Bedford town centre is on the up, with the council planning a high street revamp.
If you are looking for a busy market town with fantastic schools and masses to do, then this ancient spot on the River Great Ouse could be an ideal choice.
Bedford town centre is full of shops, pubs, and restaurants, and there is a good supply of Victorian houses around it.
Trains to St Pancras International take from 41 minutes. An annual season ticket costs from £5,656.
You'll struggle to find a school in town without at least a "good" Ofsted report. And Priory Primary School, Renhold VC Primary School, Castle Newnham primary and St Thomas More Catholic Secondary School all get top marks from the schools' watchdog.
Why Bedford is tipped as one to watch in 2020
Why Bedford is tipped as one to watch in 2020
Bedford town centre is on the up. The council is about to embark on a project to upgrade slightly tatty but historic shops on the high street, while an upgrade of the dated Harpur Centre, the town's main mall, has just completed.
Work has already started on a new train link between Oxford and Cambridge, which will give Bedford new direct links to both cities over the next few years.
The pros: Bedford is a hotspot for quality Italian bars and restaurants thanks to the strong Italian population who came to the town in the Fifties.
Bedford Park is lovely, and every other year the Bedford River Festival attracts around a quarter of a million people to the town. There is an annual regatta, too.
The cons: although Bedford is very pretty around the river — an area known as Castle Quarter — the rest of the town centre is too modern to have a lot of character.
Average house prices in Bedford — and what there is to buy
Average house prices in Bedford — and what there is to buy
Property prices have been rising strongly in the MK40 postcode. An average home now costs £357,000 according to Rightmove, up from £250,000 five years ago.
On the river, you could pay well over £1 million for a waterfront home, but you could pick up a roomy family Victorian semi-close to the station for around half that.
Three-bedroom semis and terrace houses come in at around £220,000 to £300,000. You could buy a two-bedroom period conversion or purpose-built flat for less than £200,000.
