Looking to move to an area within a 1 hour drive of Milton Keynes…

[Mkcommute]

DH will be starting a new job in Milton Keynes soon and we are needing to relocate.

We have a budget of £900,000 (for a 5+ bed or large 4 bed detached) and the house must be within a 1hr15mins drive of Milton Keynes (or about 50 miles).

Does anybody have any suggestions for any specific areas to look? Things that are important to us are:

• nice area to bring children up in
• good schools fairly nearby (open to private and state)
• ideally a semi-rural affluent village or suburb
• not super far out in the sticks nor in a town centre

I’ve been trying to stay close to the M1 for ease for DHs commute but can’t really find anywhere we like the look of. Happy to go as far up the M1 as Loughborough. I think north of MK may be better due to south of Milton Keynes looking incredibly expensive due to being close to London?

Areas that have already been suggested to me are:

• Woburn
• Market Harborough
• Lutterworth
• Ampthill
• Long Buckby

Would be great to hear more about these places too.

Thanks!

Used to commute to MK from
Bedford. Have a look at Bromham and Turvey. Bromham is a big village, Turvey smaller and prettier. Olney also lovely and a bit closer to MK.

Another vote for Olney! It’s got a great community, you can walk to all the schools and is a lovely place to bring kids up. Lots of clubs and sports in the town and easy drive to MK, Northampton and Bedford. It’s made The Times top 100 places to live.

Thame is lovely.

Market harborough would be a hefty commute. Not much to Lutterworth but schools are good.

West haddon is gorgeous but then your town centre is Northampton which is a bit rubbish - same as Brixworth etc

So Milton Keynes used to be several villages and has been merged into one city. I'd recommend having a visit to some of the MK villages like Great Linford, Willen, Newport Pagnell, Newton Longville etc. It could be that those fit what you're wanting. Otherwise I'd second Tring and Olney. Leighton Buzzard is lovely but definitely a town, not a village so may not be what you're after

We live 35 minutes from MK and I would suggest take a look at Olney and Podington both lovely places.

I live 15 mins from MK - be wary of the traffic as depending on how often your dh needs to get into MK it can take a lot longer than you think. As others have said, Buckingham is a good shout, grammar school is excellent, the comps less so but they’re passable. Winslow is pretty boring, the station might liven it up a bit but there’s nothing to do there and less community feel than there used to be. Less and less of an ‘affluent’ feel as they keep building large housing estates on the edges of the town. Towcester is also a good shout, nice town and more for your money over the border into Northants. Olney as others have said is pretty and nice.

I suggested Eversholt and Aspley Guise on here. I just want to add that Olney is a market town, not a village. If you did look at yhe villages that were swallowed up and are now within Milton Keynes, be aware that when you come outof the village, you'll be on the road grid system with a 70 mile an hour speed limit on your doorstep. Having lived in villages for all my adult life I would never consider living in a MiltonKeynes village. IMO, not comparable and my parents and a close friend lived in an MK village. Please look at the places i suggested for comparison. Eversholt has a cricket club and outdoor pool.The drive to MK is via a deer park next to woburn Abbey. Woburn has a golf course and woods. I would chop my arm off to be able to move back to this area. Okay, I'm biased!!!!

I agree with the suggestions for Ampthill and Woburn. We live near Hitchin which is very lovely and meets all of your criteria, it’s about a 50 minute drive from MK. Tring, Berkhamsted, St Albans and Harpenden are also great and under an hour to MK. You would get less for your money in all of these areas as they are London commuting hot spots but still doable for you and worth exploring. Good luck with your move

I live in the next village to Long Buckby, East Haddon-obviously I’m bias but it’s so lovely, And LB has everything you could need including a train station!
East Haddon Primary is a wonderful school

Appreciate not at all the purpose of your post but we are currently looking to move to a nice village in Cheshire. Could you recommend? Xx

I’m surprised Harpenden (or nearby places) hasn’t been mentioned more - fits your bill, good schools although houses can be pricey. A5 is a decent route to Milton Keynes.

Alternatively, any of the villages on the A5 may be worth considering.

