Anyone familiar with Basingstoke and surrounding area??

[nextphase]

Hello,

DH has just been offered a job in Basingstoke, and is asking me if I'm prepared to go. I've never visited the place - and we live 300 miles north of that part of the world!

Can anyone who knows the area let me know whats its like? Put it this way, there were celebrations 8 years ago when we got a next store (OK, so now that might not be much to shout about!), so I have fairly low expectations!

He would be based in the centre, near the station.

What areas would you suggest looking for houses? Got 2 young kids, so looking for decent primary schools.

Currently got a 4 bed, 3 reception detached house, worth about £200k. If we went up to £300k, what would we get?

Anyone want to find us a possible house?

Cheers for any advice!

Don't know the area really but friends have lived in Chineham for years with their small offspring.

£300k would get you a 3-bed detached.

We lived there for two years as a childless couple, out of necessity though as dh worked in London and I worked in Hampshire.

As a town it's ok - doesn't deserve it's poor reputation if you ask me. We lived in the centre, near the station, on a road called Southern Road. There's some lovely roads around there with Victorian terraces and semis. Walking distance to the old town part which has some nice restaurants (cafe rouge and a Thai place called lime leaf were favourites) and shops. Decent shopping too.

Don't know about schools I'm afraid... The other thing about Basingstoke is it is brilliantly placed for getting to other parts of south England :) close to London, close to Bristol, Southampton, Brighton etc. loads of options for weekends away.

There's newish housing estate type places up by the hospital, and the buses to the station are good. Or the surrounding villages are lovely.

Recommend the Hogget pub - it's where my waters broke

Basingstoke takes a lot of stick but there are FAR worse places to live
pick one of the roads heading out of it : allow half an hour for 15 miles in rushour
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40842113.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25027386.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25525467.html
a few ideas

We lived in Basingstoke for 5 years until moving to Winchester last year.

I quite liked it overall. It has a bit of a reputation for being soulless - most people seem to live there because the train and M3 make it good for commuting to London. The centre is dominated by a big shopping centre called festival place which has all the main chain stores but not many independents - clean and bright but a bit bland and samey.

It's quite a good place for kids as lots of leisure facilities etc around town. Schools are mixed (don't know many specifics as DS was only 1 when we moved). For secondary I've heard that quite a few send kids to Winchester which has several excellent ones.

We had a 3 bed semi in nice area (brookvale) within 10 mins walk of the station which was just under £250k. If your DH is happy to drive into work you'll get much more - Chineham as mentioned is nice with good primary school (houses mostly 80's/90's); there's a new development called sherfield park up there with decent new build houses. Kempshott is also worth looking at on the other side of town.

Lots of nice small villages further out but probably pushing the budget too far.

All in all, I'd say don't dismiss it but definitely try to visit before committing if you can, so you can see whether it's your kind of place!

Lived there a few years back in Hatch Warren. A modern estate with a variety of family types.

Lots of facilities in Basingstoke including a cinema, ice rink, sports centre, shopping, theatre, mainline station and is close to M3 and M4.

It does get some stick but it had everything we needed!

I grew up near there and may well be moving back to the area shortly. You would need to check out the schools carefully if you're going to be there any length of time, as a lot of the secondaries are a bit ropey. I would second the suggestion of looking at some of the nice surrounding villages. PM me if you want any more details!

We're thinking about heading to Winchester (20 mins away on train) which is lovely, and has fantastic schools, but house prices are a bit silly. Swings and roundabouts...

I used to work in Basinghole.

I am told there are worse places.

Basingstoke not nicest place BUT there are lots of nice places to live around the town within a 30 min commute where your budget would get you a 3 bed maybe 4 bed house eg. Mortimer, burghfield:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26002830.html

Sherfield

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39500492.html

Bramley.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36068158.html

Hook

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40573304.html?premiumA=true

Hartley wintney

www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-34914790.html

Fleet

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37361836.html

These aren't the best of the bunch but give you an idea

Thanks Ladies and Gent.
Will investigate those later.

Considering our nearest town regularly makes the worst 10 places to live list, it sounds like it might be a move upmarket!

have family who live in Kempshott and Oakley. The estates are quite good value but lots of the villages around basingstoke are very expensive because of the ease of commuting. Pretty good shopping and leisure facilities. I'd try and go Winchester side if possible.

Basingstoke gets a bad press, but probably unfairly. It has very good faciliites, great high street shops, restaurants, leisure park, train to most other places in South, I think the problem is that it just isnt a pretty place, it doesnt have a picturesque old centre or attractive roads leading to it.
Whitchurch is a nice small town in a country setting about 10 minutes down the train line, decent schools and a range of newbuild and period houses.You can get to Basingstoke in 15 minutes using back roads (not the M3). Winchester is probably the pick of the other places to live, but its very expensive. There's Andover, again on the train line between Winchester and Basingstoke. Not picturesque but there are lovely villages on the outskirts with very good schools and house prices are very reasonable.