Oakley - the area
Prior to the 1960's, Oakley was a relatively sleepy country village in the midst of the Hampshire countryside with a population of about 500. It was about 4 miles from the centre of Basingstoke, which in the 1960's had a population in the region of 20,000. In the 1960's Basingstoke was expanded quite dramatically under the terms of a tripartite overspill agreement between the Basingstoke Borough Council, the Hampshire Council and the then London Council. In the space of about 10 years Basingstoke's town area grew from about 20,000 to about 80,000 and the villages around Basingstoke, including Oakley, also saw a tremendous increas in size and population - Oakley from the above 500 to about 7,000. As can be imagined, the impact on the village was considerable. Where there were previously fields etc there are now estates of houses. However, one can still walk from almost anywhere in the village for a quarter of an hour or so and be in open countryside with fields and woods all around. In springtime the woods are awash with bluebells and other flowers and access to the countryside is easy by way of the well-defined public footpath system. Communications are good, within each reach of Basingstoke and its shops, Winchester, Southampton, Andover, Salisbury etc, and to go further afield there are 2 junctions with the M3 close at hand as well as well-maintained 'A' class roads - e.g. the A303 to the west, the A33 and A339 to both north and south, and the A30 to east and west. There is also a fast train service to London from Basingstoke.
