[Closed] Tell me about Basingstoke ... or thereabouts?

Had a job near Andover 4 years ago, I lived in Basingstoke for 3 months before I moved out. Soulless place, couldn't recommend to anyone - called Boringstoke for a very good reason.

Moved to Winchester, which is very nice with lots of nice villages around if you want to live out of town. Winchester is not a going out destination city - generally quiet and one of the UK's smallest cities

Edit: Winchester is closer to the New Forest where there is a bit of biking

I lived there for a couple of years. Overall, I quite liked it. Yes the town centre is pretty grim / dull and it's not a great place for bars / restaurants but it has lots of green space and housing is reasonably affordable. It's very well served by trains and motorways so it's easy to get far away quickly!

The local riding is actually OK. Heading south there are lots of nice bridleways and back roads for road riding. There's some woodland singletrack (semi-cheeky) if you know where to look. The surrounding area has some really nice country pubs and stuff like that. The bridleways can be a bit grim in winter but I have some great memories of sumemr riding around there.

Oh and it's referred to as either Amizingstoke of Basingrad (reference to the soviet-esque arcitecture!)

Edit: with respect to nice places to live within 10-15 miles. I also lived in Winchester and the surrounding villages and they're very nice (try somewhere like Kingsworthy). There are loads of villages around basingstoke that are nice. Prices are moderate to high I'd say, depending on proximity to transport links. Basingstoke itself is on the cheap side for the South, although there are nice areas.

Edit: Winchester is closer to the New Forest where there is a bit of biking

I'm not sure why you'd go to the New Forest, there are miles and miles of better tracks around Winchester. The South Downs Way even starts there! On thing Winchester does not lack is local offroad riding.

Basingstoke itself isn't great, but there are plenty of really nice villages in all directions.

Riding-wise you are looking at mostly bridleways but there are a few woods with bits of single track in the area. Swinley is only about a half hour drive away, as well as public access army land such as Tunnel Hill etc (Venues for the Gorrick events).

I live in winchester, lots of good riding when it's not flooded. pricey place to live though.

to be fair to basingstoke, it does have a couple of decent cinemas, all the usual food chains (wagamamas, GBK etc), an ice rink, decent swimming pools and swinley and the surrey hills are within an hours drive.

I lived and worked in Amazingstoke for a year and it was the most depressing year of my life

Thanks, good info. It's been about 10 years since I've been to Basingstoke and that was only a quick visit and I just remember a big ring road going around it and a normal town centre. Liking the idea of Winchester or around there somewhere and checking maps it's only about 18 miles away, and I live the east end of the South Downs so would be good the be riding the other end. Swinley's half hour away, that'd be good, haven't been there since my MTB was fully rigid with canti brakes and I've been meaning to go there.

I used to have clients down there so used to have to go down there quite a bit. Its the most utterly soulless, characterless, depressing place I've ever had the misfortune to visit. Its like a vacuum, that sucks the life out of you. Its living embodyment of how easily satisfied and devoid of spirit some people in this country actually are. To be satisfied with living in such a huge spirit-crushing void of a place. It genuinely has not a single solitary feature to redeem itself

If I was faced with the prospect of living there, then frankly a bottle of vodka and a shitload of sleeping pills would be looking like a better alternative

The 'Stoke is a hole. Never get any closer than going through the station or the Sainsbury's at Hatch Warren (And only then if we're not in either Salisbury or Newbury for Waitrose!)

That said, the surrounding villages and countryside is lovely! Most of the local riding is moister than an otter's pocket at the moment, but some lovely trails to be found, and great road riding on the Bs around the villages.

As others have said, there are some lovely villages both between Basingstoke and Winchester as well as to the other side of the M3.

There are an awful lot of rights of way with some hidden gems. I know the area pretty well for riding, it's also very popular with the roadies.

If it were me, I'd look to the west to live and Oakley seems quite pleasant. Or the Candovers if you're rich.

Traffic-wise, it's busy particularly for the M3.

Edit: beware of proposals for turbines and solar farms, such bad news.

My wife used to work there when we lived in Reading. If Basingstoke seemed like a soulless dump to someone who quite liked Reading, then you know it's got problems. Bit of a Slough dumped in a field, to be honest.

