Oakley, Hampshire

Oakley is where people go when they want Basingstoke's jobs and shops without ever having to say they live in Basingstoke. It sits close enough to the town to use all of it and far enough out to write "a village near Basingstoke" on the Christmas cards with a straight face. The houses are roomy, the drives take two cars as standard, and the most dramatic event in recent parish history was the 2011 Census quietly renaming Oakley and Deane as plain Oakley. Deane has not commented.