I have an opportunity to take a temporary assignment through my company in England, and Milton Keynes is the town...anybody know anything about this place? Webinfo says it was built in 1967 (and they all live in little boxes, and they all look just the same) and appears to be some sort of joke (Cleveland? East Orange? Buffalo?). Somewhere in Buckinghamshire, halfway between London and Birmingham....

Hi Elvira, <BR>It was one of the "new towns" developed in Britain after the war, part of an attempt to decentralize the population and disperse industry out of Greater London, although MK is one of the closer-in new towns compared to some. As a group the new towns developed something of a poor reputation in the 70s and 80s - anonymity, lack of sizzle, alienation (the "new town blues" was a syndrome)... <BR>MK is fairly prosperous by all accounts, and not that far from London by road or rail. Not a joke for those that live there, I imagine. US equivalents? Armonk? Columbia MD? <BR>Check out http://www.mkweb.co.uk

<BR>It's a joke for all sorts of reasons it's difficult to put your finger on exactly. <BR> <BR>It has no centre, and is very spread out and rural; it has sculptures of cows; it has a low energy, high efficiency part; it has good shopping. <BR> <BR>I wouldn't live there for anything, but there are probably places round about that are nice an commutable; and who knows? you might like it.

By train its only 40 minutes from London Euston. Maybe you could live half way between? <BR>

Elvira ...if you have a car whilst you are there then be warned. A large proportion of MK is one way and the roads were such designed that you may find your car tyres wearing out on one side of your car a long time before the other. <BR> <BR>This is i similar complaint to residents of the 5 new towns constructed in Scotland for the post war Galsgow overspill (Glenrothes/Cumbernauld/Irvine/Livingston/East Kilbride) <BR> <BR>regards

Thanks all for your insight and explanation of how this town came to be. I did check the web extensively last night: it has a HOCKEY team! I am in hog heaven. At least with all of this info, if I do take the job, I'm not walking in blind. COW sculptures? Oh lordy this gets better and better...

Elvira, I don't know if spending a weekend in MK last fall gives me enough authority to respond to your question, but here goes. When MK was established it encompassed a bunch of existing villages- Bletchley, Fenny Stratford (where I stayed), Stony Stratford, Wolverton, etc. So as well as the new downtown construction - the concrete suppliers did very well on that - there has been expansion of all these villages which may eventually coalesce into a real city. The fate of these villages varies, Bletchley seems very nice with nice homes, a reasonable high street, while Fenny Stratford seemed pretty tired and depressed. So I think there are still nice areas in which to live, but that does not change the fact that it is a spread out city of perhaps 250,000 population, not large enough to have a vibrant cultural life. BUT IT IS ONLY A HALF HOUR TO LONDON. <BR> <BR>The Grand Union Canal runs through MK. I walked it from Soulbury Three Locks, south of MK to Blisworth, perhaps 20 miles north. Countryside is very pleasant, numerous really nice canal-sise pubs aqnd villages. But the bottom line is the ease of getting to London. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps.