[Persipan]

(Original post by Fooldimis)
Great! Which is the best self catered residence in the price range of about 4000 a year or less?

'Best' is so much in the eye of the beholder that I don't know if there's really an answer to that, but here goes...

Basically, looking at the prices, for under £4000 you won't get an en-suite but you've got options of Lafrowda (the older blocks), Cook & Llewellyn Mews, St Davids, or Rowancroft Court or Mews.

The older - although that sounds a bit mean, really, so let's say 'classic' - Lafrowda blocks are the grey-brick 60s ones, but all the ones that are still standing (after the others were demolished to make way for new accommodation) are the refurbished ones, so internally they look much like anywhere else. Most of the flats are for about 11-12 people. It's very central, and in a part of campus with lots of people living in it.

Cook & Llewellyn are in a residential street just off one edge of campus (across the road from Birks), making them slightly further from town and downhill from campus. They're by the railway line, but people mostly don't seem too bothered by that. The flats have living rooms as well as kitchens, which is quite nice, and I think it's five people per flat.

St Davids is right by the station - there's a minibus you can catch up to campus in the morning if you can't be bothered to walk, though it isn't that far. It's partly flats and partly houses; I rather like it. I think it's five or six people per house; not sure about the flats. It's quite sweet because it's basically a couple of little student streets. Oh, and you can go into a ballot to get a parking space there (and at Cook/Llew), whereas in the vast majority of places you can't get parking.

Rowancroft Court and Mews are over the other side of town, handier for St Luke's than Streatham, though it's perfectly possible to live there and study on Streatham.

If you could squeeze a few more quid out of your budget, you could also look at the townhouses at Birks Village - they're a bit more expensive but they're new; they have quite a cool downstairs kitchen living space, and one bathroom between two, if that makes sense.

[Cats150]

What can you tell me about Lafrowda?

[Alexander94]

(Original post by Persipan)
...If you could squeeze a few more quid out of your budget, you could also look at the townhouses at Birks Village - they're a bit more expensive but they're new; they have quite a cool downstairs kitchen living space, and one bathroom between two, if that makes sense.

It would be near enough impossible for me to share a bathroom but with Birks village you said that the bathrooms are 1 between 2, how does that work? Are they still all communal? Thanks!

EDIT: Also just looking through the prices for 2012/13 there is mention of a hall duryard, a google of it told me it is the old halls (That JK Rowling lived in) but I can't find anything about them as a recent accommodation offering, could you shed some light?

[Persipan]

(Original post by Alexander94)
It would be near enough impossible for me to share a bathroom but with Birks village you said that the bathrooms are 1 between 2, how does that work? Are they still all communal? Thanks!

EDIT: Also just looking through the prices for 2012/13 there is mention of a hall duryard, a google of it told me it is the old halls (That JK Rowling lived in) but I can't find anything about them as a recent accommodation offering, could you shed some light?

In the townhouses at Birks Village (I think they're now called 'standard' rooms; they used to be called 'enhanced'), they have basically 12 bedrooms - 4 per floor, with the whole downstairs as a big kitchen/living space - and then on each of the bedroom floors there are two shower rooms, so six altogether. I'm pretty sure they have a downstairs toilet, too, (though why they could possibly need one more toilet in a house with six bathrooms I won't ask).


Duryard used to be a group of catered halls, but they were retired and demolished a few years ago. Part of the site now has INTO's accommodation on it (they do like pre-sessional language programmes for International students). On the rest, they're building more self-catered accommodation - I haven't wandered past anytime lately, but I would be amazed beyond belief if it weren't exactly identical to the stuff that's been built at Birks and Lafrowda.

[Persipan]

(Original post by Cats150)
What can you tell me about Lafrowda?

What would you like to know?

[Cats150]

(Original post by Persipan)
What would you like to know?

Everything lol. What are the pros and cons?

[Persipan]

(Original post by Cats150)
Everything lol. What are the pros and cons?

Well... There's older blocks which are mainly large flats of up to 12 people, sharing a kitchen and a bunch of shower rooms and toilets; there's en-suite (half of which was opened this year, the rest they're still building for next year), and there are some studios. Because there's such a lot of it, it's very social and there are always lots of people around - up to you whether that's a pro or a con, really. Similarly, it's right next to the Lemmy (club-ish space) - could be good or bad, depending on your point of view! It's pretty central to campus, on the level side rather than the hilly side, and handy for town.

