Out & About in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes is often simply known as MK. It was built as a new town in 1967 to incorporate the existing towns of Stony Stratford, Bletchley, Wolverton and fifteen other villages in between. It is situated in Buckinghamshire about 60 miles to the North West of London.

Theatres, award-winning galleries and traditional village pubs make Milton Keynes a cultural gem. The city was designed to blend cutting-edge architecture, people and trees. You are in the UK but might feel you are in Europe. Many foreign visitors choose to do business here and MK is one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe.

It is an exciting and exceptional destination. Milton Keynes has become known for all sport from watersports, indoor sky-diving (yes, it's true), indoor skiing on real snow to a football stadium that is truly state of the art. MK is also home to the national centres for hockey and badminton.

If you enjoy theme parks and would enjoy relaxing in 4,500 acres of woodland and park, you can do it here. Milton Keynes has thousands of trees and the green spaces at their tops provide tree-top walks. You can enjoy walking under the trees, through the canopies or simply enjoy the rides in amongst them.

Shopping

The concept of European-style shopping started in Milton Keynes. In the centre of the city are shopping malls and in the area surrounding the centre are boutique-type shops.Three shopping centres provide all the shopping you could ever need. Midsummer Place, thecentre:mk and Xscape. With over 300 shops between them, all under cover, and with thousands of parking spaces, Milton Keynes provides a wonderful experience for those who love to spend, spend, spend. Needless to say, the centre is well served by buses.

Food and Drink

Milton Keynes has the fastest-growing culture of "after 6pm" outside London. Every type of food and drink experience is here. With a great choice of places to eat within and around the city centre you can always find something to satisfy - from a sumptuous buffet, pre-theatre meal or from an a la carte menu. The Xscape complex houses fast food outlets and restaurants for apres-ski. Thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place have restaurants with modern dining as their emphasis - perfect for a quick snack whilst shopping. More than 10 restaurants and coffee shops are at thehub:mk and the surrounding small market towns have Italian, Chinese, Indian and traditional English food on offer. If it is simply good pub grub you are seeking, then you will not have to look far because there are around 300 pubs in Milton Keynes with at least half of them offering food.

Arts and Entertainment

Traditional live music, a sculpture trail, art gallery - there is much to offer to those interested in the arts. The Milton Keynes Gallery which opened in 1999 attracted over 50,000 visitors that first year and the numbers continue to grow. Entry is free to this exciting modern gallery. One of the biggest collections of public sculpture in the UK is housed at Milton Keynes. The collection includes works by Wendy Taylor, Elisabeth Frink, Ronald Rae and of course the now famous Concrete Cows by Liz Leah. Milton Keynes is a cultural oasis. It offers visitors and residents a wealth of cultural opportunities including an art gallery, a theatre, a sculpture trail and numerous live events. The theatre plays host to award-winning musicals and plays straight from the West End of London. The Royal Shakespeare Company, Glyndebourne Touring Company and Moscow City Ballet put on performances here and in fact the theatre has the reputation of being the most successful outside London.

There are music venues here too. The National Bowl has attracted many huge global names and has a seating capacity of 65,000.

Hotels and Travel

Milton Keynes is stratetically placed at the heart of the UK. It is only about an hour from London or Birmingham by road. By rail it is 50 minutes from Birmingham and half an hour from London. Luton Airport is half an hour's drive away. Thanks to its unique grid road system, traffic flows freely here and thousands of parking spaces are available.

You can find top hotels such as Holiday Inn, Premier Inn and Travel Lodge. Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, only minutes away, offers everything for the business traveller. You can find homely, small hotels which offer everything for the visitor from a hearty breakfast to Broadband facilities.

With its great leisure facilities, nightlife, culture and fantastic wide open spaces, Milton Keynes is almost the perfect destination.