August in Basingstoke means the kids are off school, the days are still long, and for a lot of families it’s also when the summer holiday actually happens.
Between days out, more devices charging around the house, and time away from home, it’s a month that puts a few different demands on your electrics.
Here’s what’s worth thinking about.
Three great days out near Basingstoke
If you’re after inspiration for keeping the kids entertained, here are a few local favourites worth putting in the diary.
4 Kingdoms Adventure Park is great for a full day out, with a petting barn, tractor rides, giant slides and, in summer, pools and a slip slide to cool off in.
Eastrop Park is a brilliant free option just a short walk from the town centre, with a boating lake, a seasonal paddling pool, and a big play area, making it an easy choice for an afternoon without much planning.
The Vyne, just outside Basingstoke, is worth a visit if you fancy something a bit different, with National Trust lakeside walks, a natural play trail, and a restored mansion to explore.
You can find plenty more options on the Day Out With The Kids guide to Basingstoke if you want to plan out the rest of the month.
More devices, more charging
With the kids home all day, there tend to be more tablets, consoles, and phones on charge than usual, and it doesn’t take long to notice if you’re short on sockets.
If you’re forever hunting for a free plug or running extension leads across the living room, it’s worth adding a few extra sockets or USB outlets where you actually need them.
It’s a small job that makes daily life noticeably easier for the rest of the summer.
Going away? Leave your home properly secured
August is peak holiday season, which also means a lot of homes across Basingstoke will be sitting empty for a week or two.
Decent security lighting around the outside of the house is one of the simplest deterrents there is, and it’s inexpensive to have fitted.
Home CCTV has also come a long way, with modern systems easy to check from your phone wherever you are, so you can see what’s going on at home without needing to think about it too much.
It’s worth pairing any electrical upgrades with the basics too.
The Metropolitan Police’s checklist for securing your home before you go away covers everything from locking up properly to making the property look occupied while you’re gone, and it’s a good ten-minute read before you head off.
A month of sunshine you might have missed out on
If it feels like this July and August have been unusually warm and sunny, that’s not just a feeling.
The UK saw its third heatwave of the year in July, with temperatures climbing into the mid-30s across parts of the country and long, dry, sunny spells for weeks on end, as confirmed by the Met Office’s heatwave coverage for July 2026.
For any home without solar panels, that’s weeks of free electricity sitting on the roof and going completely unused.
Solar panels installed before this run of weather would have generated a genuinely noticeable amount of electricity at no ongoing cost, and paired with battery storage, that power could still be running the house well after the sun went down.
If you’re driving electric, solar and a home EV charger work particularly well together too, cutting down on how much you’re paying to charge overnight.
Our solar team, Gary and Rob, look after everything solar related for us, from panels to battery storage to EV charging points, and they’re happy to talk through what would actually work for your home.
There’s no getting this month’s sunshine back, but there’s no reason to miss out on the next stretch of it either.
Get in touch
Whether it’s extra sockets for the kids, a more secure home before you head off, or finally looking into solar, GU Solutions is happy to help homes across Basingstoke get sorted this August.
