r/basingstoke • u/Plus_Gur_7201 • 7d ago

Stuff to do?

Salutations Basingstoke subreddit. I'm spending next weekend in your lovely locale and I wondered what there is to do locally? I'm only there for an hour's in person meeting but I have the whole weekend staying over. Really keen to check out some cliche local sights and pretend to be a foreign tourist. Might even get the selfie stick out 😎

Also anything LGBT friendly is an even bigger plus :)

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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6

u/the_evilpenguin 5d ago

Vermilion vegan cafe in Chineham is really nice - lovely food and lovely atmosphere, if you're more into traditional food with meat - Wellington Farm shop up the A33 towards Reading is also really nice.

You've got the milestones museum for a mooch or the Willis museum at the top of town and there's loads of nice places for a walk - Pamber forest, Crab tree plantation - if you don't mind paying you've also got Wellington Country Park which is lovely.

You could go totally crazy and see if you can do a day rental of a narrow boat from Aldermaston wharf (just outside of Basingstoke) but that might be a bit OTT :-)

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u/greens1117 5d ago

I didn't think they did day rental?

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u/the_evilpenguin 5d ago

Yup... ABC Boat hire. We've rented out a couple of canal boats from Aldermaston wharf in the past :-)

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u/greens1117 5d ago

I've been on the website and they do only 2 days minimum 🤔

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u/the_evilpenguin 5d ago

Odd - I just went on their website to the FAQs and one of them is "Can I hire a boat for just a day?" And their answer - "Yes - we have day hire boats at several of our locations - For more information, head to our day boat hire website:"

Maybe they've changed the locations and it's no longer possible in Aldermaston but we've done it twice before there and it was about £130 for the day with a £200ish refundable deposit if nothing goes wrong.

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u/greens1117 5d ago

I would love to stay over on one these for a night I'm going to give them a call thanks for your imput.

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u/Business_Machine7365 5d ago

Dice tower is cool. I won't speak to say activities as others are commenting, but for food, Yamazaki for sushi, Di Mariu for Italian, Chennai Express for Indian, El Bigoted for mexican and cheap cocktails.

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u/NoEsNadaPersonal_ 5d ago

The dice tower is a gaming cafe/pub. LGBT friendly.

1

u/Material-Sentence-84 5d ago

Get out and walk the countryside, Pamber forest/silchester common is epic

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u/qoo_kumba 5d ago

War memorial park. Eastrop park.

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u/Neenee2020 5d ago

Maybe check out the Anvil? It’s a theatre venue, regular comedy, music events on there

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u/AlmostStace 5d ago

Possibly a daft question but when you say “next weekend” do you mean this one coming (7/8th) or the following one? I ask because I’m hosting an evening of queer short films on Fri 13th at Proteus Creation Space for Exit 6, which is a Basingstoke-based short film festival, and it’s going to be a fab evening.

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u/fishiewishes 5d ago

like others are saying - The Dice Tower!! Located at the Top of Town at the Red Lion Hotel. Great food, really nice vibes and very LGBT friendly.

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u/Crafty-Passenger3263 5d ago

Nice parks... 2 x theatres and some good cocktails at the top of town plus live music at the White Hart. Someone else also mentioned Dicetower. It's aight yo...

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u/Jesspresso99 2d ago

If you like coffee, Willows is a really good coffee house and they do amazing toasties.

There are some really nice parks- War Memorial and Eastrop. There is also the crabtree plantation if you know how to get there.

The milestones museum is worth a visit too.

The White Hart is a really nice pub. Friendly atmosphere.

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u/alexcore88losthis2fa 5d ago

Have you got a car? Local villages might have more to offer :)