News and What's On

What's going on?

It's so easy to be active in MK, walking in 4,500 acres of parkland with more than 22 million trees set in beautiful parks, ancient woodland, new plantations and tree-lined boulevards. Take it easy with a gentle stroll or cycle ride along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal which links the old towns of Wolverton, New Bradwell and Fenny Stratford into newer developments alongside the towpath. Shopping, sport, leisure, culture, history and many more pleasures to experience are awaiting you in Destination Milton Keynes, home of Xscape, the UK's top visitor attraction in 2007.

Willen Lake is just off Junction 14 of the M1, you pass it on the way towards Central Milton Keynes (or Number 68 Bed & Breakfast!) but it's an ideal place to take timeout for some water-filled fun, a walk or bike around, taking a contemplative moment or two at the "Peace Pagoda", the first of its kind built in the West. Perhaps lesser known Willen Labyrinth, made in 1985 it is a turf maze, centred on an oak tree, symbolic of peace. Nearby is a stone circle, in the style of a North American circle, the Circle of Hearts Medicine Wheel is not ancient though, it was built to celebrate the new Millennium with hope for global peace.

Prodigy play the National Bowl at Milton Keynes on 24 July but we are already full booked, once again the early bird got the worm! Please check with us asap regarding availability for future F1, Moto GP & special race days at Silverstone as the rooms do get booked up well in advance for high profile international events. Another forthcoming event for which we are now fully booked is the Wolverton Works Weekend, the first for 17 years - perhaps a day visit to see the visiting locomotives and a behind the scenes look around at the home of the "Royal Train".

Bletchley Park, the WWII home to Station X and the Enigma Codebreakers, is well worth a visit and weekends are the best time to have a look when more of the exhibits are open and special events are often scheduled. Milton Keynes museum has a programme of events from a Lawnmower Rally, Organ Festival and Phone Days.

Number 68, is just a couple of miles from the northern boundary of Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire, then it's just a few more miles up the A5 to Towcester (claimed to be the oldest town in Northamptonshire) but today famous for the racecourse which hosts 19 National Hunt races each year from October to May.

You really can't say there's nothing to do, find out what's on.

5* award for Number 68

Number 68 has been rated as "excellent", achieving the best possible award of fie stars following an inspection by Milton Keynes Enviromental Health Department. Five stars indicates the highest standard of food hygiene and managment systems resulting in the lowest level of risk to customers. "Scores on the doors" is a national public information service where you can see the official local authority hygiene ratings for food businesses, indicating how hygienic and well-managed food preparation and storage is. At this time Bed and Breakfast establishments within the MK area are not listed online.

Travel update

The Coachway has relocated from Junction 14 during the construction of a long-overdue new coach passenger terminal, it's been there so long on a temporary basis that we've got used to it now! (Did you know that the "Milton Keynes coachway is the second busiest coach interchange in the UK", according to John Lewis, Chief Executive of Milton Keynes Partnership). Long distance coach services now go to a temporary location in Campbell Park, off Silbury Boulevard (between Montrose Street and Pilgrim Street) and, subject to vehicle availability, we can even collect and drop you off there - it's all part of the unique Number 68 service.

Weekends, particularly Bank Holidays - please check rail service disruptions caused by engineering work. There are 4 railway stations in Milton Keynes - Wolverton ("Milton Keynes North") is the closest to Number 68, just over 1 mile away (about 2km) and Milton Keynes Central, about 4 miles away, is the largest with inter-city connections and is only 10-minutes by road.

The genteel way to MK is via the Grand Union Canal, the new canal link from Bedford to MK has started and when complete, this will open a new cross country route from the Wash to the Severn.

Eating out locally

Being so close to Stony Stratford means that our guests often take the opportunity to eat and drink locally in one or more of the 20+ choices. According to our guests, the top recommendations of recent months are the Calcutta Brasserie & Bekash (both Indian Restaurant) in Stony Stratford High Street, there has been nothing but praise for the food and the service. They have been awarded a "Very Good" 4* Food Hygiene rating and if you want a take-away you'll also benefit from a 10% discount - our last was ready to collect at the chosen time and we all enjoyed eating it!

We can share the latest restaurant reviews from other guests and have a selection of menus for you to browse, including some who offer home delivery.

About 15 minutes walk from Number 68 is Wolverton House, a carvery with an unbeatable price of just 3.59 GBP (Monday - Saturday) and our local canalside pub, the Galleon, which serves food all day and weekend roasts. The Fox & Hounds in Stony Stratford is home to real ales, good food and live music. Wolverton is home to a new Indian restaurant, Verandah Talk, unlicensed so it's BYO as far as alcoholic drinks are concerned but we sampled the buffet lunch on offer and found it was well worth the money!

Hub-bub

Along with her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, we have visited thehub:mk, designed as "the focal point for all who live, work, meet, dine and shop" and MK's newest social venue. Unlike the Queen, we've been a number of times, stayed longer and sampled, on your behalf, just a fraction of the food and drink on offer. When we've visited in the evening, it's clear that the area is attracting a lot diners; Strada on a Friday night was full but luckily we'd booked a table and have returned with friends several times now but if you are looking for a quiet night's dining, with conversation across the table that you can hear easily, then Strada on a busy night is perhaps not the one for you.

A later addition is the "Living Room", located next to Jury's Inn and they do have live cool jazz piano music to accompany your meal. Raymond Blanc's brasserie & "Maman Blanc" shop "Brasserie Blanc" gave us an excellent lunch, both in terms of taste and value - they lived up to their stated aim of providing "the very best atmosphere with modern and authentic French cuisine". The current set menu of 3 courses, including wine is less than 18 GBP each in the evening and it's better value still for lunch, just 14 GBP.

When you stay at Number 68 we look forward to hearing about your dining experiences - good, bad or just bland!

You can also choose to eat from one dim t, nandos, zizzi and Gourmet burger kitchen, where, according to a guest who ate there, it was "the best tasting burger" he'd ever had and although he said it was also the most expensive burger he'd eaten, he wanted to go back again as it was also the tastiest!

The seafood speciality restaurant loch fyne, already with another local outlet in Woburn (around 20 minutes drive) is now open at the "Hub". When three of us ate starters and a main course the bill came to just under 80 GBP so you should expect quality but perhaps not quantity when dining there. If you want value for money, then this is certainly on offer at lunchtimes with some of the set meals, the Fish'n'chips served on a Tuesday was tasty, well presented and not much more than 10 GBP.

The Bon Viveur coffee shop, already well established after a number of years treating those nibbling their way through MK's corporate and social events diary is there to keep you snacking throughout the day and for caffeine addicts, Cafe Rouge offers their usual fare but there is a lively latin style tapas eating experience to be found in las iguanas (they even have a tea on sale called Amanda!) where recent reports have again been favourable. Sam & Maxies has had a makeover and is now the ha ha bar and grill. Jury's Inn offers three dining venues - Innfusion, Il Barista and the Inntro bar.

With good food comes the need for good drink and MK is now home to the Concrete Cow Brewery. We have enjoyed drinking the lighter "Midsummer Ale" and "Old Bloomer", a dark ruby best bitter (named after the class of steam locomotive built in Wolverton in the 19th Century); in and around Milton Keynes you can find a number of pubs, hotels, restaurants and shops stocking the locally produced real ales, including Wetherspoons in Central Milton Keynes who have a developed a good value for money range of dishes to soak up the alcohol!

What's happening now?

For details of local news and events in Milton Keynes click the links! Try MK Web for all things MK or here for the MK Citizen newspaper. News from the BBC local region is available here and the BBC weather forecast here. More news from Number 68 is here.