One of the problems is that it's a fair way from anywhere else, so you don't have many affordable alternative options. Winchester is probably the best of those.

Some lovely places to the West of the 'Stoke, as CG suggests.

Be wary of rush hour traffic, though, as everyone drives!

Basingstoke is awful in my limited experience. However as above - Winchester is really nice, I could easily see myself living there, but if you go east from Basingstoke you get towards Surrey Hills and Swinley and surrounding area. So there's bags of riding there which you could have available from your door if you pitch it right. I rather liked Farnham, but it may be expensive 🙂

Its the most utterly soulless, characterless, depressing place I've ever had the misfortune to visit. Its like a vacuum, that sucks the life out of you. Its living embodiment of how easily satisfied and devoid of spirit some people in this country actually are.

Glad it's not just me! Sums up my experience perfectly.

I live 15 miles north of Basingstoke in fleet.
About 6 years ago I worked in Basingstoke for Motorola. It's a bit of a hole with no personality or any really reason to visit or go shopping there.

M3 traffic is a nightmare so I'd suggest anywhere along the A30 is worth a look.

Fleet, hartney Whitney etc possible elvertham Heath is you don't mind new mega estates or possibly church crookham.
Loads of other small villages in between.

Lots of good road riding and mountain biking on the doorstep too 🙂

[url= http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ten-best-places-to-live-in-the-uk-hart-in-hampshire-takes-top-spot-9019590.html ]Hart - best place to live in uk[/url]

Basingstoke and Winchester are only 15 miles apart and are surrounded by the same sort of countryside. So the riding is pretty much the same: quiet minor roads, long unbroken green lanes and the very odd technical bit on bridleways. Its possible to go for long days out and hardly meet another person.

If you want to live in a big town,Winchester centre is prettier but there are some nice parts in Basingstoke (eg. Old Basing)

There are lots of nice small towns and villages within 10/15 miles of Basingstoke. Some are really pricey but others are quite reasonable.

I used to have clients down there so used to have to go down there quite a bit. Its the most utterly soulless, characterless, depressing place I've ever had the misfortune to visit. Its like a vacuum, that sucks the life out of you. Its living embodyment of how easily satisfied and devoid of spirit some people in this country actually are. To be satisfied with living in such a huge spirit-crushing void of a place. It genuinely has not a single solitary feature to redeem itself

Wow, what happened to you in Basingstoke!? It's only spirit crushing if you're weak of spirit I guess? Still, good to know that all the great people I met down there were all actually dead inside.

Its the most utterly soulless, characterless, depressing place I've ever had the misfortune to visit. Its like a vacuum, that sucks the life out of you. Its living embodyment of how easily satisfied and devoid of spirit some people in this country actually are. To be satisfied with living in such a huge spirit-crushing void of a place. It genuinely has not a single solitary feature to redeem itself

Hang on - don't you live in Manchester?

as southern towns and cities go I rank Manchester and Basingstoke about the same.

as southern towns and cities go I rank Manchester and Basingstoke about the same.

People may have been taking you seriously until then. It's like comparing Glasgow to Cumbernauld.

Yeah they're different but I can think of as many positives about both. They each have big downsides though.

Basingstoke, Bracknell, Swindon, Harlow etc are all 'new towns' that Lahnduners were exported to.

I'd agree with the "ignore the New Forest" comment. There is obviously lots of bridleway riding in the nearby in South downs and if you looking for woody/heathy/sandy(ish) singletrack, there plenty to the east ie Swinley,MOD land, Tunnell hill, porridgepot hill, Minely Manor, Ceasar's Camp (near Fleet) etc etc

QECP is a bit of a drive away but is always improving and there are also 2 mini downhill venues ie Rogate + that one in the old quarry near Froyle which is very close (forgotten the name of it now).

[i]Tell me about Basingstoke ... or [s]there[/s]roundabouts?[/i]
Loads of 'em!

