Although quite a small and compact county, without any natural barrier like sea or mountains, there has always been a very real sense of locality and a very characteristic way of life in Bedfordshire. From the Roman period to the present day, from the Ouse to the Chilterns, from Woburn Abbey to Chicksands Priory, from Luton to Dunstable, from John Bunyan to the Dukes of Bedford, the county's individuality is everywhere.