So, Ms BeardedDave has just been offered a job in Buckingham. We’re currently living in the Netherlands (Ms BD is Dutch, I’m a Brit), but are keen to get back to the UK. Buckingham and Buckinghamshire is not an area that I’m familiar with at all, so I was wondering what people thought of the area. Is it a nice place to live? Any areas to avoid? We have no children and no plans to have any, so that’s not a consideration. We do have a very active dog though, so are there any good places for long dog walks not too far away?
What’s the riding like in the area? I know it’s pretty flat but, in the last ten years, I’ve lived in Norfolk, Suffolk and the Netherlands, so I know how to have fun on my bike without big hills! I know Woburn is the other side of Milton Keynes and I think we’re not too far from the Chilterns, but have no idea what the riding is like there.

There is off road riding not far away in the Chilterns, Aston Hill, and Chicksands and there are cycling clubs in the area. Cycling from your door around Buckingham is ok on the road bike but a bit sparse for decent off road.

I don’t think house prices are too expensive compared to places nearer London and whilst Buckingham doesn’t have a train station you can get into London and Birmingham from MK, Bicester or Aylesbury which all have more shops, cinemas etc. Oxford also isn’t too far away.

You might prefer finding a nice house in a village around Buckingham rather than living there or in one of the other near by towns.

BEB, that last sentence sort of suggests that you don’t think Buckingham would be all that nice a place to live?

My wife works in Buckingham and we’ve lived nearby for many years. It’s a pleasant little town actually. Plenty of history and character, a few good eating/drinking options and relatively easy to get to main roads eg. M1, M40 etc. One of the nicest towns in the area.

It’s a rural town with lots of surrounding countryside and paths, so no problem at all with the dog walking.

As for riding, I’m afraid no decent single track right on your doorstep, but there are quite a few woodland fire road options for off-road pedalling at least. What single track there is tends to be a clay/mud-fest for much of the year and the horses really plough it up. I’ve found a couple of good practice loops in the area, but really only fair weather options. The better news is that Woburn is only about 20 mins away and has some excellent technical single track with lots of ups and downs, some quite steep (certainly not as flat as you might imagine). You can do some proper riding over there. The Chilterns are another option for some reasonable single track and Aston Hill is not out of reach either if you like steep rooty technical single track and a bit of DH action. To the south Swinley Forest is only about an hour away, but also well worth the trip for classic woodland single track. To the north you have Cannock Chase, about 1.5 hours drive, so a good day out option. In fact if you are prepared to drive a couple of hours each way, there are suddenly lots of great day out options.

I reckon you’ll be okay around Buckingham.

That’s all good info, moshimonster, thanks.

I’d figured that Cannock was an hour and a half away. I’ve been there quite a few times, when I lived in Norfolk and Suffolk, so I’m sure I might make the odd trip up that way, as I’ll be an hour or so closer now. I’d completely forgotten about Swinley. I went there a few years back and quite enjoyed it. I hadn’t really considered where that was in relation to Buckingham.

ok, Woburns the best closest bet for off road with Aston Hill and Ashridge a close second. For road riding then its fine.

Its not a bad little town in truth, a few ok pubs, the villiers hotel seems ok, and you have Stony Stratford (my town) just along the road which is fine for a small market town.

Milton Keynes would also be an option as its only 10-20 mins away depending on where you live and should be a bit cheaper. Its not as bad as its old reputation these days.

Buckingham is very much a student town now. I used to work for the university and bought up a ton of properties in town for student accommodation. Buckingham Uni is independent and as such has a large international student body which adds a real vibrancy to ye little olde English market town. It’s nice actually, I’d live there.

I live in Stony Stratford as well. Great place to live with plenty of music (of varying quality) pubs and food places. Me and Mrs W love it.

Plenty of road groups go out of here. On a Saturday morning between 50 and 70 riders of all abilities meet and go to a range of cafes in the surrounding areas. 23c is a top end roadie shop and cafe.

Woburn is 20 minutes or so away and provides adequate offroad entertainment. Lots of routes that connect to other areas. Several clubs do night rides as well as daytime.

