Advice for buying a new home in Milton Keynes

[NQI84]

We’re a family of 3 and currently renting in east London which sucks as you can probably imagine. We visited MK a few times and quite liked it so now we’re considering buying there (new build maybe). The ones we saw are in Westcroft and Kingsmead in the west side and. Broughton and Wavendon in the east (close to the M1). Curious to hear what everyone thinks of these areas. I work from home mostly and sometimes go to London for meetings etc from time to time. Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thnx.

Hopefully someone will be along soon with some advice, @NQI84.

All the areas you mention are good areas and generally established estates. If you want new build, then on the east side, Brooklands and Atterbury have lots of development going on. On the west side, there is a huge development I can’t remember the name of near Stony Stratford. How old is your child? Schools are a consideration although MK are usually good at building the infrastructure before the houses if you look at new build. Please feel free to PM me as I know the area quite well due to work.

Most places in MK are ok.
Avoid most city centre areas and you will be fine.
Will you need a secondary school? As that would have a bearing on where you want to be.
I think Kingsmead/Westcroft are preferable to the other side but that’s just me.
Grange Farm is new and I think always looks nice. Some of the new estates are short on parking and seem squashed together.
Are you only looking for new?

Thanks @lo*@LouMumsnet, @BarbarAnna and @Lockdownloony* for your replies .. much appreciated. Our son is 6 years old and we looked at Priory Rise School which is a few hundreds feets away from the new development by Morris - The Oaks www.morrishomes.co.uk/developments/the-oaks. The other one we looked at is in Wavendon by David Wilson www.dwh.co.uk/new-homes/united-kingdom/h744901-david-wilson-eagles'-rest/. Haven't excluded old builds yet and we're learning towards new builds now.

I think either will be lovely as both on the edge of the city so best of both worlds. I don’t know which primary school you would be looking at in Wavendon as I think the catchment school is a small village school unless they are building new? Wavendon Village has a well regarded pub and is close to Woburn Sands and Woburn with shops, pubs and restaurants so in my view is slightly better location than Priory Rise area but depends if that is important to you.

Priory Rise is very oversubscribed I think - so I wouldn’t be certain of a place. However it’s a good school and feeds into Hazeley, a good secondary school.
Wavendon I’m not so sure of but it would be easier for the M1 and as above, Some lovely areas around.
Honestly though, most places on the edges of MK are ok. We moved here 25 years ago and I’ve never got fed up with it. It’s a great place to live.

St Mary's Wavendon CoE Primary is in the same area in Wavendon which is ranked as 'good'. Have you heard of it before? A lot of new houses are being built around that area and close to the M1 and in Broughton/Atterbury which we felt a bit squashy and congested. What do you think?

I can’t imagine the existing Wavendon school can cope with the amount of building going on so am guessing they must be planning a new one. I don’t know about Atterbury. Brooklands is a nice area. Lots of green space. But very expensive! The best primary around there is Middleton but you would have to live very close to the school to get a place I think.

Middleton is not a new development though. It is older and is next to the original Milton Keynes Village which is a lovely area. Have you looked at Oakgrove? There is a Waitrose, a Costa and primary and secondary schools and I think they are still building there. The secondary school is well regarded.

Are you commuting to London? If so most parts of Loughton are walking distance from the station. Another option is Shenley Church End / Shenley Brook End. All three areas are close to the train station and ancient villages - so are far more established than much of the rest of MK.