Colin Bradley
When I was a kid 50 years ago, this was parkland and meadows.
Our regular weekend walks with my mum and dad and two brothers was to go up through Old Bletchley, past the church, work our way along footpaths and across the old railway footbridge which is still there, through the little village of Simpson, by the canal, back to Water Eaton and home.
Colin looks out over where he used to take walks as a child with his family
I would have been in about the fourth year of my secondary school when it was announced that Milton Keynes was going to be built. I remember going to Bletchley library and seeing a huge architect’s model of the new Lakes Estate and thinking that was a pretty big area.
“I absolutely love what the place has become. Anywhere in Milton Keynes, in five or ten minutes you can be in a really nice green space and get around with the kids on their bikes. It’s wonderful!”
It looked gorgeous with all models of trees but when it first went up, there were no trees and it looked like rows of barracks. It was only after about 25 years when the trees had grown that you realised that’s what the model showed us! I absolutely love what the place has become. Anywhere in Milton Keynes, in five or ten minutes you can be in a really nice green space and get around with the kids on their bikes. It’s wonderful!