{"id":104067,"date":"2019-02-15T23:30:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T16:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/bedford-nicer-than-you-might-think-and-with-hidden-depths\/"},"modified":"2019-02-16T00:03:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T17:03:27","slug":"bedford-nicer-than-you-might-think-and-with-hidden-depths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/bedford-nicer-than-you-might-think-and-with-hidden-depths\/","title":{"rendered":"Bedford: nicer than you might think \u2013 and with hidden depths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#013;<br \/>\nSo perfect that the \u2018daughter of God\u2019 bought a home in one of the redbrick terracesWhat\u2019s going for it? You might have thought of Bedford, if you\u2019d thought of Bedford at all, as a perfectly respectable place. Good schools. Lovely parks. Smashing Victorian redbrick houses. Great train links. Surprisingly cosmopolitan (one of the most ethnically diverse towns in the country). Ooh, the Cecil Higgins Gallery, with its Edward Bawdens. That lovely waterfront. Great place to bring up kids. But Mabel Barltrop had other ideas. In 1919 she declared herself \u201cdaughter of God\u201d, as you do, and with her pals in the Community of the Holy Ghost bought one of those redbrick terraces as a home for Christ when he materialised, perhaps outside Marks &amp; Spencer. Mabel waited, and she waited. And waited. You can visit the museum of Mabel\u2019s Panacea Society, in the terraces cupped round what they thought was the true location of the Garden of Eden. Bedford\u2019s like that. Hidden depths. I haven\u2019t even mentioned John Bunyan and all his visions. The case against The town centre is suffering rather from high-street fatigue. It could do with a shot of energy. Continue reading&#8230;&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource : theguardian.com&#013;<br \/>\nRead more&#8230;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/money\/2019\/feb\/15\/lets-move-to-bedford-bedfordshire\" target=\"_blank\">Bedford: nicer than you might think \u2013 and with hidden depths<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#013; So perfect that the \u2018daughter of God\u2019 bought a home in one of the redbrick&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-r4v","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15178,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/lets-move-to-nantwich-cheshire\/","url_meta":{"origin":104067,"position":0},"title":"Let\u2019s move to Nantwich, Cheshire","date":"July 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\r This pretty commuter town is a prosperous place, bursting with cafes and redbrick town housesWhat\u2019s going for it? 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According to a Halifax housing survey this week, an estimated 40,000 homes in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Property News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":163319,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/right-to-buy-in-reverse-how-brighton-is-tackling-its-social-housing-crisis-richard-partington\/","url_meta":{"origin":104067,"position":4},"title":"Right to buy in reverse: how Brighton is tackling its social housing crisis | Richard Partington","date":"October 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The council is rolling back Thatcher\u2019s flagship policy by buying stock from private landlords. 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