On the plus side the 'Nokia Roundabout' is perfect for hours of knee down sparky slider fun. Well, if you live in there I guess endlessly circling a roundabout is going to be the closest thing to fun 🙂

Amazingstoke ? . its a great place. Best thing to come out of there was the A340........
Depends what you want. We have friends who live there and have done for a long time. Wife used to go to College there, but lived in Silchester. Personally, its not for us. Other than visiting friends, I cant see a reason for going there.

Hard to make any recommendations without knowing your budget and requirements. We lived in Fleet until very recently, it's eye wateringly expensive now, and have just moved to Crowthorne, which is slightly less eye watering. There are lots of lovely places to live round these parts, with plenty of OK riding.

If you can get down over Fleet way there's quite a bit of half decent riding on MOD land. Though you may be better off with a cross or road bike.

+1 for it being a soul crushing place, even Milton Keynes has more to recomend it.

Plenty of good riding, Tunnel Hill Trolls, Swinely, etc, and easy access to Wales.

Wierdly Reading Cycling Club does Sunday club runs to the cafe in Sainbury's. A Propper WTF? moment when we arrived there compared to the usual charity shop or garden center type places we end up.

beware of proposals for turbines and solar farms, such bad news.

Alterntively, haggle the price down and rejoice that you're not a nimby and have a view over some windmills.

I was in Bazinghell last week visiting a friend who unfortunately lives there.

Eventually she tired of my constant pining to get as far away from the area as possible.

The epitomy of everything I hate about 'new' English towns/cities.

Utterly devoid of anything postive to say about it, other than the cinema queues are very short on a Friday night. I counted literally 7 people in the entire complex for the entire time I was there (prime time Friday).

Clearly the locals prefer not to leave their houses.

Cant blame them.

Are you getting that I dont like the place?..

Its the most utterly soulless, characterless, depressing place I've ever had the misfortune to visit. Its like a vacuum, that sucks the life out of you. Its living embodyment of how easily satisfied and devoid of spirit some people in this country actually are. To be satisfied with living in such a huge spirit-crushing void of a place.

YES!!

Nail. Head. Obliterated.

I was in Bazinghell last week visiting a friend who unfortunately lives there.

Eventually she tired of my constant pining to get as far away from the area as possible.

The epitomy of everything I hate about 'new' English towns/cities.

Utterly devoid of anything postive to say about it, other than the cinema queues are very short on a Friday night. I counted literally 7 people in the entire complex for the entire time I was there (prime time Friday).

Clearly the locals prefer not to leave their houses.

Cant blame them.

Are you getting that I dont like the place?..

This is utter crap really... I'm not a youff but when ever I've been into town of an evening the complex around the cinema is always very busy as is the old town which offers a fair few pubs and restaurants. Seem to be a lot of snobs on this thread if you ask me. Basingstoke and its surrounds are fine. Lots of lovely villages around with some very expensive real estate due to their short commute time to the smoke. The op should take a look for himself imo.

but if you go east from Basingstoke you get towards Surrey Hills and Swinley and surrounding area

I thought about a similar response, however, I live in the Surrey hills and by car at least, travelling between these two locations takes a lot longer than you'd imagine.

As soon as you reach the Hogs Back area in Guildford you may start to experience a good ride out. But then you'd always have to turn around and head home..

'shudders'

This is utter crap really... I'm not a youff but when ever I've been into town of an evening the complex around the cinema is always very busy

I was there last week. Witnessed with my own eyes. Teased friend with my own words. Granted, it was raining.

Ive lived in Staines..its an Eden in comparison.

If im a snob then please God may I remain this way forever and ever.

Back in the days of CB radio Basingstoke was known as "doughnut city" due to the number of roundabouts. The centre of Basingstoke and the numerous new housing estates are duller than dishwater, the secret is living out in one of the villages which sounds like what you are after. Dummer isn't bad and is very close to the city and the M3. Plenty of nice villages around the city but beware traffic is heavy. For riding you are not far from Swinley / Tunnel Hill if you live South/South East and you're within a hours drive of a lot of good riding on South Downs and Surrey Hills.

The only reason I go to Basingstoke is the Berry Brothers have their warehouse there, if you like wine they have excellent bin end offers 8)

Basingstoke and its surrounds are fine.

