Sutton is a rural village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It lies east of Bedford. At the 2001 Census, its population was 299. Main features are the packhorse bridge over the Potton Brook, the adjacent ford, and the Grade I listed All Saints' Parish Church. Geography Sutton is just over south of Potton, and north-east of Biggleswade. Landscape Natural England has designated the area as part of The Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands (NCA 88). Central Bedfordshire Council has classified the local landscape as Dunton Clay Vale. Not technically a 'vale', it is used here to mean a transitional landscape between a valley and a plateau. Medium to large fields of cereal crops dominate the south and east of the parish. The limited woodland cover and incomplete or unhedged roads reveal an open, mostly flat or gently sloping landscape. To the west alongside the road to Deepdale are the woodlands of Millhouse Fen and Waterloo Wood, and a more recent plantation is north of the village at Pegnut Hill. Elevation The village centre is about above sea level. The land falls to at the parish's south-western boundary near Biggleswade Common and rises to at its north-western corner. Soil and geology The soils of the parish are of four types. The lower lying land to the south-west and around Potton Brook is loamy and sandy with naturally high groundwater and a peaty surface and texture. The higher land alongside the B1040 Biggleswade Road and on to the golf courses has a sandy texture and is freely draining and slightly acid. To the north of the village are freely draining, slightly acid loamy soils. The village centre and areas to the south and east have lime-rich loamy and clayey soils with impeded drainage. The geology of the south-west of the parish and around Potton Brook is alluvium. Western and northern areas are Lower Greensand. To the south is boulder clay and in the east is a belt of gault. The night sky and light pollution The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) divides the level of night sky brightness into 9 bands with band 1 being the darkest i.e. with the lowest level of light pollution and band 9 the brightest and most polluted. Sutton is in bands 3 and 4, with darker sky looking eastwards but brighter to the west. History The first written record of