Church of St Mary, Studham

Studham is a village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It has a population of 1,182. The parish bounds to the south of the Buckinghamshire border, and to the east is the Hertfordshire border. The village lies in the wooded south facing dip slope of the Chiltern Hills. The hamlet of Holywell is located to the north of Studham, and forms part of the same civil parish. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Estodham. Studham's church celebrated its millennium in 1997. The ancient parish of Studham straddled the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire border. It also had a detached part known as Humbershoe which lay to the east of the rest of the parish, which contained the north-western part of the village of Markyate. Humbershoe became a separate civil parish in 1866, and was separated from the ecclesiastical parish of Studham in October 1877 when it was included in the new ecclesiastical parish of St John Markyate Street. In December 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, the parish of Studham was partitioned into two parts, one on each side of the county border. The Studham (Bedfordshire) parish was included in the Luton Rural District, whilst the Studham (Hertfordshire) parish was included in the Markyate Rural District. The two parishes were re-united as a single parish less than three years later, in September 1897, when the Studham (Hertfordshire) parish was transferred from Hertfordshire to Bedfordshire.The village currently has two pubs, the older of which, The Bell, is considered to have been in existence before the English Civil War. In the early 20th century, work to make safe the old well in the pub garden revealed discarded or hidden civil war weapons. In the early evening of 23 May 1948 an ex-RAF Handley Page Halifax, registered G-AIZO, and operated by Bond Air Services Ltd. carrying a cargo of apricots from Valencia, Spain, crashed at Studham.

Holywell is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The settlement is close to Whipsnade and Studham, and Holywell forms part of the Studham civil parish (where the 2011 Census population was included). Holywell is also located close to the county border with Hertfordshire.

Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) south-south-west of Dunstable on the top of the Dunstable Downs, which drop away steeply to the south of the village.

Landpark Wood is a 3.6-hectare (8.9-acre) nature reserve near Whipsnade in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.This wood has mature beech trees, hornbeam, oak and ash. The understorey is hazel and hawthorn, with bluebells, yellow archangel and woodruff. Birds include woodpeckers and nuthatches.The wood is on the corner of Dunstable Road and Land Park Lane.

Whipsnade Tree Cathedral is a 9.5-acre (3.8 ha) garden in the village of Whipsnade in Bedfordshire, England. It is planted in the approximate form of a cathedral, with grass avenues for nave, chancel, transepts, chapels and cloisters and "walls" of different species of trees. The tree cathedral was planned by Edmond Blyth in the 1930s as an act of "Faith, hope and reconciliation" in response to his memories of World War I. As a cadet at Sandhurst in 1916 Blyth had made close friends called Arthur Bailey, John Bennett and Francis Holland who were all killed prior to the end of the war. In 1930 he paid a visit to Liverpool Cathedral, which was then under construction. Blyth wrote: "As we drove south through the Cotswold hills on our way home... I saw the evening sun light up a coppice of trees on the side of a hill. It occurred to me then that here was something more beautiful still and the idea formed of building a cathedral with trees." Work began in 1932 and continued in stages. The site became overgrown during World War II, but development recommenced after the end of the war. The first religious service at the site was held in 1953, and services continue to this day. In 1960 the Tree Cathedral was accepted as a gift by the National Trust. The independent Whipsnade Tree Cathedral Fund is responsible for the religious use of the site. Services have been conducted by many different denominations. It is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.The Tree Cathedral contains chapels meant for each of the four seasons.

Sallowsprings is a 1.3-hectare (3.2-acre) nature reserve in Whipsnade in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.This site was formerly a caravan park, and it is now a traditional hay meadow. A rich variety of flowers includes common knapweed, bluebells and cowslips. An ancient hedgerow has a variety of shrubs such as holly.There is access from the road called Sallowsprings.

Whipsnade Zoo, formerly known as ZSL Whipsnade Zoo and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, is a zoo and safari park located at Whipsnade, near Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of two zoos (the other being London Zoo in Regent's Park, London) that are owned by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.

The Great Whipsnade Railway, also known as The Jumbo Express, is an English, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge heritage railway that operates within ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, England.

Kensworth is a village and civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish is located on the edge of Dunstable Downs, and includes the hamlets of California and Kensworth Lynch.The parish was originally located in Hertfordshire but was transferred to Bedfordshire in 1897. Today the village contains a primary school, a village hall, 2 churches, 2 shops and 1 pub. Kensworth Chalk Pit is a working quarry and is the biggest employer in the parish. The pit is owned and mined by Cemex, but has also been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest by Natural England.The Church of St Mary is located in the village. Kensworth Parish Council administers some local services and facilities in the parish, including a village recreation ground and a provision of allotments. The council has 9 members who are elected every 4 years.

Dunstable Downs are part of the Chiltern Hills, in southern Bedfordshire in England, located near (and named after) the town of Dunstable. They are a chalk escarpment forming the north-eastern reaches of the Chilterns. At 243 m (797 ft), Dunstable Downs are the highest point in the county of Bedfordshire.Because of its elevation, Dunstable Downs hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth during the years 1808 to 1814.Whipsnade Zoo has cut an enormous lion shape into the chalk on the side of one of the hills. The lion can be seen from the B489 (Aylesbury to Dunstable road). The downs are used by gliders, kite fliers, hang gliders and paragliders in the area because of their height. The London Gliding Club is based at the foot of the downs. Much of the downs is managed by the National Trust as part of the Dunstable Downs & Whipsnade Estate property.

Dagnall is a village in the parish of Edlesborough, in Buckinghamshire, England. The place name is derived from the Old English for "Daegga's Knoll". In manorial rolls of 1196 it was listed as Dagenhale. The spelling Dagenhale appears in a legal record of 1450. Thomas Bradwater is listed as a husbandman of the place.Dagnall is in the Chiltern Hills and in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is next to the Ashridge Estate, owned and managed by The National Trust. House prices are significantly higher than average, in common with comparable locations in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Kensworth Chalk Quarry is a 131.3-hectare (324-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Kensworth in Bedfordshire. It was notified under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the local planning authority is Central Bedfordshire.The site is a large working quarry which exposes fossiliferous chalk rocks of the late Cretaceous, with many rare fossils including ammonites. Natural England describes it as "an unrivalled locality for stratigraphic studies in the Upper Cretaceous". It is a Geological Conservation Review site, and one succession of layers is the stratotype for the "Kensworth Nodular Chalk Member".There is no public access.