The kids are 'free' from the learning establishment for a full six-weeks, which raises the question 'how to keep them entertained?'
After all, there are only so many times you can expect them to make their own fun.
But push the computer games to one side and switch off the television - there are loads of ways to enjoy yourself in our new town, and a trip to
Milton Keynes Museum will also reunite the generations in your family.
Us 'oldies' love it because we can remember some of the items now relegated to a life on display, and the kids love the hands on fun that
MK Museum affords.
This is most definitely not one of those 'do not touch' environments that leaves little 'uns bored and you fretting that something will get smashed.
We popped along today and wandered through the old farmhouse, and recalled our school days and the classrooms of old with their wooden desks and list of rules to be obeyed.
Toys are always a favourite stop off, and at
MK Museum there are wooden horses, cheeky tricks and dolls galore.
The
telephone exchange - with its knowledgeable staff on hand to impart nuggets of information - is typical of that hands-on approach.
The retro sets are in working order too - just in case you want to 'phone a friend' within its four walls.
With so many old handsets around, even our usually tech-phobic fellow visitor felt comfortable!
One of the gems of this great excuse for a day out - set in five acres of countryside 0n the outskirts of Wolverton - is the terrific
street of shops, which for some of us offer the chance to relive memories. The original 1930s Art Deco facade of
Newport Pagnell's Co-op store has found a permanent home here.
Total MK can remember pulling on its green handles and stepping inside the calm store with its rows and rows of not often fashionable, but always practical style.
School uniforms were bought en masse here, and a steady flow of pupils from
Cedars School would be dragged along for at least one visit before the start of the new school year.
Stretchy blue shorts and white shirts were par the course as a wee nipper in Newport Pagnell!
But the Co-op isn't the only store front retrieved from demolition - there is a butchers, a cobblers, a general store, and
The Angel Inn frontage.
The Inn, in
Stony Stratford, was demolished nearly 50 years ago now, but thanks to
MK Museum, is not forgotten. All the stores in the street are past shop fronts local to the area, and if they could talk, there would doubtless be some tasty morsels of gossip from days gone by...not least from the pub!
In the
Hall of Transport, exhibits contain our favourite, the battered body of a once proud late seventeenth century
Sedan chair, a colossal steam
tramcar and an old example fire engine from Newport Pagnell.
It's thirsty work taking in so much of our past, but luckily the
tea room is on hand to quench thirsts.
Having been advised by two volunteers to sample the 'delicious' home-made cakes en route around the museum, we duly take a slice of cake each - and can vouch for the coffee & walnut and lemon drizzle examples.
Before returning to 2014 life, there is time for a stroll around the pretty
wartime garden and the
Victorian kitchen garden - sweet peas, apples, vegetables and all round greenery and prettiness reign here.
Perhaps you've never been to the historic hub on your doorstep, or perhaps you have left it too long between visits. Either way, you need to set a day, get out and support this historical dream.
Milton Keynes Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday weekly during the summer season, between 11am and 4.30pm.
Visit www.mkmuseum.org.uk for details.
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Toys are always a favourite stop off, and at MK Museum there are wooden horses, cheeky tricks and dolls galore.
The telephone exchange - with its knowledgeable staff on hand to impart nuggets of information - is typical of that hands-on approach.
The retro sets are in working order too - just in case you want to 'phone a friend' within its four walls.
With so many old handsets around, even our usually tech-phobic fellow visitor felt comfortable!
One of the gems of this great excuse for a day out - set in five acres of countryside 0n the outskirts of Wolverton - is the terrific street of shops, which for some of us offer the chance to relive memories. The original 1930s Art Deco facade of Newport Pagnell's Co-op store has found a permanent home here.
Total MK can remember pulling on its green handles and stepping inside the calm store with its rows and rows of not often fashionable, but always practical style.
School uniforms were bought en masse here, and a steady flow of pupils from Cedars School would be dragged along for at least one visit before the start of the new school year.
Stretchy blue shorts and white shirts were par the course as a wee nipper in Newport Pagnell!
But the Co-op isn't the only store front retrieved from demolition - there is a butchers, a cobblers, a general store, and The Angel Inn frontage.
The Inn, in Stony Stratford, was demolished nearly 50 years ago now, but thanks to MK Museum, is not forgotten. All the stores in the street are past shop fronts local to the area, and if they could talk, there would doubtless be some tasty morsels of gossip from days gone by...not least from the pub!
In the Hall of Transport, exhibits contain our favourite, the battered body of a once proud late seventeenth century Sedan chair, a colossal steam tramcar and an old example fire engine from Newport Pagnell.
It's thirsty work taking in so much of our past, but luckily the tea room is on hand to quench thirsts.
Having been advised by two volunteers to sample the 'delicious' home-made cakes en route around the museum, we duly take a slice of cake each - and can vouch for the coffee & walnut and lemon drizzle examples.
Before returning to 2014 life, there is time for a stroll around the pretty wartime garden and the Victorian kitchen garden - sweet peas, apples, vegetables and all round greenery and prettiness reign here.
Perhaps you've never been to the historic hub on your doorstep, or perhaps you have left it too long between visits. Either way, you need to set a day, get out and support this historical dream.
Milton Keynes Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday weekly during the summer season, between 11am and 4.30pm.
Visit www.mkmuseum.org.uk for details.
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