DDL

What is Milton Keynes like? Is it the type of place a professional couple in their late 40s (no children) might find desirable? What are its strengths? weaknesses? Thank you!

Craftybanshee

Hi, we looked at relocating to MK when our son was small and spent a couple of days looking around at various houses etc. It was built in the 1960/70's on a grid system like in the US. It has a big shopping centre but we felt that MK wasn't for us in the end and we stayed in Kent.

Here's a couple of website links for your info., so you can find out more about Milton Keynes.

www.mkweb.co.uk

www.miltonkeynes.co.uk

www.thecentremk.com

HTH?

Always21

I have been looking at Milton Keynes as the house prices are not as astronomical as the rest of the south east. Does anyone know how much it would cost to commute by train from MK to London? I'm guessing it would be pretty extortionate.

Suzey

Personally I find it really boring - it's too sterile for me. The houses I've seen are typical of new builds in the UK which is OK if you like that kind of thing. Shopping centre is adequate. If you live there you need a car to get around really. I'd recommend a visit before you make a decision!

Suze

britvic

We like it and thinking of that way our selfs in 2 years. Good public transport, great shopping center, very clean and tidy, really like the grid road system, good night life. If your into oldworldy stuff pleanty of Village's not far from Milton Keynes. Good luck

Lynne

I moved to Newport Pagnell in 1979 when Milton Keynes was first starting out. I lived in Newport until 1995 when I moved to the USA. There are good and bad, like any place. The bad side is that Milton Keynes was designed to be an overflow City for London and in the early days the vast majority of the housing estates within the City were rented to people who moved from the East end of London and various other over crowded or, as the MKDC put it, "troubled areas".

When the MKDC was winding down, and they may have been dissolved by now, they sold off the majority of their rented housing to the owners or to private companies who continued to rent them out. They also introduced the shared ownership scheme as a way to encourage people to purchase their homes. The law firm I worked for was one of the firms that dealt with the sell off of the estates.

Around the time I left, many of the close Villages were slowly being engulfed into Milton Keynes and some lost their village identity. The crime rate was going up, but then that happens in any large populated city. Even living closeby in Newport Pagnell I noticed the crime rate has increased substantially in a small amount of time. We went from having a couple of part time police officers to a full time police station.

The one thing I did notice during the time I lived there was that many businesses came and went not only from an employment stand point but leisure too. The ice rink was opened, then closed, then opened, then closed and I understand has now reopened. Over the years I lived there many schemes were put forward but then withdrawn for unpublicized reasons. I am not sure if Richard Branson ever built the ski slope/leisure complex that was proposed.

The biggest complaint from many people at one time was the lack of things to do. This was simple because the majority of the population who lived there had come from areas where they were only a short drive from the center of London and all that went with it.

As for whether it is suitable for a couple in their 40's with no kids, a lot will depend on your leisure activities. My husband and I were both in our mid 30's when we left and most of our friends didn't have kids. For leisure pasttimes my husband and his buddies took part in competition clay pidgeon shooting and often shot at weekend in Sherington or at the Northampton Gun Club. There is plenty of fishing although a fishing license will cost you an arm and a leg. There were plenty of good places to eat so our leisure time was spent dining out with friends or cooking at home. Both my husband and I were members of the NP Christmas Lights Committee, we played badminton at Stantonbury Leisure Center and, had we been interested at the time, probably would have played hockey at the ice rink. We regularly went bowling as well.

A lot does depend on your interests. I loved the time I lived in Newport Pagnell. Good luck.

Suzey

There is one, called Xscape (sp?) but I'm not sure if that's an RB venture or not. Within the same complex there is a new cinema, rock climbing wall etc.

The old cinema has been taken over by RB's mate Stelios!

Suze

sibsie

Do they still have the infamous concrete cows there?

britvic

Yes, there's only 4 of them in a field, and you really have to hunt for them to see em

DDL

Thanks to everyone who responded!

gruffbrown

Just don't.....that's all I can say

dbd33

Bill Bryson said MK must have been built by someone who heard about America on the radio and that's just about right. All the sterility of, say, Plano and you have to pay to park. A dreadful place.

Tooanfrom

You beat me to it-but then why would they want the bloody things anyway?
Probably by now they have been graffiteed and vandalised to death.

Squirrel

A lady on AmericanExpats who lived in CA for 18 years with her Brit hubby moved to MK a year or 2 ago. She loves in there. Says the schooling is better for her dyslexic son--wouldn't move back to CA now.

ozzieeagle

A great number of my family, Grandparents, uncles, aunts cousins, probably about 6 family units moved up to MK, Stony Stratford actually back in '77. I was about 20 years old then, it was new, sterile, spartan, and the locals which outnumbered the new arrivals, were not welcoming at all. I hated the place with a Vegance, and moved back to South London, on my lonesome, within about 10 months, for the first time outside of my family unit.

I migrated to Aussie in 1980, and revisited MK in 87, the local shops had barred up windows, there was grafitte everywhere, yobs hanging around on corners, it felt unsafe, unkempt, and souless.

My family and I just revisited the place again, I was amazed, the trees had grown, all 1 million plus of them, the roads looked fantastic with the walls of lush tall greenery. The shopping centre, complete with snowdome, and numerous other outlets of interest were far superior to anything and I mean anything I've seen in Aussie. The canals and clear clean rivers are full of fish. The place drips affluence. no more graffiti, I can't beleive the fact that it is actually enticing !!!!, From the thatched roofs of Simpson village, to the old world charm of Stony stratford, to the clear roads, compared to the rest of England. To the almost Zero unemployment. MK has came of age, and hats off to the people that envisaged this fantastic finished Project.

It certainly changed my Mind.