Its really, really not, you know. Its unremittingly awful! Actually describing it as awful is lending it too much drama. Its a huge yawning non-entity of a place. A barren, featureless (unless you count roundabouts as features), chain-bar-and-restaurant-infested, cultural wasteland.

Its rarely I've ever been accused of being a snob, but if demanding more than Basingrad offers makes me one, then it seems like theres a lot of us around. To live in a place like that would be like waving a white flag, and surrendering to a life of spirit-crushing banality, sat in your identikit house, doomed to listen to Coldplay on Radio 2 for the rest of your days.

Its weird how your mind makes associations, isn't it? Having been unfortunate enough to spend a bit of time down there, when someone mentions the place, I automatically think of this….

I love you Binners

Ah blazingsmoke. Lived there from about 1993-2000 in Chineham, Winklebury and hatch warren. Worked for the big drugs company there. Chineham was your standard soulless 80s housing estate but they built a pub and that made us happy. Bought my first house in Winkelbury (it's all 60s ex council housing) and while it wasn't very salubrious, it was a really great neighbourhood. And we lived next to the pub. Then moved in with GF in Hatch Warren. Which was both a new house on a soulless estate and not near a pub 😉

The middle of BS is pretty grim, the riding was fun (back on the fully rigid then), the pubs around and about I really liked and bits of hampshire (especially further south to Winchester) are really extremely pleasant places to live.

It wasn't a great town in terms of charm or amenities, but I do have some good memories of the place. I wouldn't go back tho.

To live in a place like that would be like waving a white flag, and surrendering to a life of spirit-crushing banality, sat in your identikit house, doomed to listen to Coldplay on Radio 2 for the rest of your days.

Binners, you don't have to identify yourself with the town in which you live. You can, if you want, but it's not a requirement. You can just treat your town as a place to sleep and work and get your kicks elsewhere. The town may be dull but it's surrounded by beautiful countryside and there's plenty of great riding.

Binners, you don't have to identify yourself with the town in which you live. You can, if you want, but it's not a requirement.

Indeed. But identify with it or not, you still have to spend the majority of your waking hours, and build your life there. And far from building a life there, I wouldn't even build a nuclear waste storage facility in Basingstoke

Its just one of those places Molls. Its all-encompasing beige, vanilla, banality starts to gnaw away at the very fabric of your soul. Whenever I went down there, from the moment I arrived, I'd be counting down the minutes until I could head back north.

And I think our ideas of what constitutes 'great riding' differ quite significantly fella. You've been out riding with us up here on our local trails. You're not seriously holding that up as a comparison, are you?. 😀

I know, I have been there. I had a job there, it lasted three days 🙂

You've been out riding with us up here on our local trails. You're not seriously holding that up as a comparison, are you?

I certainly am. Have you been riding in Surrey?

Its a huge yawning non-entity of a place. A barren, featureless (unless you count roundabouts as features), chain-bar-and-restaurant-infested, cultural wasteland.

Describes most of the bigger towns in the Thames Valley. Actually describes most towns in the UK these days. And the ones it doesn't are slowly being transformed into something that conforms.

Its no different to most towns in the south east - vast urban sprawl consisting of identikit housing estates.

Its the future you know.

I'd consider moving to Basingstoke just so I could be sure of never meeting anyone as unremittingly awful as Binners.

binners sweetie, I'm going to have to disagree with you. When places such as Basingstoke, Woking, Swindon etc. were built, the adhered to model was one that encompassed a practical road system with a labyrinth of pedestrian footpaths and cycleways as well as plenty of greenery, parks and open space for the inhabitants to enjoy.

Now I'm an old girl and remember driving around Basingstoke gawping at the modernist and futuristic buildings that had been constructed. You see, it was all terribly new and exciting!

By the same token, I can wander around older towns and be horrified at their twee-ness and ghastly brickwork, rickety pavements that you could break your cankle on etc. 😉

An open invitation to you binners - whilst I have no connections to Basingstoke, I would be honoured to show you around the trails not far from there. Yes, there are woods, nice views, little bits of singletrack etc. and can guarantee that you would be surprised! Whaddya say? 😀

I'd consider moving to Basingstoke just so I could be sure of never meeting anyone as unremittingly awful as Binners.