BEB, that last sentence sort of suggests that you don’t think Buckingham would be all that nice a place to live?

Sorry, I wasn’t saying it was bad, just that some of the smaller towns and villages near by seem really nice so have a good look around the wider area. I quite like some of the places off the A413 between Aylesbury and Buckingham, some great views and village pubs 🙂

There is a good bike shop in Buckingham and I believe you can ride off road around Stowe landscape gardens and the surrounding area… I used to commute to Buckingham from the Chilterns it’s a 50+ min journey. Might be worth getting in touch with Paul at Solstice Cycles and see of they are running an off road club I know they were talking about it…

Thanks for all the info guys, very much appreciated. We now have a couple of house viewings in Buckingham, booked for next week. 🙂
Good shout on Solstice Cycles. I wondered if there were any local bike shops. Will definitely be paying them a visit when the house move is all sorted.

I lived in Buckingham ( well, Gawcott) fro 4 years, and then Hanslope (just north of MK) for 24 years (house sold 5 weeks ago, yippee!)

Buckingham has changed a lot but it is still a sleepy market town with not alot going on. If you have kids , it is a great place to bring them up – and also has the Latin School which has a great reputation.

In recent years Buckingham has turned into a great big building site – the ring road is constantly being dug up, and any piece of ground is having std Bloor homes build on them. It is a dormatory town for MK and Oxford. In all honesty it is a middle class, X1 on the drive, labradoodle, 2 kids and green wellies ghetto. However, a lot of people like that.

The countryside around isn’t the most stunning – but the grounds of Stowe School are now NT so you can legally access them. As for MTB, if you want gnarrfest downhill, it’s not the Highlands, but compared to NL it will be a mecca. You have Woburn Woods (40 mins away), Wendover Woods, and the Chilterns, with Aston Hill etc. The Cotswolds are about 30 mins away – so plenty of XC type stuff and mud plugging to be done.

Personally I wouldn’t live in Buckingham – I found it souless/dull/ and everything shut at 6pm. That will have changed. Stony Stratford , or even North MK probably has more to offer. But it depends if you are young couple or have kids etc.
MK , despite what everyoen says about it, has great facilities, it is easy to get around and plenty of house – which for the South East are cheap.
Aylesbury is a tad duff as well!

To be honest, from what you say, Buckingham doesn’t sound too bad to me! We’re both mid-to-late thirties, no kids and no plans to ever have any. We’re happy staying at home or getting out in the fresh air on the bike or with the dog. I’ll probably be working from home one week and then working away the next week, so somewhere souless and dull, with options to escape at the weekend, sounds pretty much spot on!

If you like life quite and rural, then you will probably love it. There is a Tesco’s on the outskirts, which makes getting food and supplies better than in my day.
But a lot of housing is on new estates – which could be anywhere ….

*waves*

I’m in Buckingham whilst I type this as I work here. It’s a nice, quite, picturesque little town, although getting bigger with the new estates and uni, and has all the essential amenities but likewise not too far from the likes of MK, Aylesbury, Bicester, Oxford etc. if you need a bit more. Winslow just a few miles down the road is a nice large village too if you fancy something even more rural. There isn’t really a ‘bad’ estate to live but a good estate agent would advise you better than me on that.

Incidentally, to help get you started, you’ll do no harm speaking to Bob at Ella Home (local estate agents). This guy is helping us out at the moment with our move to a village near here, top chap.

Decent mtb riding is a a drive away but there are some good darkside adventures to have around here too. As others have mention, Paul at Solstice is a top chap so pop on in there at some point too.

We did have a look for houses in Winslow – Ms BD’s new job will partly be spent in Buckingham and partly in Winslow, but we’re a bit restricted in that we will be looking to rent, to start with, so there’s not masses of choice.

I’ve got no problem with driving to ride MTB. When I lived in Norfolk, Thetford Forest was my regular spot and that was a good half an hour drive away. I’m also quite happy on the road bike (although my heart is much more in off road!) and probably spend more time on the road over here in the Nethelands. I’m looking forward to getting out and exploring new places!

