Ampthill & Millbrook

Ampthill sits on the Greensand Ridge in Central Bedfordshire and functions as a market town with a compact centre of shops, cafés and civic buildings. The town adjoins Ampthill Great Park, a sweep of parkland and wood pasture sloping from the ridge; the park contains a medieval deer park and a series of tree-lined rides that shape views across the town. Streets near the market square keep a strong sense of local trade and community events; housing around the ridge steps down into terraces and lanes that link the town to surrounding farmland.

Millbrook lies a short distance south of Ampthill and retains a village scale and a network of lanes and waterways that reflect its name. On the village edge sits Millbrook Proving Ground, a large vehicle testing complex whose tracks and test facilities are a regular presence in local land use and employment. The two settlements share services and schools and form a local cluster where rural landscapes meet small-town functions, with footpaths and bridleways connecting fields, hedgerows and the parkland around Ampthill.