To celebrate Milton Keynes’ 50th birthday, I’ve put together the biggest blog post I’ve ever written – 50 days out for Milton Keynes Kids. I say ‘days out’, some will be full days, others are fun places for a short trip out. If you plan carefully, then here you have one idea every week for the rest of the year. Some of the places are open all year, others are seasonal and you can only visit during certain times of the year. I’ve tried to include as many free or cheap places as I can, as well as those that represent good value for money. Those that are fun but more expensive are further down the list. Charges are correct at the time of writing, please bear in mind that they could have gone up since January 2017 so they are only a guide. I am independent of all of these places so, where applicable, do check that they’re open.

I’m Laura, mum of two boys aged 3 and a half and 1 and a half and Milton Keynes Kids is my website which I write late at night for free once I’ve finished work and my children are in bed. The list is skewed to younger children as it’s based on the experiences we’ve had over the last three years, but older children will enjoy many of them too. There are some popular MK attractions that aren’t on this list. We haven’t been there so haven’t included them, but are looking forward to many more adventures in the years to come. If you find this article useful, do leave me a review on my facebook page and do subscribe to get an email every time I write a detailed review of a new place. Please do share this article with your friends and family. And lastly, I’d absolutely love to hear from you if I do inspire you to visit any of these places – it makes doing this all the more worthwhile. Send me your photos if you’re happy for me to share them to laura@miltonkeyneskids.com or message me through Facebook.

2 Summerhayes Christmas Lights – This is Christmas Street. 13 houses in Summerhayes in Great Linford come together to decorate their houses in the most incredible lights and decorations to raise money for charity. In 2016 they raised a staggering £11,250 for Willen Hospice bringing their total since 2004 to £57,000. Ok so you can’t go right now (unless you’re reading this post over the festive season in which case carry on) but it’s that good you should definitely put it in your diary. Your kids will be amazed. My eldest is convinced Santa lives there. First Saturday in December until New Year’s Eve every year. (DECEMEBER ONLY) Free entrance, donation to charity appreciated.

4 The big play area at Emberton Country Park is a favourite with my eldest son. It includes two big slides and a fabulous pirate ship. We also like the stone and sand areas – hours of fun. Nice for walks around the lake. There is a road that runs through it though. (ALL YEAR ROUND) £4.10 to park

6 One of the best parks in Milton Keynes is Brooklands Park in Broughton. It has a sand pit and excellent play equipment for a variety of ages. It’s also a really pretty park with coloured tarmac flooring and set in the housing estate but surrounded by wild flowers. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

8 Bletchley Park – We’re big fans of places where you buy a ticket and then can go free for the rest of the year. That’s certainly the case at Bletchley Park – home of the World War II code breakers. Absolutely fascinating for adults. Interactive displays for older kids. There is a play area and a lake with ducks. If you have young children like mine they will probably most enjoy playing with the small tablets which give you a tour of everything & like wearing headphones. MK residents go half price on Mondays in 2017. (OPEN ALL YEAR ROUND) Full price – Adults £16 online, Children over 12 are £9. Under 12s FREE. Price is for the year. More on the door.

10 At Christmas there’s another wonderful place to take the kids – Kennington Close in Newport Pagnell – like those in Summerhayes the residents decorate their houses with lights to raise money for Willen Hospice. In 2016 they raised more than £2600 – double their total from the previous year. (DATE TBC IN DEC FOR ABOUT A MONTH) Free, donation to charity appreciated

12 One of the most lovely places to take young children for a walk in Milton Keynes is Howe Park Wood. There’s a nice circuit you can do which includes a den building area. It’s at it’s most prettiest when the bluebells come out in late April / early May. There’s a very small play area there as well as a lovely café. Free (ALL YEAR ROUND)

