Homes to Rent and Buy in Pavenham

Pavenham is about six miles north-west of Bedford, on the River Great Ouse, with just over 700 people at the 2011 census. The village is a conservation area, and St Peter’s Church, first recorded in 1205, has a 14th-century tower and spire.

It’s a quiet, outdoorsy place. The Ouse Valley Way and the John Bunyan Trail pass the back of the Cock, the village pub, which is listed as an Asset of Community Value. Pavenham Park Golf Club has an 18-hole parkland course, and its clubhouse bar is open to non-members. Stevington Marsh and Pavenham Osier Beds are both Wildlife Trust nature reserves.

For a small village there’s a lot going on, with a village hall, tennis and cricket clubs, a sports pavilion, a football club founded in 2010 and a WI. The village school closed in 1983, so children go to schools in neighbouring villages.

Pavenham suits people who want a pretty riverside village and are happy to drive to Bedford.