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Bedford is famous for high standard of Public Schools, especially those supported by the Harpur Trust who attract students from around the World. Unlike most other parts of the country, local state schools are based on a three-tier system with Lower Schools (ages 5 to 9), Middle Schools (ages 9 to 13) and Upper Schools (ages 13 to 18). Bedford College provided education and training at vocational level, GCSE and A Level. DeMontfort University have locations in Bedford, with the Polhill Campus concentrating on Physical Education

The smallest of what are known as the 'Shire' counties. Bedfordshire has no cities but can boast the fine market towns of Bedford, Luton, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. The county covers 480 square miles of central southern England and has a populace of over 530,000 Amongst Bedfordshire's attractions are Whipsnade Park Zoo near Dunstable, which was opened in 1931 and caters each year to thousands of visitors from far and wide, and Woburn Abbey, the home of the Duke of Bedford. The county can be clearly divided between North and South, with the North being mainly agricultural and the South being mostly industrial, especially in the town of Luton. The village of Elstow in the north of the county was the birthplace of John Bunyan, author of the famous 'Pilgrim's Progress' which he penned whilst imprisoned in Bedford jail. Facts on the region Origin of name: Anglo-Saxon, Beda's Ford, or the river crossing. Name first recorded: 1011 as Bedanfordscir.

A clean, brisk town on the river Ouse dating back to Anglo-Saxon time and subject to many Danish raids. Bedfordshire's local government: Bedfordshire has two-tier structure excluding Luton which only has one - Luton District Council. For the rest Bedfordshire County Council sits on one level and three district councils, Bedford, Mid-Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire, on the second. Bedfordshire's Eaton Socon comes under both Huntingdonshire District and Cambridgeshire County Councils. Ickleford and Gaddesden are Bedfordshire detached in Hertfordshire served by that county. Ickleford by North Hertfordshire District and Gaddesden by Dacorum Distrct Councils.

The county stretches across the plain of the Ouse to the Chiltern Hills and most of the land is rich clay, which is why it has always been a great wheat-growing area. The county rises and falls in a series of gentle hills and valleys, from a flat, clay plain in the north through a belt of sandy hills stretching from Woburn to Sandy to a higher ridge of chalk downs in the south of the county, where the highest point of 801 feet is reached. Although Bunyan chose to translate the Chiltern Hills of the county into the "Delectable Mountains" for his epic PilgrimĂs Progress, a more sardonic local adage merely states that "Bedfordshire is a brickworks in the middle of cabbage patch".