I visited a giant ASDA in Basingstoke.

I surived, just. But my DNA sequence was irrepairably damaged.

Its that bad.

I was just in a morrisons at Basingstoke. Northerners would feel right at home.

somewhatslightlydazed - my life, I'm sure, will be so much emptier without you. Enjoy Basingstoke 😀

Oh you're right BTW. I've worked in Woking as well. Thats hellish too. In a breathtakingly tedious way. You could parachute someone into any one of those god-awful places and ask them where they were, and there would be no way of knowing. They're all exactly the same. in a soul-destroying, spirit-crushing, why-oh-why-oh-why way

CG - I'd love to be proved wrong. I'll come and ride anywhere. When I've been down there, its just been work. Never had chance to ride, as there didn't seem anywhere obvious to do so

I remember the first time I went there, having the following conversation with the lads in the office

So what are you going to do with yourself tonight?
Theres a United game on. I'm going to have a wander, find a decent pub, grab something to eat and watch the footy
There are no decent pubs in Basingstoke
There must be somewhere passable, just to watch the match?
No. There really isn't. Every pub is terrible. The town centre is bloody awful

I went for a wander that evening. They were right 😀

There used to be a pub in town called the nightjar. Universally known as the knife jar 🙂 The pub in Winklebury was great. Most weekends there would be free entertainment while a couple of drunk locals smashed each other up with the pubs pool queues.

We used to go straight from work on the train to London, have a top night out, get the milk train back to BS about 5am in the morning, quick shower, back to work. Happy days 🙂

Binners, if you make it down South for riding I'll join you. I think you will be surprised - I was!

Now I'm an old girl and remember driving around Basingstoke gawping at the modernist and futuristic buildings that had been constructed. You see, it was all terribly new and exciting!

I completely agree with this CG. In fact, whenever I see 50's / 60's architects plans or 'vision' for a new concrete city , invariably they do seem exciting, feature packed, new.

Yet 30/40/50 years later the subsequent sprawl and degredation of the area, decor, advertising boards, boy racers - and lack of actual people using the green pathways / parks etc tends to always leave these same places looking - like Basingstoke.

I for one like a concrete building, when done right.

Cool! Well lets get something sorted when we're all back above water then eh? Thanks for the invite.

I shall come down with an open mind (well as open as possible for a chippy northerner), and I'd be quite happy to be proved wrong. Its always good to ride somewhere new 😀

Meanwhile, back on topic for the OP;

My pick would be one of the villages to the west if you can. You really don't feel that close to the 'Stoke, or to London for that matter, even though it's only an hour by train. If you're commuting in to the 'Stoke by train, be wary that there are only a couple of trains an hour on the Exeter-London line, think there may be more on the Micheldever line. M3 and A303 are both easily accessible, and with the A34 you get a fast route towards the M4 and Wales. (You can take it further North, but you'd only run in to chippy Northerners with their flat caps, whippets and rubbish beer, so don't)

Most of the villages are really thriving, with all sorts of stuff going on (I do at times feel as if I'm living in a Midsomer village, though! Am sure someone at the cricket/archery/running/photography/cycling etc club is going to get murdered in some inventively rural way!)

There's some lovely local beer, from the likes of Flack Manor or Andwell. Some great food, check out Tunworth cheese or Laverstoke Organics (mmmmm, buffalo!) for example.

Come on binners, you can do better than that! Go binners go. 😀

Oh, and did I mention the gin distillery?

😀

Sorry, just a thought ... isn't Warrington a 'new town'? What's that like then?

Binners ..I'll say it. You and you're chums are a bunch of pillocks. If you read what the op asked it was concerning getting a JOB in Basingstoke and what was on offer in the near surrounds (about 15 miles as I recall) and the likelyhood of finding a small quiet town/village with a pub. The answer to that is it's absolutely fine...maybe it's not Surrey but's fine...End of

Paul Weller comes from Woking, for that reason alone the place is redeemed.

@molgrips If I'm not mistaken @binners has ridden Surrey Hills a bit although I don't know what trails/areas, as we know the better stuff is thankfully reasonably well hidden.

