Homes to Rent and Buy in Stevington

Stevington is a small village on the Great Ouse, about four or five miles north-west of Bedford, with just over 550 people at the 2011 census. It’s a conservation area, and it won Best Kept Village four times between 1965 and 1985.

The windmill is what most people know it for. It’s a post mill dated 1770, Grade II* listed, and probably the last windmill in England working with four cloth-covered sails. It ground commercially until 1939 and was restored for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

St Mary the Virgin Church has a tower whose lowest section probably dates from the early 10th century, and just north of it is a holy well once thought to cure eye problems. John Bunyan is said to have preached at Meeting Farm. Kathy Brown’s garden at the Old Manor House opens to visitors on set days, and the Royal George on Silver Street is the village pub.

For walkers, the Stevington Country Walk follows the old railway line with views over the Ouse valley, and Stevington Marsh nature reserve is close by. There’s no school in the village, so families look to nearby Bromham, Oakley or Turvey.