I thought it might be a good idea to talk a little about Milton Keynes where we live as it is the starting point of our journey and may be of interest to our guests or anyone else visiting Milton Keynes (MK).MK was established as a new town in 1967 and was designed to encompass the 3 existing towns of Bletchley (where the German codes were cracked in WW2), Wolverton and the Roman town of
Stoney Stratford. It would also encompass 15 existing villages which still seem to have kept their character. The total area is around 90km2 until this year when the borders have increased to expand to an expected double its 
existing population of 230,000. It was designed to be an overspill for London and have good transport links and be equi-distant between London, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge.People have lived in this area for generations with evidence of permanent settlements dating back to the Bronze Age. There is evidence of Iron Age, Romano-British, Anglo Saxon, Anglo Norman, Medieval and Industrial revolution settlements.
It is laid out on a basic 1km road grid system with major routes being dual carriageways and also contains 125km of cycle paths
(red ways) which may or may not follow the roads. There are 7 lakes within MK each specializing in different water sports. There are also supposed to be 22 million trees but I haven’t counted them all yet. The Grand Union Canal which runs from London to Birmingham passes through MK as does the Roman road Watling Street (A5) which goes from London to Holyhead in Anglesey. Claire and I once had lunch at a pub on the A5 where it also passes the canal. Not sure about you, but I think of the canal systems as being ancient and 
the road systems as modern. However, the Grand Union Canal is a little over 200 years old whereas the A5 is more like 2000 years old. Maybe it wasn’t originally a tarmac road but a road nevertheless.MK seems to have plenty of things to do for the younger generation such as, roller-blading, ice skating, ice hockey, skiing, rock climbing, bowling, cinemas, adventure parks, sky diving, water skiing, wind surfing, boating, tennis, table tennis, badminton, go-carting etc. It also has one of the largest under cover shopping centres in Europe with most of the popular chains
which seems to attract hoards of shoppers from far and wide by the coach load, especially around Christmas time. The Point was the first multi cinema in Europe but more recently they built an even bigger one close by in the ski dome which will eventually put the point out of business. Airkix, in the ski dome is also a popular attraction where you can practice your sky diving techniques without even seeing a parachute or plane. Don’t forget to get your picture taken with the concrete cows.
Most of the pubs and restaurants in MK are new and modern and seem to be constantly revamped to attract the young; however, there are plenty of old traditional pubs still around, usually in one of the existing villages that MK swallowed up or surrounding villages. The Nags Head at Linford is very small and traditional, the Black Horse just along the canal is very old in structure but has been modernised and is always busy. The “Old Beams” at Shenley Lodge is similar as is the restaurant Robinson’s in Newport Pagnell. The “Carrington Arms” at Mulsoe and the “Crooked Billet” at Newton Longville are very good and the latter seems to regularly win awards as they use home produce that they 
produce themselves in their own smallholding. If you want even more expensive for a special occasion try the “Paris House” at Woburn where Peter Chandlers fair will delight your pallet. Another good one is the “New French Partridge” on the Northampton road from Newport Pagnell but I have never been able to get in there for one reason or another. To sample some of the top food in the country you have to travel a little further away to Bray in Berkshire. We only 
have three restaurants in Great Britain that have achieved 3 Michelin stars, Gordon Ramsay’s at Caridge’s in London. The other two are both in the tiny village of Bray where you will find Heston Blumenthal’s the “Fat Duck” and the “Waterside” by the Roux brothers, along with lots of other excellent restaurants. The Fat Duck is now supposed to be the second best restaurant in the world only bettered by “El Bulli” in Spain which is also impossible to book. For the modern and more convenient 
places back in MK visit the Theatre district and the Hub where there is lots of choice all together and includes Raymond Blanc’s place called “Brasserie Blanc”.All this talk of food is making me hungry, better go and light the BBQ; “Claire, do you fancy a fry up?”
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