OP if the job is good take it, to be honest I don't think anyone would move to Basingstoke itself as a lifestyle choice. The villages around are nice, riding is good within 60 mins, close to airports and coast, decent train service into London, lots to do/see around.

And I think our ideas of what constitutes 'great riding' differ quite significantly fella. You've been out riding with us up here on our local trails. You're not seriously holding that up as a comparison, are you?.

Basingstoke actually has got good riding that can be done from the town centre, anything from a couple of hours or a full day ride. I guess you were too busy wandering round the town centre being outraged by its blandness to explore it. I don't know what your local trails are like, they must be amazing though.

I shall come down with an open mind (well as open as possible for a chippy northerner), and I'd be quite happy to be proved wrong. Its always good to ride somewhere new

I'll try and join you but of course away days are hard to arrange these days. If you want to try some Welsh riding that could also be arranged 🙂

CG - its because I'm from a new town originally that I despise them with a passion I normally only reserve for Tory cabinet members. Warrington is unremittingly awful. An utterly horrendous place populated by Corsa-driving, rugby-watching borderline psychopaths called Bazza or Tommo, and peroxide, perms-tanned, barely-dressed orange umpa-lumpas called Sharone, who live in mile after mile of featureless cell-like houses, and go into the town centre in the evening to drink vile, lurid coloured drinks, copulate on the bins behind night clubs, and have fights outside kebab houses in the early hours of the morning

Everyone with half a brain will have cleared off to Manchester or Liverpool as soon as they hit adulthood, leaving a rump of people either too stupid, or terminally unimaginative to do anything else. 20 miles either way on the M62 and you may as well be on a different planet

I don't know what your local trails are like, they must be amazing though.

They're alright, I suppose….

That was the evening we had the pleasure of Molly's company 😀

I don't know what your local trails are like, they must be amazing though.

I've ridden some of his, they are good - but I have to say there are plenty of other places equally as good. The good thing about the UK is that the different landscapes provide very different trails, and they are close enough for us to sample lots of different styles. I would not want to confine myself to any one are in particular 🙂

I don't think I've seen that vid before binners..? I didn't know anyone had a camera.. I think you can see me in it for a few seconds.

copulate on the bins behind night clubs

Namesakes then?

Paul Weller comes from Woking, for that reason alone the place is redeemed

Gary Numan - Slough, Jimmy Page - Heston : not enough to save these god forsaken places, so I certainly cant give you Weller.

Binners ..I'll say it. You and you're chums are a bunch of pillocks. If you read what the op asked it was concerning getting a JOB in Basingstoke and what was on offer in the near surrounds (about 15 miles as I recall) and the likelyhood of finding a small quiet town/village with a pub. The answer to that is it's absolutely fine...maybe it's not Surrey but's fine...End of

Posh Pillocks? Ill settle for that. However, please define 'fine'

riding is good within 60 mins, close to airports and coast, decent train service into London,

I hate this argument. It describes pretty much anywhere South of Birmingham.

… and of course we don't have airports or trains or coasts up in't north. Or running or water or electrickery 😆

Behold the very pinnacle of cosmopolitan sophistication. [url= http://www.dougiewallace.com/538755/stags-hens-bunnies-blackpool/ ]The Northern Riviera[/url] 😀

secret is living out in one of the villages

Plenty of nice villages around the city

My pick would be one of the villages to the west if you can

Most of the villages are really thriving

I think this sums up nicely, even the people sticking up for it are basicly saying any hamlet within a 10 mile radius is better.

I say 10 miles, because much further and you hit Bracknell, which is like Basingstoke, but smaller.

I work in Basingstoke and I prefer it to Reading (smaller, more defined centre, to me feels less pushy etc), a plus point (IMHO) is that from the train station you can pretty much offroad to Hannington mast NW and also to Dummer (SWish at start of some decentish (*well imo) trails and the local guide impressed me on it's cyclability.

Used to live in Burghfield Common to the North, (*not entirely recommended, pleasant enough, but no defined centre, linear, no decent pubs, rail station etc etc), Mortimer is a bit better (2 decent pubs, small cafe, small shops, Indian near station, but again linear, very limited facilities and station is about a mile away), Bramley has a station and a nice cafe (next to station) don't know what pubs etc are like. Sherfield on Loddon used to have a couple of nice pubs - probably still does.

