Bedford Embankment

A Victorian riverside promenade along the River Great Ouse in Bedford, with gardens, tree-lined walks and the white Suspension Bridge. It's especially lovely in summer, when you can hire a boat or watch the rowing clubs, and it hosts the Bedford River Festival, one of the biggest outdoor events in the region, every two years in July.

Bedford is linked to John Bunyan, who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress while imprisoned here; the John Bunyan Museum tells his story. The town is an hour from London by train, and 30 minutes from Cambridge by car.