13 We have two large cinemas in Milton Keynes and it can be expensive to take the kids. But if you don’t mind waiting a few weeks to see films, then both Cineworld and Odeon do children’s showings at around 10am on weekends. It then costs between £1.80 and £2.50 each to go. If you’ve got slightly older children who are up for seeing some older films then keep an eye on social enterprise Pop up Cinema MK – they’ve shown some excellent films so far including Back to the Future and Elf at the MK11 Sport’s Bar – costs around £5.50 (ALL YEAR ROUND)

14 A really cool park opened up in Petworth in Great Holm in November 2015. It has a Wind and the Willows theme. We popped there just before it opened to see what it was like – it looks fab! Must go back, hence why it’s so high up the list. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

16 There are many benefits to living in Milton Keynes. Being near the seaside isn’t of course one of them. So if we can’t go to the coast (quickly) then we shall have to bring the sand to us. During the summer holidays the shopping centre, Centre MK has a beach in Middleton Hall which is free. In fact if you’re reading this in the summer and the kids are desperate to feel the sand between their toes, then have a look at my 10 free beaches in MK and Beds blog post from 2016 – there are a number of places you can go. (SUMMER HOLIDAYS) Free

18 Kids love trains? There’s a lovely little miniature railway in Milton Keynes which is only £1 to ride. For that you do two laps around a circuit. It’s called Caldecotte Miniature Railway and runs April to October, although there are special events during Halloween and at Christmas. It’s near Caldecotte Lake so the kids can play and feed the ducks as well. In 2016 it ran on Sundays and occasional Saturdays but best to keep an eye on their facebook page for when it’s running. (APRIL TO OCTOBER)

20 Ahoy maties! There’s a really good park in Loughton. It has a pirate ship which is surrounded by sand. There’s also a bigger climbing frame for older children as well as some other play equipment. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

22 Having not thought Xscape Milton Keynes was really a place to take young children, I’ve been more impressed with what they’ve done in the last year. There’s a free soft play to use all year round. And they run some free events for children during the holidays. In 2016 they brought back the walking dinosaurs, and also had a free Father Christmas who was excellent. We’re looking forward to see what other stuff they do for families in 2017. Keep an eye out for announcements. (SOFT PLAY ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

24 If you’re at a loss as to what to do on a rainy day then you could always take young children to Wyevale Garden Centre in Woburn Sands. There’s a small soft play there which only costs £1.50 if you get a loyalty card. You can also go and see the fish in the tanks there. You can feed them but it does now cost £1 which I think is a bit steep for a small pot of fish food. (ALL YEAR ROUND)

26 One of our best discoveries last year was Urb Farm in Wolverton. It’s home to Growing People – a horticultural social enterprise working with disengaged young people to grow organic, seasonal, fresh fruit, veg, salad and flowers for the local community. It’s not open to the public most days but about every three months they put on a fab FREE event which is worth going to. At the previous two events my 3 year old did pond dipping, made a bird feeder, played in the mud kitchen, danced to live music, and had fun stroking the chickens. Keep an eye on their facebook page for the next event (SELECTED DATES) Free

28 A new park opened in Wavendon in December 2016. It has a fab climbing frame and wooden balance beams as well as some other equipment. Worth a visit in the area if you have older toddlers who are able to climb. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

30 The Open Air Festival in Campbell Park is back again this August. We went several years ago and watched Some Like It Hot. Great fun! Although it did get chilly and with no food or seats it was quite uncomfortable sitting on the floor. I think we ended up walking to Nandos half way through. It’s a real family event and there’s bound to be several kids films on (19-21 AUGUST TBC) Free

32 This is the first of two HUGE slides in Milton Keynes. This is one is at Bradville Park. It is such good fun and holds many fond memories for people who have lived in MK since they were children. I took my eldest not long after he turned three and he loved it. The rest of the park is quite run down though. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

33 We’re lucky to have so many groups and classes for children in Milton Keynes. There are way too many to list here and we’ve only tried a small number of them. The best website I’ve found which lists what’s on day by day is Kids Life MK which was started by dad of twins, Graham, in effort to bring all the info together in one place (ALL YEAR ROUND) Prices vary

34 Inevitably when it’s wet lots of people in MK head to soft plays. Safari MK has a large frame, a smaller area for babies and young toddlers as well as several themed play rooms. It’s all on one floor. It can get really busy though at weekends when it’s raining and it’s not that cheap so we only occasionally go as a treat and tend to get there when it opens. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Peak time £6.25 for 1-3 year olds, £8.25 for 4-12 year olds, adults £1.75.

