I grew up in Whitchurch (we moved down from Aberdeen when I was 4)…it’s a good town (village sized) for growing up, I have lots of fond memories of the place.
There are good schools in Whitchurch – Whitchurch C of E Primary School, and Testbourne Secondary School…I went to both and I turned out ok….possibly. After school there are colleges in Andover (7 miles), Basingstoke (12 miles) and Winchester (12 miles). Whitchurch sits on the B3400 between Andover and Whitchurch so it’s an easy commute.
Whitchurch has some nice pubs and a good community feel…now I’m living in London I miss having a local that I can walk into and know everyone, and the barman already knows what beer I drink. The village has all the amenities, banks, shops, post office, take aways, small supermarkets etc. Andover and Basingstoke have big supermarkets when you need to buy loads of stuff.
There are regular fetes etc, and there’s beer runs, and fun runs…all that kind of stuff.
Overton (4 miles towards Basingstoke on the B3400) is similar…it’s a little smaller though and doesn’t have a secondary school although all kids from Overton and the surrounding areas get buses to/from Testbourne in Whitchurch.
There’s plenty of places to go out on the bike, the South Downs Way starts in Winchester, and in Whitchurch you could cycle 10 minutes in any direction and be in rolling farmland with plenty of tracks to enjoy.
Most of my mates who I grew up with have moved to either Basingstoke or Winchester so once the younguns grow up they don’t have to go far if they want to move to a bigger town. Plus the road networks are great…Whitchurch is a stones throw from the A34 (north/south) and the M3 (east/west), and has a direct train link into London Waterloo.
There are so many benefits of that area of England to be honest…I could go on for ages.
I know a few people who live closer to Reading (we got to know them as they went to Basingstoke College of Technology (BCOT)), there’s plenty of places to live in and around Tadley and it’s relatively easy to get to Basingstoke for work.