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Crowne Plaza Basingstoke

Explore Basingstoke

Local Tips

Local Tips

Must See

A 25-minute drive from the hotel, Highclere Castle is a spectacular Victorian mansion and the setting for the much-loved TV series “Downton Abbey”. Guided tours of the interior lead from opulent state rooms and bedrooms to the servants’ quarters below stairs. Outside, the castle is surrounded by beautiful parklands where you’ll find formal plantings, a walled garden, woods and wildflower meadows.

What's New

Just over half an hour’s drive from the hotel, Marwell Zoo is surrounded by lush English countryside. It’s home to hundreds of animal species, including giraffes, tigers, rhinos and penguins. The zoo’s most recent residents are a group of pygmy marmosets, the smallest monkeys in the world. Visit the tiny Amazon natives just opposite the fossa, until they move into the zoo’s Tropical House in 2018.

Tips

Why not take home some delicious food produced right on our doorstep? A 20-minute drive from the hotel, Laverstoke Park Farm sells its own organic cheese, beef, juice and ale. Even closer, the Wellington Farm Shop in Heckfield offers lamb and beef from its own livestock, plus eggs and dairy produce. Basingstoke’s own traditional street market sells local goodies on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Must Do

Housed in a former 18th-century paper mill 25 minutes’ drive from the hotel, the Bombay Sapphire Distillery overlooks the River Test. Book a tour for an insight into the production of gin in the still house and discover the 10 botanicals that give Bombay Sapphire its unique flavour. Visits include a complimentary drink at the bar and you can create your own favourite cocktail in a masterclass.

Don't Go Home Without

Basingstoke’s premier performing arts venue is the Anvil, a short drive from the hotel in the town centre. So-called because it loosely resembles a blacksmith’s anvil, this ultra-modern, multi-purpose hall is known for its superb acoustics. Thanks to the variety of stage set-ups, the schedule of events includes anything from rock gigs to classical concerts and opera, touring musicals and comedy.

Things To Do

Things To Do

The Anvil

The Anvil and The Forge, Churchill Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7QR

The Anvil is a modern performing arts centre and concert hall with outstanding acoustics and a great range of performances throughout the year

Festival Place Shopping Centre

The Festival Place, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7BA

A bright, modern and vibrant shopping centre with 200 large and small stores such as Zara, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer and the Apple Store as well as a variety of restaurants, bars, and cafés, mostly located outside in the covered Festival Square. The centre also incorporates a Vue cinema, Basingstoke Sports Centre and Basingstoke Discovery Centre.

Highclere Castle

Highclere Castle, Highclere Park, Newbury, West Berkshire SORG20 9RN

Highclere Castle is a country house in the Jacobethan style, with a park designed by Capability Brown. The 5,000-acre estate is in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Newbury, Berkshire. It is the county seat of the Earl of Carnarvon, a branch of the Anglo-Welsh Herbert family. The castle and gardens are open to the public during July and August and at other times during the rest of the year.

Legoland Windsor

LEGOLAND® Windsor Park, Winkfield Road, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 4AY

Play your part at the LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort with over 55 interactive rides and attractions. Fly through the treetops to escape fearsome dragons, ride the thrilling rapids with a Viking Fleet, join LEGO® divers on a magical underwater adventure on Atlantis Submarine Voyage or enjoy the UK’s only LEGO® Star Wars™ Miniland Model Display

Marwell Zoo

Thompson's Lane, Colden Common, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 1JY

Marwell Zoo is a 140-acre zoo situated at Owslebury near Winchester, in the English county of Hampshire. It is owned and run by the registered charity Marwell Wildlife. The zoo is home to over 1,200 animals of 235 different species

Jane Austen House

Jane Austen House, Chawton, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1SD

Jane Austen's House Museum is a small private museum in the village of Chawton near Alton in Hampshire. It is a writer's house museum occupying the 18th-century house in which novelist Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life

Stonehenge

Stonehenge, Amesbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 7DE

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 2 miles (3 km) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. Stonehenge's ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.