It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckinghamshire to the west.

Bedfordshire was historically divided into nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbornestoke, Stodden, Willey, Wixamtree, along with the liberty and the ancient borough of Bedford.

The remainder forms part of the broad drainage basin of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries.

Glacial erosion of chalk has left hard flint nodules deposited as gravel—these have been commercially extracted in the past at pits which are now lakes: at Priory Country Park, Wyboston and Felmersham.

Bedfordshire, being situated in the east of England, has a relatively dry climate for the UK with regular but generally moderate rainfall.

[13] This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Bedfordshire at current basic prices published (pp.

Bedfordshire is the location of a number of notable UK and international companies who have either headquarters or major bases in the county.

The "Bedfordshire clanger" is a local dish consisting of a suet crust pastry filled with meat in one end and a fruit preserve in the other.

Bedfordshire lies on many of the main transport routes which link London to the Midlands, Northern England and the rest of the UK.

The Bedfordshire section of the A5 now runs from junction 11a of the M1 to rejoin Watling Street between Dunstable and Hockliffe, then continues on to cross the Buckinghamshire border at the City of Milton Keynes.

The East Coast Main Line has stations at Arlesey, Biggleswade and Sandy, served by Great Northern services to King's Cross and Peterborough.

There are London North Western rural services also running between Bedford and Bletchley along the Marston Vale Line.

[20] Luton Airport (the fifth busiest in the United Kingdom) has flights to many UK, European, Middle Eastern and North African destinations, operated largely (but not exclusively) by low-cost airlines.

The three-tier arrangement continued in the rest of the county, though in 2006 a vote was held with a view to moving to the two-tier model, but this was rejected.

However as of 2020 all of Bedford Borough has a two-tier education structure apart from in the Marston Vale area (one upper school remains).

Since falling out of their intended use, one has been used for many purposes including housing film sets for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Batman Begins' and as a rehearsal space for Take That, with the other having been extensively refurbished and now accommodating Hybrid Air Vehicles, a British modern airship design and manufacturing company.

Located on St Paul's Square, it is a large medieval and later church of cathedral proportions and spire.

[citation needed] The Millbrook Proving Ground, near Junction 13 of the M1, has 70 kilometres (43 miles) of varied vehicle test tracks.