[Alexander94]

(Original post by Persipan)
In the townhouses at Birks Village (I think they're now called 'standard' rooms; they used to be called 'enhanced'), they have basically 12 bedrooms - 4 per floor, with the whole downstairs as a big kitchen/living space - and then on each of the bedroom floors there are two shower rooms, so six altogether. I'm pretty sure they have a downstairs toilet, too, (though why they could possibly need one more toilet in a house with six bathrooms I won't ask).


Duryard used to be a group of catered halls, but they were retired and demolished a few years ago. Part of the site now has INTO's accommodation on it (they do like pre-sessional language programmes for International students). On the rest, they're building more self-catered accommodation - I haven't wandered past anytime lately, but I would be amazed beyond belief if it weren't exactly identical to the stuff that's been built at Birks and Lafrowda.

So there would be no way of walking from the bathroom to my room without traveling through a communal space/corridor? Back to looking at expensive en-suites

If duryard is new build may people be less likely to know about it and therefore make me more likely to get my room choice I wonder...

I really like the look of Rowe House and St Germans

[Persipan]

(Original post by Alexander94)
So there would be no way of walking from the bathroom to my room without traveling through a communal space/corridor?

Technically no, but it's like one step away from the bedroom doors...

[Jemeter]

(Original post by Alexander94)
So there would be no way of walking from the bathroom to my room without traveling through a communal space/corridor? Back to looking at expensive en-suites

If duryard is new build may people be less likely to know about it and therefore make me more likely to get my room choice I wonder...

I really like the look of Rowe House and St Germans

Rowe House is lovely (I'm a tad biased however), it's not overly new but all of the kitchens have recently been done up in the style of new Lafrowda/Birks and one of the 7 rooms is a bigger version of a new Lafrowda/Birks room. The other six are older rooms, but we get double beds which is a plus!
Pics:

[Alexander94]

(Original post by Persipan)
Technically no, but it's like one step away from the bedroom doors...

Still incredibly impractical... ahh well

(Original post by Jemeter)
Rowe House is lovely (I'm a tad biased however), it's not overly new but all of the kitchens have recently been done up in the style of new Lafrowda/Birks and one of the 7 rooms is a bigger version of a new Lafrowda/Birks room. The other six are older rooms, but we get double beds which is a plus!
Pics:

It does look rather nice My only concern is the lack of bookshelf? Would there be issue with me sticking just an additional one in there, just a flat pack one or something, I have 9 bookcases atm...

[The Maide]

(Original post by Alexander94)
Still incredibly impractical... ahh well

Dressing gown? It works both ways really, communal toilets/showerooms get cleaned more times during the week. While ensuites get cleaned once a week, and I've found that many of the new builds have a gap underneath the door - which isn't a problem when its just you but I've found things can get a bit self-concious when you've got friends round, but then again not all of them are like that.

(Original post by Alexander94)
It does look rather nice My only concern is the lack of bookshelf? Would there be issue with me sticking just an additional one in there, just a flat pack one or something, I have 9 bookcases atm...

It varies depending on the building, some of the older accommodation (such as Cook/Llewellyn Mews) has shelves that stretch along the entire length of the walls while others have more storage space. As for putting in your own, that would depend on the space available.

[tiana_tiara]

Hey - I've got an offer from Exeter, and it's probably my firm (will know for sure after I've visited :P ).
I was looking at the accomadation, and I basically have two needs - I'd like one of the cheaper options, ideally below 100 a week, and I need to be able to leave my things/stay in halls over Easter and Christmas breaks. I'm coming from the North-East direction, and my family's not in a position to be carting me and all my junk back and forth every holiday :P. I noticed that some of the options have different letting periods - 40, 42, 44 weeks, etc - what should I be applying for to be able to stay over the Easter/Xmas breaks? I can't find anywhere that tells me the length of the academic year for me to work it out myself

Sorry if this is a complete curveball of a question. Point me in the right direction if I'm asking the wrong person ^^"

[HJFSS]

Hi, I got an offer from Exeter for Clinical Psych and I've been looking at all of the self-catered accommodation (i'm veggie and quite picky about what i eat - you wouldn't believe how many times I get served mushrooms!). I've settled on a 'top 4' of Lafrowda en-suite, Rowe House, St. German's or Nash Grove. They're all in the same general area and I was definitely leaning towards the new Lafrowda flats after looking at the wiki and reviews here. I was just wondering if people think it'll have the same great atmosphere that old Lafrowda apparently has? That sounded very appealing to me but I'd rather not live in the older buildings. Otherwise, what do you think out of my other choices? Is there really much of a difference between them? Thanks

[The Maide]

