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