36 If you want to take the children somewhere to see a few animals then there’s an animal rescue centre called Hula. Last time we went there were pigs, cats, dogs and chickens. It’s generally open Thurs-Sun 1pm-3pm. It’s not very big though. My eldest isn’t a fan of the barking dogs. There are lots of special events throughout the year and you can often pick up some bargain toys and books in one of the cabins. (ALL YEAR ROUND, SELECTED DAYS) £1 adults, children 50p

38 If you have creative children under five then MK Gallery has a ‘start the art’ session on Tuesdays and Wednesdays which only costs a £1. Keep an eye on their website for other family friendly events too.

39 The second of the two huge slides in Milton Keynes is at Downs Barn Park. The slide – commonly known as the bumpy – is great fun for brave toddlers or older children and there are wooden balance beams that run up both sides of it. The park could probably do with a revamp, but the slide itself is good fun (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

40 The excellent Milton Keynes Theatre not only attracts lots of West End shows that adults will enjoy, but there’s some quite good shows for children on in 2017 as well. They include Ben and Holly’s Kingdom, Fantastic Mr Fox and Mr Bloom’s Nursery. You can find all the details on their website.

41 360 Play is a huge soft play in MK with a three storey frame, baby area, carousel, outdoor sandpit and themed rooms upstairs. It’s great fun for kids but you really do have to watch little ones like a hawk given it’s size. Under 1s are free but the cost can soon add up if you have more than one child. If you have pre-school children and want to go it’s worth trying on a weekday in term time to avoid the crowds on a wet weekend. (ALL YEAR ROUND) £5 joining fee, Adults £3.50, Kids 1-3 year olds £7.50, kids 4-12 year olds £9.50.

43. Aside from the free soft play at Xscape mentioned earlier there are also a number of other activities there for older children including a climbing wall, indoor sky-diving, bowling, and skiing and tobogganing. My boys are yet to experience them but I’ve done the sky-diving and the tobogganing – great fun, very much a treat though for a birthday or special occasion.

45 There’s a lovely walk along the canal which is great fun for children. It’s called the Gyosei art trail and on the way around you’ll see a big frog, dragonfly, and a horse among other things. It goes through Pennyland, Willen Park and Downhead Park. We’ve gone to Downhead park before and then just joined the trail from there. For all the details here’s the downloadable map. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

46 Caldecotte lake is good fun for a walk, feeding the ducks and there’s a good play area too. My 3 year old refers to it as the place with the ‘Thomas windmill’. It’s free to park as well which is a bonus. Caldecotte Lake lies off the H10 Bletcham Way, between the V10 Brickhill Street and the A5. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

47 Ok so we don’t go to Ikea specifically to play, but it’s probably one of the most family friendly shops to take kids to. There’s a play area outside which was revamped in 2016. There’s also a free indoor play area where you can leave your children (over 3) for 45 minutes whilst you shop. Free

48 With it’s range of wooden play equipment Western Road Recreation Ground in Wolverton is worth a visit. It’s next to the swimming pool and easy to find. My husband discovered it after taking my eldest son to the toddler splash session at the pool. (ALL YEAR ROUND) Free

50 This is a personal favourite. But we love Woburn Sands library. There’s a lovely little area to sit and read and they also do a free story and rhyme time for babies on a Tuesday morning.

So there you have it, 50 fun places to take Milton Keynes Kids. This article took me several weeks of late nights to compile so I hope you found it useful. If you visit any of the places, do send me your pictures if you happy for me to share them, email laura@miltonkeyneskids.com or message me through facebook.