Be careful with commute times. Having lived 35 miles from MK,a commute of 1.5 hours was not unusual

For Lutterworth - look at Bitteswell , Leire , Gilmorton , Kimcote ,Walcote , Walton , Ashby Parva, Bruntingthorpe or husbands Bosworth at a push. Lutterworth has two good state schools , lots of excellent primaries and is in part of the 11plus catchment for Rugby grammar schools & Leicester grammar . It’s a small place blighted slightly by the lorries going through the high street and the surrounding magna park warehousing on its approach. If it was picture post card perfect on the high st -it would be even more expensive or on a tourist trail . Lutterworth folk shop on retail parks in Rugby too / work / commute to Rugby as it’s a 10 min straight run on a good day and you can criss cross down the a5 into it so you could look at affluent villages just to the east of Rugby too ( but these will fall under warks schools ) ( the train station in Rugby to MK is west coast mainline ) and we use the shops/ restaurants/ go out around the countryside in Harborough too or nip up to Leicester& Coventry . It’s easy to get places all over the country as the M6 /A5 is minutes away too . It’s a nice normal place to bring kids& teens up . 900k would buy you something very naice maybe with land , in one of the satellite villages as mention above . Something more central in Lutterworth would be a lot less You’re not in the sticks in anyway but it is rural too . The public transport is pretty dire. You need a car to get out and about no doubt . It has a Waitrose , nice cafes and a good community feel . It’s place on a summers evening you see folk walking their dogs , jogging , kids / teens playing out , running groups that kind of place . There’s quite a few retired folk as it has a big stock of bungalows . It’s an unpretentious place with lots of incomers people that work in engineering in Coventry or farming . A lot of people are horsey. It’s grown a lot in 40 years but it’s still quite a small place too !

This is a lovely house

I’d prioritise secondary catchment areas unless you can commit to private. MK catchments for the good secondaries are very tight. Some areas are in the grammar system. South Northants has loads of nice areas but fewer good state schools.

We live in South Northamptonshire about halfway between Towcester and Northampton. A lot of the villages round here are lovely. Fwiw much prefer Towcester to Northampton which is an awful grotty looking dead town. Other than that, Pitsford/Chapel Brampton and Greens Norton spring to mind as some of my favourite places in Northants.

I live near Lutterworth. It’s a lovely little market town. Some great places to eat although you’d need to travel 15 minutes to Rugby for the cinema/bowling etc.

Theres some beautiful villages around this area. Schools are good (I’m a primary school teacher in Rugby) and the people are friendly. 😊

It’s not on the M1 route but Leamington may be a consideration. That’s a bigger market town that actually still has shops open and things going on.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144864797#/?channel=RES_BUY

Big village with Coop / pharmacy / pubs and restaurant / good secondary school etc

The two nearby towns of Northampton and Wellingborough are grotty but have trains to Euston and St Pancras in less than an hour as well as easy driving to MK (plus M1 / A14).

You get a lot of house for that money round here.

Smaller village but lots of facilities and active groups

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/141930986#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143201564#/?channel=RES_BUY

Decent secondary school and decent village facilities, close to Long Buckby for train station

Wendover is unfortunately impacted by HS2, as is Gt Missenden.

They used to be beautiful villages, but I wouldn't recommend them now. They also very expensive so you don't get much for your money.

ETA apologies I misread Cheshire for Chesham Dohh!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140226770#/?channel=RES_BUY

A bit out of the village, but easy to get to the village of Earls Barton which is well provided for with shops / hairdresser / pubs / wine bar and a vineyard.

You would be rubbing shoulders with a lot of football and rugby players too who live on this road.

Lutterworth is great, but due to double in size.

Thame is the place you are looking for - a safe quiet affluent friendly litter free town with good schools, Waitrose, Tuesday market, Leisure Centre, pubs, cafes galore, Oxfam bookshop, award winning Kebab Van, dentists, opticians, 2doctor surgeries, real bakers! real butchers! 40mins drive MK
Buckinghamshire is still grammar school, 11 plus btw.

Not sure who said Leighton Buzzard is lovely....it really isn't! Station is useful though and living outside in one of the villages would work.

The commute into MK is horrible if you don't start early, you can sit in traffic for absolutely ages.

Buckingham is lovely as others have said.