I do not understand why people say MK is souless.Tens of thousands of London families have moved there because there is so much to do and it is only 1/2h by train from London so families often buy annual family train tickets and have trips to London. My sister lives in MK with her children and they do so much. We love going there because of what we can do,we are always out.My sister will help me with the list of what to do. There are dozens of amazing brand new playparks in the numerous new areas,a brand new sprinkler water park,Gulliver's land, Dinosaur park, Splash zone (indoor splash water park),arts charities,the central library with many events ie coding for children,writing courses,exhibitions etc, MK gallery newly renovated and full of events, Friday night live music with indi concerts and a bar at the library itself,lovely arts centre at a manor house with lessons in clay,carving,drawing etc every weekend and every day during school holidays,huge fun fair with a circus all school holidays,many small and one large modern theatre, main gallery art lessons for children every Saturday,parades,festivals, Walkking with giants (huge dolls made by a charity),huge biannual culture festival that lasts a fortnight with international performers,vast green areas for walking and cycling, guide-led walking groups with various distances for keeping fit, ,several golf courses,many running clubs for children and adults,Summerhays Christmas lights,MK redway runners who get together twice a week and have 5 000 +members,fishing club, several miniature train rides,great nature reserve,lakes,swimming pools,indoor and outdoor tennis courts, the only Japanese pagoda in Europe surrounded by lakes and woodlands and a little Japanese garden,the pagoda Bhudist events that anyone can attend,Paraffinalia Festival of Lights in November in the dark,tons of sports facilities ie sailing,canoeing, badminton (British Olympics team trained there), Willen water sports centre with water skiing and boating,riding,skiing,indoor skydiving, gyms,roller-skating with kids' parties for all major festivities, various toy stores with their own events,go- karting centre,laser tag, Scarecrow festival in villages on the outskirts, outdoor gyms,Stony in Bloom (open gardens),annual Open studios (artists open their studios all aover Mk for free and hold lessons in their art),soft play halls for small children, drama lessons,gymnastics centre,athletics centre (Greg Rutherford started there,he is from MK and chooses to live there now),Bletchley leisure centre with squash,tennis etc,dozens of football clubs for children,martial arts centres all around MK,rugby club for children and adults,hockey centre,ice-hockey centre,ball room dancing lessons,Irish dancing centre, Irish centre with concerts, ballet lessons all over MK,Latin dance clubs,brass bands with free music lessons for children/adults and regular performances, several orchestras (string,windwood), choirs you can join,MK music centre with lessons for all instruments, Hula animal rescue centre with its own events, Interaction art charity with its own events,Woburn sands Christmas fete, dozens of similar fetes around Christmas,Westbury arts centre, many scouting and sea cadet troups,Halloween trail in the woods at night, bug hunting lessions,bat watching sessions, Grand Union canal with boats to hire, thousands of bushes with various berries to pick and cook with in Autumn (my kids love that), community orchards with Apple day events around MK (pressing your own apple juice,home make apple cakes on sale etc),Wolverton orchard concrete dragon and many events for children throughout the year ie Punch and Judy,violinists,choir,a day with many paddling pools every July), Linford manor house with huge stones for children to climb,MK orchestra with classical music,ice-skating centre, bowling centres, sky party centre, trampoling centres (about three),tens of lantern parades and events for Christmas,Holi festival with paint throwing with thousands of people, World play day,World Picnic day, Cinema in the park, Hiroshima anniversary with lantern painting and letting them onto the lake late at night, Festival of art,biannual history festival with visitors from all over the county and a lot more. There is Olney with Dickens Christmas nearby,old Stony Stratford with its own concerts,summer river festival and parades,Woburn is on the outskirts with a lido and many events,beautiful Selsey forest with tall tree platform and rope playparks in the old woods,amazing Dunstable downs,Rushmere forest,Wrest park is 1/2h drive,Barton hills as well,Bedford is nearby with its own river festivals,Northampton as well with hot-air baloon festival etc. Tons of restaurants and bars in the centre. I have read it is the fastest growing city in the UK. It has Virgin trains to London,Birmingham etc, buses from the city centre to Oxford and Cambridge for day trips.
It is an amazing place to live and bring up children. It does not have a grammar school but hundreds of children commute to Buckingham and Aylesbury to theirs. There are good secondary schools in MK as well ie Denbigh,Ousedale,Oakgrove... that have great results.I know children who got into top unis from them.
How anyone can say it is a rubbish place to live in is beyond me. I would like to move there at first opportunity.