page_title: Wilstead
hierarchical_section_title: Wilstead
caption_attribution_description: English: Small parade of shops at the centre of Wilstead, Bedfordshire, UK. Close by are two pubs, The Woolpack and The Red Lion.
context_page_description: Wilstead is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, just off the A6 Bedford to Luton road, about five miles south of Bedford town centre, and within the Borough of Bedford. The name of the village has been spelled in many different ways, including Wilshamstead and Wylhamstead. Wilstead is now the usual name of the village, but the civil parish is named Wilshamstead. The council estimated the population of the parish at 2,550 in 2005. Most of the inhabitants live in the main village, but some live in other hamlets and isolated houses.
  Near the centre of the village are a small shop that incorporates a sub post office with a sorting office, two pubs, a pharmacy/convenience store, an Indian takeaway, a Chinese takeaway and a small used car lot. There is a primary school, a pre-school and two churches. Many allotments are close to the village playing fields.
  Leisure and community facilities include a modern village hall, as well as the Jubilee Centre / Multi Use Games Area and playgrounds located next to the primary school and off Long Meadow Drive. Wilstead Bowls Club for lawn bowling is located near the Jubilee Centre.
context_section_description: Wilstead is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, just off the A6 Bedford to Luton road, about five miles south of Bedford town centre, and within the Borough of Bedford. The name of the village has been spelled in many different ways, including Wilshamstead and Wylhamstead. Wilstead is now the usual name of the village, but the civil parish is named  Wilshamstead. The council estimated the population of the parish at 2,550 in 2005. Most of the inhabitants live in the main village, but some live in other hamlets and isolated houses.
  Near the centre of the village are a small shop that incorporates a sub post office with a sorting office, two pubs, a pharmacy/convenience store, an Indian takeaway, a Chinese takeaway and a small used car lot. There is a primary school, a pre-school and two churches. Many allotments are close to the village playing fields.
  Leisure and community facilities include a modern village hall, as well as the Jubilee Centre / Multi Use Games Area and playgrounds located next to the primary school and off Long Meadow Drive. Wilstead Bowls Club for lawn bowling is located near the Jubilee Centre.
  On the eastern edge of the village towards the A600 road is Herrings Green Activity Farm & Bird of Prey Centre.
  Housing types include traditional farms, older houses (including thatched cottages and several Listed Buildings) and more modern, estate-type housing. Dwellings on the estate are generally of a more spacious character than the most modern developments. There is also a mobile home park called Briar Bank Park on the southern end of the village.
  On the other (Western) side of the A6 is a large development of new, high density housing called Wixams. The new town is being developed in phases, with the first phase (Lakeview) originally located in the Wilshamstead civil parish, however a new Wixams civil parish was created for the area in 2015.
  The yearly "Wilstead Ball" takes place the first Saturday of July and is a formal black tie and ball gown event. Taking place in a marquee in the grounds of one of the larger houses in the village, the money made from the event is normally allocated to a charity of the organisers preference. In recent years the event has sold out within days of the tickets sales being announced.
caption: Wilstead shops - a convenience store & pharmacy, Indian takeaway and Chinese takeaway. Two pubs - The Woolpack and The Red Lion are close by
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D700", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.01", "Image DateTime": "2010:02:12 13:18:13", "Image Artist": "Giles Read", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Released under GFDL", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9023", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9147", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6144", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:02:12 13:38:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:02:12 13:38:58", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "9/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "58", "EXIF SubSecTime": "89", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "89", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "89", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1957", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "972", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8988", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "58", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}