**Moving to Milton Keynes - Commute to London**

[BringMeTheCoffee]

Hello Mumsnet community!

I'm looking for advice on moving to Milton Keynes...

Having spent the majority of lockdown searching (unsuccessfully) for houses around Hertfordshire, we have decided to widen our search to Milton Keynes.

Recently married (no children yet!). DH works in Royston, and I regularly commute (pre-Covid) into central London.

Assuming our office time will reduce to 2/3 days a week in the future, Milton Keynes seems like a reasonable option. Good travel links, good schools, good sized houses...

With no family/friends in MK, I'm looking for suggestions of where to live? Broughton? Brooklands?

East Side seems sensible given DH's commute to Royston.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Especially any knowledge of the commute time from house to station in the mornings. Does it get particularly busy?

Budget max £450k

Appreciate the help! x

Broughton is quite far from the station.
There are loads of estates , as with all areas there are nice and not as nice parts.
All the estates contain a mixture of housing from 1 bed flats to 6 bed detached.
New estates still being built, if you wanted a new build ? Eg Fairfields and Stony Manor.
Lots of nice surrounding villages like Stony Stratford.

The station is west side really. I would look at any of the old settlements/villages. Stony Stratford has character. My friends like Wolverton.

Have you thought about Flitwick? Would halve your DH's drive and good train line to St Pancras. Not got the big city pull of MK, eg the theatre and cinemas, but you'll be a drive from them anyway and you would instead have lots of lovely villages on your doorstep, be just as close to the M1, and great value housing.

Somewhere like Ampthill might be a compromise.

Woburn Sands ?

If you are going early (getting the train before 7:30) you will be able to drive to station in 10mins Max. Fast avanti trains stop at 7:15am. Always got a seat on those but any later you risk not getting one (may all change post COVID though!)
Parking at station is around £10 a day.

Most places in MK are 10 minutes drive to the station if you leave early enough. Or you could even consider cycling which lots of people do.

£450K will buy you a good sized house, it just depends what you want.

IMO the newer estates like Broughton and Brooklands try to cram in as many houses as they can, so I'd personally look at one of the more established estates.

West MK isn’t really an option as this would increase my DH’s drive even further.

@partystress I’ve not heard great things about Flitwick. Can you shed any more light on the area?

Also not sure about the commuter links from Woburn Sands?

Thanks for the advice on the commute @Hairybaker - really helpful to know.
As an early bird, the early train could be an option.

@UserAgain totally agree on the new build developments. Any tips on where the more established estates are?

You'd have to drive to a station (Bletchley or MK) from Woburn Sands but I think you'd also have to drive from Broughton. Woburn Sands has a very different feel so it depends on what you're looking for.

The east side of mk has some areas much handier for the train to London and I do wonder how much time it would add to your husband's commute. Maybe only 10/15 mins. You'll know what kind of commute he's happy with though. I think traffic is fine in mk. I notice people who have always lived there have a much lower threshold for traffic jams than people who have moved from areas where the traffic gets really bad (like me!)

I’d recommend Monkston or Middleton over Broughton. My DH commutes to station when he is in the office and it does not take that long! I’d imagine it’d be longer from Stony Stratford.

Yes. But SS has character.

What about Leighton Buzzard? Quick trsins are 30 mins. Under 1 hr for DH commute.

I meant West not east in my above post. Shouldn't post while feeding baby. Too tired!

Agree with pp that leighton buzzard might be worth researching

I echo what Hairybaker said, and agree that if your DH is driving to Royston, then it absolutely makes sense to be on that side of Mk.

I'd watch out for car parking space. I'll presume that you'll have 2 cars, so make sure that there is room to park them both, ideally off-street, and that the garage is big enough for the car you want! The newer estates, eg Broughton, Brooklands but also the others from the past 20 years are definitely slightly more packed together then the 80s or 90s estates on the west side like Furzton, Emerson Valley, the Shenleys... Smaller plots but also narrower (residential) roads and it does get a bit crammed with cars sometimes.

Also on that side are Woburn Sands (in MK I think, but Woburn is not) and Wavendon. There is a ton of new housing going up there. A bit more country-ish but still in a town.

We love it in mk. There is lots of choice of area. I can recommend Willen, Woolstone, Great Linford, Newport Pagnell if you are looking for a little town (though it can get trafficky getting out of Newport Pagnell if you hit it at the wrong time). Like everywhere there are good and bad bits, but lots of green space, lakes, canals, and history in the old villages. That's not to mention the shops, theatre etc!

Most of the areas in the south east would be ok (as a PP said, the housing in an area differs so you really need to look yourself and find out what you want). Think Middleton down to Old Farm Park east of the river. Certainly easy to get out onto the A421 or the M1. Bow Brickhill is another option along the lines of Woburn Sands/Wavendon.

I'd also look at future development plans. There seems to be a current trend, even in areas that thought they were "finished" for a developer to spot a piece of land and build on it. One of the great strengths of MK is the amount of open space, so it's a shame to see this new direction but it's probably wise to check that the field in front of the house you like is going to stay a field.

I am old enough to remember “Milton Keynes” when it was all villages, fields and a few towns such as SS, Bletchley and Wolverton. Yes, it has lots of green space but not like it used to be with farms and small communities.

The idea was to house London overspill and create employment locally. Like the op, more and more people commute and more and more people need homes. I still prefer the older settlements with character. So building is inevitable. I think the parks will remain intact though so living near one preserves your outlook. For 50 years, fields have been up for grabs!

@PresentingPercy

I am old enough to remember “Milton Keynes” when it was all villages, fields and a few towns such as SS, Bletchley and Wolverton. Yes, it has lots of green space but not like it used to be with farms and small communities.

The idea was to house London overspill and create employment locally. Like the op, more and more people commute and more and more people need homes. I still prefer the older settlements with character. So building is inevitable. I think the parks will remain intact though so living near one preserves your outlook. For 50 years, fields have been up for grabs!

Well it's a new town, designed to have lots of new housing, so of course it's not like it used to be!

I love the snobbery around housing. Old houses = good. Therefore the only place ok in Mk is Stony Stratford. You say you like green space but then you prefer the towns!

Leighton buzzard is 30 mins commute to London. Small friendly town most things are reasonable on foot without reliance on car. Less than 30 mins drive to MK for weekend trips. Reasonable size 3bed house from £350k. Recommend Linslade side of Leighton buzzard.

If you're looking for somewhere 'east side' Woolstone is really nice with lovely walk and near Willen Lake and Grand Union Canal. So you have the feel of a village but easy access to CMK for the station. Middleton has really good modern houses and again has nice walks nearby. Old Farm Park is good too.