? Kingsclere - not sure what it's like - couple of pubs etc ....
If (things haven't changed for a while, well a long while) and you want a MEGA brekkie - pub at Ecchinswell

Just FYI - gf and I decided not do a one horse town - as horses have been closing or bistrofied recently where we are

Dummer, oakley, overton, witchurch, cliddesden, farliegh wallop, and pretty much any of the other surrounding villages. all have nice pubs, village life and are quiet, all have some good riding very close and are no more than half hour from basingstoke. Dont bother with tadley or bramley tho. I'd even say have a look at old basing, chineham, hatch warren in basingstoke too. Dispite what some others have said its not that bad, there has been alot of new development. The town centre has been revamped (it looks like any other town center) and its 5 minutes from open countryside which cant be bad. I've been here for 10 years and quite like it. But then I moved from rural essex so......

I worked down that way 1994-2000 first of all living in Hatch Warren which is exactly as prior posters have said, then I moved out to Monk Sherborne a few miles outside of Basingstoke and again like previous posts a lot lot nicer.

I moved to Basingstoke in 1998 and admittedly it was a pretty grim place. I've now been here for 16 years and I've seen significant change since then. The town centre was totally redeveloped in 2002 and the old concrete town has been replaced by the standard UK spec identikit town centre. There are still some grim parts but overall the place is better. I've lived in Lychpit, Hatch Warren and now Beggarwood. My kids were born here and go to school here. As others have mentioned the villages all around are great and most of them are linked by a bridleway network. This very bridleway network introduced me to mountain biking the year I moved here. You can cycle for hours and you will only see the odd cyclist, horse rider or rambler. The bridleways are not technical but the network is vast. You can ride from Cliddesden, Farleigh Wallop Ellisfield, The Candovers down to Alresford or Micheldever or go North up through North Waltham to Oakley and Kingsclere. I've ridden 1000's of miles over the years. The villages are more expensive but I'd recommend Hatch Warren, Kempshott, Lychpit, Old Basing or Chineham as the estates to consider. In my opinion I'd avoid parts of Brighton Hill, Popley, Buckskin, Winklebury. These areas probably have a higher number of benefit salaries. It really is no different to most other towns, and I certainly didn't like Basingstoke until I moved here. And finally everybody moans about the roundabouts but the ring road network is pretty good.

Spent a couple of years just outside a long time ago. Recognise all the villages mentioned, and their Inns. There is a ring community round it that just pretends it doesn't exist, seemed to work for them. Used to travel to Winchester a lot, I can't even remember what Basingstoke center looked like now.

NorthWest Hampshire is wonderful, ok the towns, which soaked up the London overspill (Andover, Basingstoke etc) and were changed massively for the worse, they are vibrant economically. So facilities are improving and money is being spent. Basingstoke does not have a lot of soul, but the countryside around it is lovely and it has incredible communications by road and rail and you are starting to get closer to a proper rural life.

I was born in Basingstoke and spent 18 years there. Believe me, it is an oasis now in comparison to the concrete desert that I grew up in. Having travelled a bit, including living in Stevenage for a few years - Basingstoke ain't that bad!

If the job pays OK you won't be short of great rural options for housing - Rotherwick, Hartney Witney etc

Thanks for all the replies 😀 I lived in, well just outside of, Slough for a few years, at the time it was the only place I could afford, I never ventured into the town centre but just had it as somewhere to sleep so I'm guessing basingstoke would be on par with that. The job is in Basingstoke, it's not great pay but it's more than I get now and I'm doing agency work so it could end tomorrow, but there's very little in the way of work in my area at the moment, haven't found anything that's relevant to my skills and interests for a couple of years. So, the idea was to move somewhere near and drive/cycle to work. But looking at prices of housing it's a little bit more than where I am now, so I'm in two minds. We're also considering moving further afield, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, depends on finding work but houseing costs seem to be better in those areas. So, need to weigh up the pros and cons, if i get an interview I'll go and have a look around and then think about it.