Dunstable Downs is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (as Blow's Downs). Dunstable Downs Dunstable Downs are part of the Chiltern Hills, in southern Bedfordshire in England. They are a chalk escarpment forming the north-eastern reaches of the Chilterns. At 797 ft (243 m), Dunstable Downs are the highest point of the county of Bedfordshire. Because of its elevation, Dunstable Downs hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth during the years 1808 to 1814. Whipsnade Zoo has cut an enormous lion
Gerald Durrell faced in this period can be found in "Fillets of Plaice". His call-up for the war came in 1943, but he was exempted from military duty on medical grounds, and asked to serve the war effort by working on a farm. After the war, Durrell joined Whipsnade Zoo as a junior or student keeper. This move fulfilled a lifelong dream: Durrell claims in "The Stationary Ark" that the first word that he could enunciate with any clarity was "zoo". "Beasts in My Belfry" recalls events of this period. Durrell left Whipsnade Zoo in May 1946 in order to join wildlife