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Marshworth:Milton Keynes
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| SITE & LOCATION When originally built, the bungalows sat disconsolately amid muddy fields in the middle of nowhere; in a 'city' which was itself in the middle of nowhere!
GRAND UNION CANAL
But this offered significant opportunities where the main desig
Even the southern stretch of bungalows which does not have direct rearward access to it is no more than 50-100 yards from it.
Better still, from the point of view of the planners, just on the other side of the canal was to be the linear park – running most of the 10 mile length of Milton Keynes. Residents would, in this way, be able to walk for miles in both directions either through the park or along the towpath.
Indeed, the canal by itself already offered a range of pursuits; from simple exercise to picking blackberries to fishing.
All of this still remains true, with the addition of Woughton Playing Fields (with literally acres of playing space just across the canal).
SEMI-PRIVATE OPEN SPACES
The key features th
That behind, h
Indeed, space for privacy seems to have been the highest design priority. Thus, apart from through the open pergolas which originally stood at the bottom of the gardens and even now through the garden gates of the bungalows, the open space is quite deliberately only accessible by indirect routes; thus restricting access by the general public. That to the north is by a narrow winding path hidden amongst trees. That to the south is discretely hidden – without any signposting - between buildings from the cul-de-sac leading to the existing canal-side houses.
The layout of the bungalows themselves is equally designed for privacy, and the planners were quite willing to pay a price for this. The staggered layout probably reduced the number of units by a third, and the size of the open space itself – much of which would normally have been incorporated into the housing - by a further half. Indeed, the end result
SHOPPING
The planners were, of course, aware of the planned site for the regional
Retailing has, of course, been subject to significant changes over the 35 years since. Not least, out of town developments have come to the fore. Once more the flexibility of planning in Milton Keynes has accommodated this new trend, with two of the largest developments in the UK. Less than a mile to the east (and three
TRAVEL
As another priority of the planners for the whole of the new city, travel was also to be well catered for, with the mainline train station just a couple of miles (and less than 7 minutes by car) away. The site is also midway between junctions 13 & 14 of the M1.
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