Marlow

Just inside the Buckinghamshire border, Marlow and the surrounding area overflow with Thames-side prettiness. The unusual suspension bridge was built in the 1830s by William Tierney Clark, architect of the bridge linking Buda and Pest. Marlow has a number of striking old buildings, particularly the privately owned Georgian houses along Peter and West streets. In 1817 the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley stayed with friends at 67 West Street and then bought Albion House on the same street. His second wife, Mary, completed her Gothic novel Frankenstein here. Ornate Marlow Place, on Station Road, dating from 1721 is reputedly the finest building.