please empty your brain below
At the "Hang on, I'm still writing this up, be finished later" phase, I'm still waiting to discover if DG has chosen a too mountainous task: to make Milton Keynes sound interesting. (assuming he didn't try the ski slope)

Ham | Homepage | 09.11.08 - 9:35 a.m. | #

I've enjoyed the mystery tour - I would probably never ever have thought to visit Milton Keynes. Can't say I'll include it on the itinerary of any future trip over there, but at least I've seen what I'm missing.

Rose | Homepage | 09.11.08 - 10:41 a.m. | #

Milton Keynes was fine when it first opened. Then the Anti-Car brigate got in. Horrendous parking charges and over complicated coloured parking system. Toilets moved and carefully hidden. Deafening music in all the shops, juvenile shop assistants, litter and graffiti. Plethora of CCTV cameras - Don't go there!

Paul Aston | 09.11.08 - 10:43 a.m. | #

Very interesting, it's a place I went through on the InterCity many times and was always a bit curious what it was like. I distinctly remember being taught at school that the Keynes bit of the name came from the well-known economist, who was all the rage in the 60s. I don't know, the state of our education...

SELondoner | 09.11.08 - 10:43 a.m. | #

I am so glad you came to visit my home town! It is a fab place - yes, it has its problems and the rubbish shops now populating the centre is probably the main one! But as you say, the roads work well, the art is varied and therefore interesting and it is a very easy place to live. Especially if you actually live on the outskirts an easy walk to the open country side.

Sorry I didn't get you your cup of tea - you sounded as though you needed it!

Alix | 09.11.08 - 11:53 a.m. | #

If driving in MK you have to remember the "Vertical" roads go from North West to South East, and the "horizontal" roads go from South West to North East.

If using a compass to navigate MK strap a small magnet to the side and it works.

Invicta | 09.11.08 - 3:07 p.m. | #

I'm disappointed that the indoor sky-diving at the Xscape centre didn't make your post. Like the snowboarding / skiing, the fearful can watch the adventurous through a thick plate of glass. It seemed to be quite the local hangout.

clarissa | Homepage | 09.11.08 - 4:34 p.m. | #

As an ex-Londoner in Northampton, I'm quite fond of Milton Keynes. It's where people like me go when they want to buy something with the confidence of knowing that they'll be able to park at least somewhere and whatever it is they want will be in stock.

I'll agree that the town's grid system is baffling at first, but after a while you come to realise that you don't actually need to know where you are or where you're going relative to where you want to be. I still don't know the layout of MK that well, but I don't think I've ever got lost either.

Mo | Homepage | 09.11.08 - 5:38 p.m. | #

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Milton Keynes. As someone interested in urban design and planning I love MK, it's soo interesting and weird compared to everywhere else I've ever been.

As someone who likes history and organic towns I hate MK, it's so inhuman and needlessly big, the walk from the railway station to Xscape or the admitidly lovely Campbell Park is dizzying.

So I don't mind visiting every so often (I have friends in New Bradwell) but I would never want to live there.

Adam S | Homepage | 09.11.08 - 7:18 p.m. | #

Its a very beautiful place is MK. I used to live there in the early 90's and it seemed really exotic then. The parks are beautiful and the older estates like Netherfield and Coffee Hall really interesting. I used to love walking round, you would always come up against something interesting like the "the tin man" in Beanhill or a tricerotops in a field.

Simon | 09.11.08 - 7:46 p.m. | #

Adam,

MK is no more inhuman and needlessly big than any other city. The secret to its success is that people live in human scale communities, and yet have all the facilities of a major city on their doorstep. The place I lived was built beside a lovely lake. We had a pub, shop, doctor, and schools. We also had a full time community development officer and a very active community centre.

MK is not paradise, but its as successful an attempt at a planned city as you will find anywhere in the world. I would happily live there again.

Ian | 12.11.08 - 11:48 a.m. | #

Doesn't the Grand Union Canal wind its way through leafy MK?

dg writes: Yup

lee delta | Homepage | 12.11.08 - 9:53 p.m. | #











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