Guided Walks

Our free guided walks are well established and a fantastic way to discover our waterways. You will learn how to keep safe by water, compare rivers to canals, find out how a lock works, learn about the local history and spot a variety of water birds. During most of our walks, children have spotter booklets to help guide them and remind them of the visit.

The Grand Union Canal wraps around much of MK, providing many lovely spots for exploration. For a lock demonstration you’ll need to head to Cosgrove (which also has the incredible Iron Trunk Aqueduct) or Fenny Stratford (whose lock is shallow but makes up for it with a working swing bridge). Get in touch to discuss travel or meeting us on the towpath near you.

Workshops

All About the Grand Union

This classroom workshop explores why and how the GUC was built, where it goes and what life was like 200 years ago. Children will have lots of archive pictures to look at and handling objects relating to life on the canal. We also answer as many questions as possible! Workshops last around 60 minutes.

Learning Resources

Use the following resources to support learning on your trip and back in the classroom:

All About Rivers

All About Canals

Life on the English Waterways

Canal & River Habitats Learning Bundle

The Canal Museum, Stoke Bruene

After exploring your local area, why not also plan a visit to the Canal Museum to extend your learning experience?

Price

All visits to Milton Keynes sites are FREE!

Practicalities

Most routes are step free and have plenty of public green space for eating lunches or continuing the learning. Unfortunately, most locations lack toilet facilities, so tours are limited to 90 minutes. There are some independent organisations that can host boat trips – an internet search may help you find an extra special experience.

Site visits are limited to one class of children at a time (max. 35), due to guide numbers and space limitations. On most occasions we can host two visits in one day.

All Milton Keynes site visits are outdoors with very few shelter options. Please ensure participants are appropriately dressed. All visits are weather dependent.