Thoughts on Basingstoke??

[caggy123]

Hi there
I wonder if anybody could provide their thoughts on whether Basingstoke would be a nice place to move to with 2 young children. We are relocating from West London with a view to me staying at home with the kids for a couple of years pre school. The house prices are very affordable allowing us this option however i have heard it is a bit of a commuter town and some have said it lacks any 'soul'. We visited on Sunday, had a little walk around and drove a few minutes outside the town to find some beautiful countryside. Any thoughts from those who live or have lived there would be very helpful .... thanks in advance

I used to live nearby and I rather like Basingstoke. The shopping is great, the transport links are good, countryside around is lovely.
You wouldn't say it was particularly quaint or charming or anything, but there are plenty of things to do to suit all sorts of interests - cinemas, museums, ice rink, theatres etc.
I would choose to live in Old Basing, I think though, rather than in the town centre, but there are some nice properties in the town too.
The ring road is not that attractive, certainly, and you quite often end up having to drive to places within the town because they are a bit inaccessible by foot, but that wouldn't necessarily put me off.
I would definitely pick Basingstoke over, say, Reading or Newbury.

However, the secondary schools aren't that good at all. That might be a consideration in a few years.

Do you want to be in a big town? I assume you would need the station for commuting?

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Good to know there is lots to do. Its a shame it isn't more quaint as you say but with our budget you can't have everything! My husband will be commuting for work but this will mostly be by car. I intend to work again in 2-3 years time so ability to commute then is attractive. Yes we are looking at Old Basing too however there is a beautiful house in town we have seen minutes from the shops so considering that with a view to taking advantage of the countryside on weekends etc. As long as primary schools are good we would most likely look to move again once secondary school comes about so that should be ok. Thanks again for your response!

I live in Basingstoke and I like it. Got good and bad parts like any big town. It's ideally located near Reading/Southampton/Portsmouth.

Whereabouts does your husband commute too, I used to live outside Basingstoke and agree strongly that the outskirts are so much better! My family are in both Tadley and Burghfield, but it's what you make of it !

Thanks for your responses. My husband has 2 offices he can commute to, one near Heathrow and one in Bracknell. He's also negotiated 3 days a week working from home so that should all be fine. One of the houses in town is on Sarum Hill, any thoughts on if this is a good rather than a bad road in the town? Thank you!

I would visit some of the other options Newbury, Thatcham, Tadley etc. People are very polarised as to which they like when comparing to Basingstoke and it is very much a horses for courses situation. Heathrow and Bracknell will be very easy from any of them.

Without wanting to 'out' myself, not ALL the secondary schools in Basingstoke are bad!

That's good to know! Would you know anything about Sarum Hill? That's where we are viewing for a second time tomorrow as well as a first viewing in Hook ....

Have a look at Overton. It's a village about 15 mins outside of Basingstoke, lovely place with lots of community and a train station

Has your husband actually tried that commute in the hours he would be travelling? Its certainly not an uncommon one, and as a result, the M3, A33 etc are generally heaving in the mornings. With commensurate numbers of accidents too, which snarl things up quick as a wink.

Bracknell would be marginally better than Heathrow I think (the M4 is like a war zone going down to that junction), but not by much.

I would seriously reconsider commuting by train. But that would mean somewhere on the SWT network, which is not Basingstoke without a change. www.southwesttrains.co.uk/plan-your-journey/network/

I agree, commuting in that direction can be quite busy in the mornings.
And getting to Bracknell can take a good 40 minutes at the best of times.

I might actually be tempted to try and be closer to Reading and the M4, rather than the M3. Theale, Burghfield, Burghfield Common, Mortimer somewhere like that. Mortimer and Theale have stations (Theale's is better because it has some direct services to London Paddington).

Have you ruled out Bracknell itself? It's another of these places that has a very poor reputation, but again, not thoroughly deserved.

Wokingham have really nice areas which is a lot nearer Bracknell and right on the M4 for Heathrow.

My DS works in Basingstoke and is looking to buy his first home there. He wants town centre, but for a family I would look at the surrounding villages.