Welcome to Book Hotels in Basingstoke

Basingstoke is a large town and third largest settlement in the county of Hampshire in South East England. It is situated 77 km (48 miles) southwest of London and 48 km (30 miles) north of Southampton.

Often mistaken as a new town, Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and it remained a market town until the 1950s when it was very rapidly developed to accommodate what was then called the London 'overspill'. Basingstoke is a prosperous town with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment. It is an economic centre, and the location of the UK headquarters of Sun Life Financial of Canada (not to be confused with AXA Sun Life) and of the Automobile Association (which moved to Farnborough and then back again). Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, Communications, insurance and electronics.

Basingstoke's expansion has absorbed many smaller villages in its wake, becoming housing estates or local districts. Many of these new estates are designed as almost self-contained communities, such as Lychpit, Chineham, Popley, Winklebury, Oakridge, Kempshott, Brighton Hill, South Ham, Black Dam and Hatch Warren. The M3 acts as a buffer zone to the south of the town, and the South Western Main Line constrains the western expansion, with a green belt to the north and north-east, making Basingstoke almost triangular in shape. As a result, the villages of Cliddesden, Dummer, Sherborne and Oakley, although being very close to the town limits, are considered distinct entities. Popley, Hatch Warren and Beggarwood are seeing rapid growth in housing, while the open space of the Manydown Estate to the west of the town is under threat.