Birks Grange vs St German's & Rowe House

j1991

Right, I'm in a bit of a dilemma here.

I'm going for self-catered and my choices are Birks Grange, St German's and Rowe House.

I was going to put Rowe House as 1, St German's as 2, and Birks Grange as 3. Simply because, I hear that Rowe House & St German's are closer to the Streatham Campus, 7 minute walk, and Birks Grange is a 12 minute walk. Is there really much of a difference ( for current students) ?

Also, I've read about 5 posts so far about how stuff in St German's breaks so easily! This isn't very appealing, so am thinking of putting Birks Grange as 1. Also, which of the 3 if any have double beds?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Reply 1

crackingod

j1991

Rowe house had doubled bed when I was there (4 years ago), I don't know about now though. Great halls though, big rooms massive lounge, ensuite etc... I'd say with St Germans it should be your top 2. Birks Grange is further away and you have to go up the hill.

University of Exeter

Exeter

Reply 2

j1991

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(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 3

Angelil

Were all of those 5 posts mine OP? :p:

I've never been inside Birks Grange so can't comment on that particular accommodation. There is a bit of a walk, but I'd be more put off by the cost of it than by the walk!
I lived in St Germans and while the facilities look shiny and the price is OK (though it's gone up since I was there 3 years ago), I didn't find the quality of the fixtures and fittings to be very good and I had problems there that I didn't have in Lafrowda (electrical circuits kept tripping, hot water kept clicking off etc, though hopefully these problems have also been resolved in the intervening three years and a more recent student will be able to advise you!).

I had friends living in Rowe House and found it very nice when I visited, with a huge living area, and I didn't hear of problems there. Only con I can think of is that it has a wet room rather than a proper shower, which I would always consider a huge disadvantage (my sister had a wet room in her room at Cardiff and you basically need to store everything in there in plastic boxes as everything gets soaked if you don't - including the loo seat!).

I would therefore put Rowe House first, OR St Germans if things have improved. It used to take me half an hour to walk from St Germans to Birks (or near there, for music lessons) so if you lived in Birks and needed/wanted to go to Cornwall House very often then it might prove a tad inconvenient.

Reply 4

crackingod

Angelil

Only con I can think of is that it has a wet room rather than a proper shower, which I would always consider a huge disadvantage (my sister had a wet room in her room at Cardiff and you basically need to store everything in there in plastic boxes as everything gets soaked if you don't - including the loo seat!).

The wet room is pretty big though, I could keep stuff near the sink without having it soaked when i had a shower!

Reply 5

Angelil

I wouldn't bank on that personally...but you're better checking with some current or recent students to be sure.

Reply 6

j1991

Angelil

Were all of those 5 posts mine OP? :p:

Angelil, haha, I think I do remember you commenting a few times about how the stuff broke in St Germans easily.
Hopefully, things have improved in St German's since you were there.
Walking to Birks Grange sounds like a bit of mission so I think I'll leave that as a bottom choice.

Thanks a lot for the advice though :smile:

Reply 7

make.a.sound

i can't find any pictures of the rooms in rowe house apart from one which doesn't really tell me much except that it seems to have boring grey brick walls? i was just wondering if someone could tell me what are the rooms like?

and current students, is the area of birks grange gonna be full of building works next year? i was thinking about putting the new self-catered birks grange village as one of my choices, but i wouldn't really want to see building works from my window. the other building works don't really bother me, i'd just prefer a non-building work view from my window and also the noise would probably be a disadvantage too..