Stotfold

Stotfold is in Bedfordshire, but the post says Hitchin, and plenty of the people who bought here are happy to let the envelope do the talking. Much of the town is new brick laid out in cul-de-sacs, the kind of estate where every phase looks like a sequel to the last one. The landmark everyone points at is the watermill on the Ivel, which has the widest waterwheel of its kind in the country, burned down in 1992 and was rebuilt by a preservation trust that apparently took the fire personally. That is roughly the local temperament: dependable, a little overbuilt, and in no hurry to impress anyone in Letchworth.