Where to Stay in Dunstable, England

What is Dunstable known for?

Most people arrive for Whipsnade Zoo, which sits out among the villages and pulls more visitors than anything inside Dunstable itself. The Downs are the other draw. Dunstable Downs carries a medieval warren on its slope, and the chalk escarpments there are the feature the town is recognised by from a distance.

The Romans were here first. Durocobrivis stood on this ground long before the market town did, and a site of Roman villa east of the church keeps that period on the record.

What are the main landmarks in Dunstable?

Durocobrivis is the oldest name here, a Roman settlement whose ground Dunstable later took, and the site of Roman villa east of the church belongs with it. Named houses fill out the list. Grove House, Orchard House, Chew's House, The Red House, Half Moon House and The Court House are named among the town's buildings, and Houghton Hall and Whipsnade House stand out in the parishes.

The Church of St Mary Magdalen and the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary take the ecclesiastical side, while the medieval warren on Dunstable Downs, the Thorn Spring moated site and Lancot Park sit in open ground.

What is the history of Dunstable?

Romans held this ground first. Durocobrivis stood where Dunstable stands, and the site of Roman villa east of the church shows that the settlement was more than a staging post on a road. Chalk explains the position.

The Chiltern Hills throw up steep escarpments here, most noticeable on the approach from the north, and a town on the flat below that edge sat where routes had to pass anyway. The market came after. Medieval Dunstable worked the land above it as much as the street below.

A medieval warren on Dunstable Downs and the Thorn Spring moated site with its woodbanks are both on the record, which is an unusual amount of surviving earthwork for a town of this size. The Church of St Mary Magdalen carries the parish line, and Chew's House, The Court House and Grove House show what the market town built for itself in later centuries. Houghton Regis grew into it.

Dunstable is the fourth largest town in Bedfordshire and, with Houghton Regis, forms the western part of the Luton and Dunstable urban area, which is how a market parish east of the Chiltern Hills ended up on the edge of a conurbation.

Where is Dunstable?

Escarpments make the approach. Dunstable lies east of the Chiltern Hills, thirty miles north of London, with several steep chalk faces that show most clearly when the town is reached from the north. The urban edge runs the other way.

Houghton Regis joins Dunstable to form the westernmost part of the Luton and Dunstable urban area, while Kensworth, Totternhoe and Whipsnade keep open country on the Bedfordshire side.

What is the climate of Dunstable?

Wind runs along the Downs. Dunstable sits in the northern temperate band below the chalk escarpment, and the open ground of Dunstable Downs catches whatever weather crosses the Chiltern Hills, so the top is colder than the street by a noticeable margin. Seasons are moderate.

Nothing in a Bedfordshire year runs to extremes, and the practical difference between one month and the next is how much of the escarpment view survives the cloud.

How do you get to Dunstable?

London lies thirty miles south. Dunstable is reached overland from that direction or across from Luton, whose urban area runs continuously into Houghton Regis and then into Dunstable itself. The Chilterns sit on the other flank.

Coming from the north the descent is obvious, since several steep chalk escarpments mark the approach, and the villages of Totternhoe, Kensworth and Whipsnade are reached by lane rather than by any faster road.