. In September 1999, Pyper and Leete found a further four aurei and eleven denarii, making a total of 127 aurei and 18 denarii. Ten of the denarii are Republican, and one was of Hadrian from 128 AD, so the relationship between the gold and silver hoards is uncertain.The coins appear to have been deposited without intention of recovery, perhaps as a votive offering at a Romano-Celtic temple. They are now on display at the Wardown Park Museum in Luton.

Oughtonhead Common is a 17.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve in the Westmill district of Hitchin, Hertfordshire. It is owned and managed by North Hertfordshire District Council. and home to the Oughtonhead Common nature reserve.The River Oughton flows along the edge of the site with the Common lying on its floodplain. A layer of sedge and wood peat up to a metre thick underlies the floodplain. The Common supports a wide variety of wildlife habitats. It is grazed by English Longhorn cattle, and there is a football pitch. The Friends of Oughtonhead Common assist with maintaining the site. It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In 2022, Oughtonhead Common was awarded a Green Flag for the seventh consecutive year.

Stondon is a civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish includes the settlements of Lower Stondon and Upper Stondon. The name "Stondon" derives from the Saxon word meaning Stone Hill. The parish itself however was only created in 1985 after an amalgamation of the Lower and Upper Stondon civil parishes.Stondon is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The entry is as follows: Standone: St Benedict's of Ramsey; Engelhere from Azelina, Ralph Tailbois' wife. Its services consist of a golf club and bistro, several hairdressers, a transport museum, Stondon Lower School and more.

Upper Stondon is a village in Bedfordshire, England, part of the wider Stondon civil parish. Upper Stondon is a very small settlement with few amenities. However, the village of Lower Stondon and nearby Henlow Camp have extensive local amenities and services.

Lower Stondon is a small village in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is located close to the border with Hertfordshire, around 2.5 miles (4 km) south-west of Henlow. It is part of the larger Stondon civil parish, which at the 2001 Census had a population of approximately 2,000 increasing to approximately 2,300 at the 2011 Census. The A600 road from Hitchin to Bedford runs close to the village, while the nearest railway station is Arlesey on the East Coast Main Line.

Shillington is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. In the south of the parish the hamlet of Pegsdon includes the Pegsdon hills nature reserve and is a salient of the county into Hertfordshire. Since 1985 its administration has included the village of Higham Gobion, south-west on the minor road leading to the main north–south road in the district, the A6. It has a population of 1,831 and is centred midway between stopping services railway stations on the Midland Main Line and East Coast Main Line 6 miles (9.7 km) away. Farmland and hedgerows forms 95% of the land use and to the south and north of the boundaries is intermittent woodland.

Oughtonhead Lane is a 0.9-hectare (2.2-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The local planning authority is North Hertfordshire District Council. The site has been identified as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review.The site probably dates to the Hoxnian interglacial 420,000 to 300,000 years ago. It was then a marsh fed by springs, and it has a tufa which contains fossil land snails and mammal bones which show the climate and local environmental conditions.The site is a public lane and a shallow trench would be required to expose the geology.

Deacon Hill SSSI is a 35.4-hectare (87-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is part of the Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit nature reserve, managed by Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.The site is calcareous grassland which is rich in plant species, some of which are uncommon. Birds include lapwings and buzzards, and there are butterflies such as dingy and grizzled skippers. There are also the remains of ancient strip lynchet fields.The SSSI covers part of Deacon Hill and part of the adjacent Pegsdon Hills. This is a remnant of semi-natural chalk downland and the calcareous soil supports a characteristic range of grasses and herbs. The main grasses present are sheep’s fescue, false oat-grass and upright brome. Forbs found here include spring sedge, autumn gentian, yellow-wort, fragrant orchid, common spotted-orchid, common milkwort, common rock-rose, cowslip, eyebright, clustered bellflower, harebell, carline thistle, wild thyme, marjoram and moschatel. There are also wild candytuft, field fleawort and pasque flower, all of which are rare in Bedfordshire.There is also some scrubland, the main trees being hawthorn, which often invades chalk downland, a buckthorn and wayfaring tree, with black bryony and old man's beard; false-brome usually dominates the ground flora in scrubby areas. There are glowworms, and grizzled skipper and dingy skipper butterflies.There is access to the site from Hitchin Road.

Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit is a 79-hectare (200-acre) nature reserve in Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The site is on the border between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and it covers Pegsdon Hills and part of the adjacent Deacon Hill in Bedfordshire, and Hoo Bit in Hertfordshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of the site is designated by Natural England as the Deacon Hill SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).The site has wildflower meadows in chalk hills, including orchids and moschatels. There are butterflies such as dingy and grizzled skippers, Birds include wheatears and skylarks, and herbs such as marjoram and wild thyme. Hoo Bit is a flower meadow surrounded by woodland.There is access from Hitchin Road.