(Original post by tiana_tiara)
Hey - I've got an offer from Exeter, and it's probably my firm (will know for sure after I've visited :P ).
I was looking at the accomadation, and I basically have two needs - I'd like one of the cheaper options, ideally below 100 a week, and I need to be able to leave my things/stay in halls over Easter and Christmas breaks. I'm coming from the North-East direction, and my family's not in a position to be carting me and all my junk back and forth every holiday :P. I noticed that some of the options have different letting periods - 40, 42, 44 weeks, etc - what should I be applying for to be able to stay over the Easter/Xmas breaks? I can't find anywhere that tells me the length of the academic year for me to work it out myself

Sorry if this is a complete curveball of a question. Point me in the right direction if I'm asking the wrong person ^^"

Well from what you've said there, you'll definitely be looking at self catered accommodation with Lafrowda, Cook/Llewellyn Mews, St David's and Rowancroft being the cheapest. All self-catered accommodation lets you keep your things and stay in your room over the Easter and Christmas breaks, the different letting periods represent when your tenancy period finishes in the summer. As far as I'm aware they all start from the weekend before welcome week, which I think will start on 17th September this coming year. So basically a 40 week tenancy includes the holidays and finishes sometime around the end of June, while a 42 will finish 2 weeks later.

Hopefully that provides some kind of help for you

[Persipan]

(Original post by HJFSS)
Hi, I got an offer from Exeter for Clinical Psych and I've been looking at all of the self-catered accommodation (i'm veggie and quite picky about what i eat - you wouldn't believe how many times I get served mushrooms!). I've settled on a 'top 4' of Lafrowda en-suite, Rowe House, St. German's or Nash Grove. They're all in the same general area and I was definitely leaning towards the new Lafrowda flats after looking at the wiki and reviews here. I was just wondering if people think it'll have the same great atmosphere that old Lafrowda apparently has? That sounded very appealing to me but I'd rather not live in the older buildings. Otherwise, what do you think out of my other choices? Is there really much of a difference between them? Thanks

One thing I'll just say is that Nash is in a slightly different area of campus to the other three you've listed...

[tiana_tiara]

(Original post by The Maide)
Well from what you've said there, you'll definitely be looking at self catered accommodation with Lafrowda, Cook/Llewellyn Mews, St David's and Rowancroft being the cheapest. All self-catered accommodation lets you keep your things and stay in your room over the Easter and Christmas breaks, the different letting periods represent when your tenancy period finishes in the summer. As far as I'm aware they all start from the weekend before welcome week, which I think will start on 17th September this coming year. So basically a 40 week tenancy includes the holidays and finishes sometime around the end of June, while a 42 will finish 2 weeks later.

Hopefully that provides some kind of help for you

That is amazingly helpful, thankyou . I was looking at St Davids, but I can't seem to find much info on it outside the uni website - is it very new?
And all the self-catered accommodation lets you stay? Awesome xD, I was getting stressed over nothing. Do you know if there's somewhere to find out the term dates though? I'm assuming all the courses/exams are over by a specific date. I wouldn't want to be paying for longer than I'm staying is all, so if I can get a shorter - say 38/40 week let - that would be great.

Budgeting. Eck. I feel like a grown-up. :P

[Persipan]

(Original post by tiana_tiara)
I was looking at St Davids, but I can't seem to find much info on it outside the uni website - is it very new?

St Davids has been around for a while - it's like a couple of little streets of houses and flats, close to St David's station. It's quite sweet - and certainly really handy if you need to catch a train...

[The Maide]

(Original post by tiana_tiara)
That is amazingly helpful, thankyou . I was looking at St Davids, but I can't seem to find much info on it outside the uni website - is it very new?
And all the self-catered accommodation lets you stay? Awesome xD, I was getting stressed over nothing. Do you know if there's somewhere to find out the term dates though? I'm assuming all the courses/exams are over by a specific date. I wouldn't want to be paying for longer than I'm staying is all, so if I can get a shorter - say 38/40 week let - that would be great.

Budgeting. Eck. I feel like a grown-up. :P

No problem As Persipan said, it's been around for a while and is handy for the train, there is also a minibus that runs from the train station at the start and end of the working day.

Yep, all the self-catered accommodation lets you stay for those two breaks, catered on the otherhand doesn't (hence their shorter tenancy period). I'm sure there must be something kicking around somewhere but I'm afraid I can't point you to the right direction for term dates, but the summer term generally finishes around the middle of June, so the 40 week tenancies will finish a week maybe two afterwards

Ahh, the lovely budgeting.. it gets easier! Just be aware that the first few weeks can be more expensive if you let it; events, society join up fees, books and the first big food shop, it all adds up!

[Persipan]

(Original post by tiana_tiara)
Do you know if there's somewhere to find out the term dates though?

Here you go; I've dug out the term dates...