Personally I wouldn’t live in Buckingham – I found it souless/dull/ and everything shut at 6pm

It certainly doesn’t have raging nightlife, but I wouldn’t say it’s a soulless town. It’s just a small peaceful rural town and although there are quite a few housing estates around the ring road, you don’t really notice them unless you choose to actually live in them. No different to any other small town really.

I lived there for 8 years in the old part of town until 2 years ago and now live up the road in Brackley & drive through Buckingham each day commuting to Milton Keynes. The place is changing a lot & we left when we started a family as the price of property is silly (amongst other things). The grammar school inflates the price of family homes as people want to be in the catchment area and small houses get bought up by buy to let investors to let them out to students. That happened all down our street and the local community suffered badly. (though we did benefit as our house had 3 offers from investors within 2 weeks of being on the market when the housing market was at its slowest a few years ago). Most of my friends have now moved away either towards Winslow on one side or just into Northants on the other.
Restaurants are OK but nothing special much the same can be said for most of the pubs. The traffic around and through the town is pretty bad and with the current large scale developments building loads of houses & no more road capacity, I fear it will only be getting worse. The people are generally nice and with the University being private, a lot of the students are international so it’s a fairly cosmopolitan multi-cultural market town which is unusual. I can’t say I miss the place, but neither would I avoid it.
I ride at Woburn (next to my work), Cannock, Forest of Dean & Swinley amongst others. HTH

Watch out for areas at risk of flooding.
Look at the HS2 routing.
It is also an area with high levels of radon gas.
There is a big housing development being constructed in Brackley, on top of the old sawmils, more specifically on top of the railway cutting filled with rubbish from the sawmills.
Depending on which way the wind blows you get a distinct aroma of chicken poo.
I grew up in the area but so glad I moved away after visiting too frequently lately.

Depending on which way the wind blows you get a distinct aroma of chicken poo.

Can’t say I’ve ever noticed that in Buckingham, or Brackley for that matter. But will take your word for it.

Can’t say I have ever noticed it either, but I have heard there is a chicken processing place somewhere around brackley. We live at the other end of Brackley from the big development so have not been impacted by it.

I’m sure Buckingham is not a bad place to live

I grew up In Stony Stratford and think its worth considering. My parents still live there

MK is pleasant to cycle around and MK has things like Cinemas Theatre etc.

Well worth a wander around any way

there is a chicken processing place somewhere around brackley.

I believe so as there probably is in lots of towns (chicken being quite popular), but having lived in the area for maybe 25 years I still don’t know where it is. It’s not really an issue the OP needs to concern himself with 😉

Brackley resident up until quite recently.
I think I could count on the fingers of one hand the smell from the chicken plant while I lived there, and I don’t think you’d ever smell it from Buckingham.

The area’s better for road riding (there are a million teeny tiny back country lanes widely traffic free, and quite picturesque countryside to enjoy)

I’d happily live there.

Flooding is only ever a risk to little bit of the old town, Radon gas isn’t really an issue, HS2 is going nearer to Brackley than Buckingham. and the ‘big’ estate being built in Brackley is the other side of the town.

I think I could count on the fingers of one hand the smell from the chicken plant while I lived there, and I don’t think you’d ever smell it from Buckingham.

Yeah I think we can safely say that the Brackley chicken factory is not going to be a major issue for Buckingham residents 7 miles away!

The Radon scare intrigued me so I looked it up on a Radon map of the UK and it’s not a problem for Buckingham. It seems Cornwall and the whole of Wales has more to worry about. That’s lucky hey 😉

In case anyone is interested, we had a flying visit back to the UK, during the last couple of days and have found and put down a deposit on a nice (rented) house in Tingewick, just outside Buckingham. We’ll be moving over in a few weeks, so if you’re local and see a bloke looking a bit lost and riding on the wrong side of the road, that will be me! 🙂

I used to drive through Tingewick on my way to work every day (before the bypass). Nice quiet rural village and pretty much traffic free now. Good choice for working in Buckingham.

quick bit of road, the Tingewick bypass…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3068731.stm