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
Joan Beauchamp Procter The track she followed still exists within Whipsnade Zoo, named in her memory, as "Miss Joan’s Ride". Joan Procter's involvement with large, potentially dangerous animals continued in her final years. At Whipsnade she had a close encounter with an escaped brown bear, which she captured by enticing it with some honey before shutting it in a lavatory. Towards the end of her life, when she could only get around the grounds of London Zoo in an electric wheelchair, she was still often accompanied by a 3 metre long Komodo dragon on a leash. Although seriously ill, she continued to work