Hey, I live in the Ziggurats and yes we definitely have the nicest views
To answer your question...
If you aren't bothered about having your own bathroom, don't choose the Village! It's a lot more expensive and not worth it.
I doubt the Village has a more 'community feel', I don't know if I am just lucky but my flat (13 of us) already felt like we've known each other for ever by the second week. Everyone is really lovely and social and it's really like a family.
Everyone is a fresher in my flat (and the majority of people in the Ziggurats will be freshers) but some of us are older, Im 20 and I have a flatmate who is 22 and I have two others who are only 17. Out of the 13 of us, five of us are from abroad and eight of us are from the UK. We're all doing a three year degree except for one American girl who's an exchange student from the US she's here for a year. I know other foreigners in other flats in the Ziggurats, it's probably like 30%, so that's a high number. I'm pretty sure there is AT LEAST 1 foreigner in every flat! Most people in the Ziggurats are UK students it's probably the most popular accomodation and really social. There are lots of house parties going on in one of the blocks, not mine, but the one next to us... they are insane! Kept me up all night the other day, lol. They are known as the party block. Ours seems to be quieter but it's probably because people in our flat go down to the LCR instead of drunkenly singing Wrecking Ball in the kitchen at 2 in the morning!
As for the drinking and going clubbing... my flatmates do go clubbing and do drink yes, however none of them are the loud obnoxious party animal types, I actually haven't seen anyone falling over themselves from our block, people just get tipsy...everyone's been pretty innocent so far! However, the block next to us....
D
I don't go clubbing and I don't drink and there are a few other people in my flat who don't do it either and we're still fine. There are socities you can join, meet people from your course etc you can do other stuff.
Yes we do have dinners together, everyone is in the kitchen in the evening so you just cook together and eat together every day, sometimes we order pizza etc, have movie nights, there is a game night in one of the blocks every Friday etc
Whether there is a community feel or whether there's a lot partying going on will depend on the people you get randomly assigned to a flat with, not the accommodation itself, it's really a lottery but I can't imagine why anyone would pay so much money just to have their own bathroom, I was really paranoid about sharing bathrooms but tbh even with 13 of us in the flat it's a non issue, you all have different timetables so you will never have to wait, there are two bathrooms and a third toilet, I've never had to wait and it's cleaned every week so it's not filthy or gross at all, it's really nice actually.
Tbh I can't imagine why anyone would live anywhere other than the Ziggurats, it's definitely the best value for money.
It's also the closest to the Lecture Theatres and the Library and The Street, where you have the banks, the shop, the lcr, the bar, etc