Millbrook railway station (Bedfordshire)

Marston Vale is an area of Bedfordshire. It lies to the south west of Bedford and Kempston, near Junction 13 of the M1 motorway. Historically it was one of the main brickmaking districts in England, home of the London Brick Company, now a division of Hanson plc. The brickmaking activity left scars across the landscape of the Marston Vale as large tracts of land were dug for clay. Most of the claypits are now exhausted, and most of the brickmaking chimneys have been demolished. The legacy of the abandoned brickworks also adds to the impression that the Marston Vale has been despoiled by decades of industrial activity and it is now searching for a new identity. In more recent years the local authorities have taken the opportunity to reuse the clay pits for landfills at Stewartby and Brogborough, both of which are recently capped and closed down.

Millbrook Proving Ground is an English vehicle testing centre located at Millbrook, Bedfordshire. One of the largest vehicle testing centres in Europe, it is near to the M1 and Bedford.

Marston Moreteyne (or Marston Moretaine) is a large English village and civil parish located on the A421 between Bedford and Milton Keynes in the county of Bedfordshire. The population was 4,560 at the 2001 census, and 4,556 at the 2011 census. The village is served by Millbrook railway station, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) away on the Marston Vale Line. The place-name 'Marston Moretaine' is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 969, where it appears as Mercstuninga. It appears as Merestone in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name derives from the Old English mersc-tūn meaning 'town or settlement by a marsh'. It was held by the family of Moretaine, from Mortain in Normandy in France. Local roadsigns use either the "Moreteyne" and "Moretaine" spellings inconsistently. The official name of the civil parish was changed in 2018 from Marston Moretaine to Marston Moreteyne following a consultation by Central Bedfordshire Council.Sir Thomas Snagge lived in the village in the 16th century. He owned the manor of Marston Moreteyne.

Millbrook is a small village and civil parish near Bedford, England. It has a population of 130, increasing to 147 at the 2011 Census. Millbrook railway station, on the Marston Vale Line, is about two miles (3 km) from the village. The parish church, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, is Grade II* listed.The vale adjoining Millbrook is reputed to be the location that inspired the 'Slough of Despond' in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Millbrook is also home to the Millbrook Proving Ground and The Millbrook Golf Club, formerly Lyshott Heath Golf Club.

Stewartby railway station is a station on the London Northwestern Railway, which serves the Bedfordshire village of Stewartby in England. It is the nearest station to the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park.

Millbrook Priory was a priory in Bedfordshire, England. It was established in 1097 and disestablished in 1143. The little Priory of Beaulieu at Moddry, owned land at Millbrook, where originally a small cell had been founded by Nigel de Wast, as a cell of St. Albans, but when Beaulieu was founded, as a cell of St. Albans, the two cells, Beaulieu and Millbrook, were amalgamated.

Moreteyne Manor (previously known as Moat Farmhouse) is a 15th-century manor house in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, England. For many years it was used as a farmhouse but is now a country house restaurant. It is a Grade II* listed building.The house, originally built in the early 15th century but extended, modified and restored by 1800, is sited within a rectangular moat. It consists of a timber frame with brick infill and a clay tile roof. The crosswings at each end of the central hall are jettied at the first floor level.

Kimberley College (also known as STEM College) is a free school sixth form centre that opened in Stewartby, Bedfordshire, England in April 2014. The college is operated by Wootton Academy Trust, who also operate Wootton Upper School.Kimberley College specialises in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and offers a range of A levels and BTECs related to the specialisms. The college accepts students from Bedford, Bletchley and Milton Keynes, as well as the villages in between these areas.

Stewartby is a model village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, originally built for the workers of the London Brick Company. The village was designed and built to the plans of the company's architect Mr F W Walker, laid out on 'Garden City' principle, a later and more modern development than such better-known Victorian model villages as Saltaire. Started in 1926, Stewartby is also a later model than Woodlands which was first planned in 1905. The later retirement bungalow development of the 1950s and 1960s with the pavilion community centre in their midst was designed by the neo-Georgian architect Professor Sir Albert Richardson. Today, Stewartby parish also includes Kempston Hardwick.

