Can you recommend an area within an hour or so commute of Milton Keynes...

[eleven59]

...where there are good schools and affordable property please?

I'd be grateful for any advice.

bumpity bump

How affordable is affordable?
There are some great schools in MK!

Well .... you would probably have to go North as South is more expensive.

I am in Northampton. There are some lovely villages. Also Grange Park is at J15 which is a new estate

What is your budget OP? Do you want an hours drive or an hours rail travel?

An hour's drive.

We've lived in MK and don't want to go back there. Nothing against it but just want a change. Same with Northampton but we'd consider villages around Northampton.

Budget up to 400k but would prefer to spend much less.

Leighton Buzzard?

Not Leighton Buzzard itself but here is a string of villages between LB and Bletchley that are very nice. Just inside Bucks so you you're in grammar catchment, very nice primaries. Fast train to London is 28 mins from LB if you need to commute

Yes Leighton Buzzard is a good idea.

Any comments on Cambridge??

Cambridge is insanely expensive, and the only way you will get to MK in an hour is by helicopter.

St Neots and surrounding villages.

Bedford's quite up and coming.

Aspley Guise

Woburn (bit pricey)

Flitwick and Ampthill.

Ok I'll scrub Cambridge off the list. I do like Woburn but it has got really expensive. I'll check out St Neots, Flitwick and Ampthill.

Hmm Bedford. Is it really up and coming? It always seemed so scruffy.

Thanks for the replies. Keep 'em coming...

Another one who was going to say that MK itself is great but I'm also biased...

What else do you need apart from schools and property?

South Northants has some nice bits that often get overlooked - Brackley is a nice small town, Helmdon is a nice village that has won 'best village' type awards several times in the last few years and has lots of community stuff going on. Their primary school did ridiculously well recently - came in the top 10 schools in the country or something (apparently a small school with an exceptionally bright year so things worked in their favour but even so, guess it must be doing something right). Neither have a train station if you need it but they're only about half an hour's drive from MK.

I seem to remember that Silverstone was also quite nice, Buckingham and Bicester are also within less than an hour's drive. Not sure what the schools are like though.

There are a few nice villages around Bedford.

We live in a village between St Neots and Cambridge, and I reckon on 40 minutes to MK. However, that is not at peak times so i don't know what it would be like at 8am. You wouldn't get a family home for £400k in our village, but you would in Cambourne which is just up the road and which has great schools.

I would struggle to describe Bedford as up and coming. Grotty yes but up and coming, no.
There are some new developments on the outskirts though, Great Denham or Wixams.
If it was me I'd try and get just into Bucks for the grammar school system.

Cambridge to MK in an hour would not happen in rush hour.

To be fair not all of Bedford is grotty but a fair bit of it is.

St Neots, flitwick and ampthill are def worth a look.

OP: you dont mention which stage of school you are interested in, nor whether you are talking about private or state.

i don't know a great deal about schooling outside of buckinghamshire, however you could find a place within an hour's drive of MK which would be in catchment for both Waddesdon school (a very good church of england secondary school) and one or more of the Buckinghamshire grammar schools (most likely the ones in Aylesbury).

you also dont mention whether you are looking for rural, village or town, how important transport links are (e.g. train station), so challenging to offer helpful advice without a bit more info.

Castle Road/ embankment/ Russell Park area of Bedford. Not sure about secondary schools (I haven't lived there for a long time) but good primaries and if you are a private school person they're very good.

We have children of primary and secondary age so both. State schools.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not keen on the Bedford idea but I am looking into the other suggestions.

Out of interest, which are the good schools in MK.

Newport pagnell or Olney. Buckingham is also quite nice.

Ousedale has s great reputation I think. I have no kids though!

Middleton primary and Oakgrove Secondary I hear are very good schools in MK. They are east MK too so not too bad for the station or the motorway.