Kings Wood and Glebe Meadows, Houghton Conquest

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.

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.

Houghton House is a ruined mansion house in the parish of Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire. It is a Grade I listed building, positioned above the surrounding countryside, and commands excellent views. Built from 1615 to 1621, it is said that the house was the model for House Beautiful in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678). It was abandoned in 1794 and stripped (by the owner) of its interiors and roof for sale as building supplies. Today the property is owned by English Heritage, and is open to free public access during daylight hours.

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.

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.

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 Ailesbury Mausoleum situated in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Maulden, in Bedfordshire, is a Grade II listed structure built in 1656 by Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599–1663) (father by his 1st wife of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin, 1st Earl of Ailesbury (1626-1685)), of nearby Houghton House in the parish of Maulden, for the purpose of housing the coffin and "splendid monument" of his second wife, Lady Diana Cecil (d. 1654), a daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter and widow of Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford. In the opinion of the architectural historian Sir Howard Colvin (1991) it is one of the first two free-standing mausoleums ever built in England, together with the Cabell Mausoleum at Buckfastleigh in Devon.

Maulden Church Meadow is a 4.1-hectare (10-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Maulden in Bedfordshire. It was notified in 1987 under section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the local planning authority is Central Bedfordshire Council. Most of it (3.3 hectares) is also a Local Nature Reserve, owned and managed by Central Bedfordshire Council.The site is unimproved pasture on the Lower Greensand Ridge. It is a scarce environment due to modern agricultural methods. Most of it is neutral grassland with many grass and herb species, and there are small areas of acidic grassland. An open pond has aquatic plants, while two ponds which have been filled in have a varied marsh vegetation. Hedges and trees provide shelter for butterflies and dragonflies. There are many anthills produced by yellow meadow ants.There is access from the end of Church Lane.

The National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitats (commonly abbreviated as NIRAH) was a planned freshwater public aquarium in Stewartby, Bedfordshire. Originally sited at a 100 hectare (250 acre) location, with an expected cost of £350 million, the project failed to meet its planned completion date in 2012. The site of the aquarium was sold in 2015, with an expected loss of £4 million.

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.