Lidlington railway station serves the village of Lidlington in Bedfordshire, England. The station's two platforms once faced each other, either side of the double tracks. This has since been modified to have staggered platforms either side of the level crossing in order to reduce the time the barriers spend down. The former station building is now a private home.

Ampthill tunnel is a railway tunnel at Ampthill on the Midland Main Line, being positioned between Bedford and Flitwick. It consists of two separate bores, each one accommodating double-track throughout. The first Ampthill Tunnel was built during the 1860s; growing demand on the line led to the original double-track configuration being inadequate for further growth. Thus, during the 1890s, a second Ampthill Tunnel was constructed directly alongside, facilitating the Midland Railway's expansion plans of running a quadruple-track arrangement between Kettering and London wherever practical to do so. Both bores have remained active through to the present day. During mid 2012, Ampthill Tunnel was subject to a series of high speed evaluation runs, including a record maximum speed for the route of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h); in the following year, the line speeds were increased to 125 mph along much of the Midland Main Line.

Lidlington is a small village and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England surrounded by farmland, in the Marston Vale. The hamlets of Boughton End and Thrupp End are also part of the parish. The village has an unusual Gothic-style church built by the Duke of Bedford in 1845 and a thatched pub on its High Street. Lidlington is set on the Southern part of the vale's 'basin'. The village has a lower school for 5–9 year olds named after Thomas Johnson, a Dick Whittington-type character who was Lord Mayor of London in 1840–41. Brogborough Lake (also known as Lidlington Lake) at the edge of the village is popular for birdwatching and fishing. The lake is also used for windsurfing and stand up paddle surfing. The nearby landfill site (which was known as Brogborough Landfill site) was the largest landfill in Europe before closing to new deposits in 2009. With a population of about 1300 voters and over 500 homes, Lidlington is defined as a small village. It has a village hall, a pub, a hairdresser and a general store, plus a "farm store" on the A421. Lidlington has retained a daily doorstop milk and newspaper delivery service, but has lost its village post office. The village also has a single congregation Anglican/Baptist/Methodist church, members of which worship regularly in the chapel. The village lies between the main A421 Bedford to Milton Keynes road and the A507 Ampthill to Woburn road. Lidlington railway station is on the Marston Vale Line which gives good access for walkers along the Greensand Ridge long-distance footpath which passes nearby the village. Local speculation is that the ridge was the model for the "Delectable Mountains" in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Lidlington Hill may also be Bunyan's "Hill of Difficulty". Lidlington is adjacent to the site of the Millbrook Proving Ground (formerly the Vauxhall test track), which is distinguishable from the air by its large circular track. To the north of the Parish of Lidlington is Cranfield Airport, used by small aircraft and for training flights. To the west of the village at the former brick works is a business park which is home to Amazon.com UK. The former brickworks to the east of the village are known as Lidlington Pit and forms part of the regeneration of the Forest of Marston Vale area. Like many other villages in the area it was formerly part of the Duke of Bedford's estate. Hence some London place names e.g. Bedford Square, Russell Square, Eversholt Street, Woburn Place and in Camden, NW1, Lidlington Place can be found near Mornington Crescent underground station.Lidlington United currently play in the Bedfordshire Football League Premier Division after being promoted in three successive seasons. The village also has a cricket team, and all-weather tennis courts at the recreation ground. Lidlington is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The entry reads Litinclitone: Abbess of Barking. In April 2008 the area was listed as a site for the Government's 'ECO-town' competition. In July 2008 the brownfield locations for the 'ECO-town' were dropped in favour of using the prime farmland surrounding Lidlington. Early in 2009 the developers' plans for an 'ECO-town' were dropped.