Agency opens in what may be Britain’s most-mocked location

A new estate agency in one of the country’s most widely-mocked towns has opened its doors - and is not afraid to have an affectionate dig at its new patch.

Nest Seekers International has launched in Milton Keynes, the Buckinghamshire new town once mercilessly mocked for its excess of roundabouts and a display of concrete cows on some of its open space. 

Even Noel Edmonds, the now-veteran disc jockey, pointed out that the town’s name was an anagram of Ten Inky Moles. 

A statement from the agency says some of the cheesy jokes remain and the cows still exist - albeit now in the local museum - but it goes on to say that Milton Keynes has become in the 21st century a fast-growing “brain-belt” between Oxford and Cambridge.

Therefore it’s a natural location for a new agency according to spokesman Tom James, who is a native of the town. 

“Having grown up in Milton Keynes and seeing its progression first hand, I wanted to be at the forefront of its next steps in establishing City status and becoming a key UK hub for business and real estate…which I believe it will” he says. 

“Milton Keynes has too much going for it not to be – from its incredibly efficient access to London, Birmingham, Manchester and soon Oxford and Cambridge, to its long list of UK and European headquarters for companies including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Suzuki, Santander, National Rail – to name a few.”

James’ first property is far from a typical modernist design of the kind the town is known for - instead it’s a Grade II listed former rectory in Great Linford, the original old village around which the new town of Milton Keynes was built. 

In fact the six-bedroom home, which dates back to Elizabethan times and is regarded as one of the finest period buildings in the area, played a crucial role in the creation of Milton Keynes as it was once the office of architects Derek Walker Associates whose staff worked on plans for the new town.

Statistics show that Milton Keynes is buoyant at all ends of the market. In the last six months 444 homes were sold with an average price of more than £300,000 – an increase of 7.52 per cent over the period. 

“The market is booming right now, properties are flying off the shelves” adds James, who points out that there are good reasons for its strong performance.

He says that overall the town has 5,000 acres of open space and more than 22m trees. Meanwhile, the town centre has a 400-shop mall, a theatre, orchestra, art gallery, outdoor music venue and indoor skiing and snowboarding centre. On top of that, almost all of the town’s schools are rated by Ofsted as Good.