St. Cuthbert's Society

I've never been to Durham before so chose my college fairly randomly. I am coming to a post-offer day in a week or two to see the university and college, but what would you say is the best thing about St Cuth's?


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Then I'll no doubt bump into you at some point!

The best thing about Cuth's is by far and large the people who go to Cuth's.
Without wanting to sound to cliché, it's like one big family. I came to uni very much with the belief I wouldn't fit in but I could not have been more wrong!

The fact you can go fully catered, part catered or self-catered (the only college to offer this) is probably second for me.


Your random choice may very well have been the best random choice you've ever made

There are ensuites in some of the Parson's field accommodation blocks, there are none on the Bailey.

The size of the rooms on Parson's field are pretty much the same (there should be a picture of my wonderfully 'tidy' room attached) but vary on the Bailey depending on luck of the draw or whether you're sharing. The smallest rooms on the Bailey are a touch smaller than those on Parson's but still big in comparison to your average student accommodation.

I live on the self-catered Parson's field site and personally, I prefer that. I get to choose what I eat, when I eat it and how much I spend on food so that works best for me. On the flip side, there have been many hungover Saturday's where I'd've loved nothing more than to be able to roll out of bed, walk 30 seconds down the road and have a freshly made, already paid for, cooked breakfast so as to which is better- I couldn't give you an objective opinion.

It's one of the larger colleges in terms of gross student number but because it's split into two different sites, it feels smaller and rather homely.


edit: forgot to attach the photo. Also attached is the view from my room.

There are ensuites in some of the Parson's field accommodation blocks, there are none on the Bailey.

The size of the rooms on Parson's field are pretty much the same (there should be a picture of my wonderfully 'tidy' room attached) but vary on the Bailey depending on luck of the draw or whether you're sharing. The smallest rooms on the Bailey are a touch smaller than those on Parson's but still big in comparison to your average student accommodation.

I live on the self-catered Parson's field site and personally, I prefer that. I get to choose what I eat, when I eat it and how much I spend on food so that works best for me. On the flip side, there have been many hungover Saturday's where I'd've loved nothing more than to be able to roll out of bed, walk 30 seconds down the road and have a freshly made, already paid for, cooked breakfast so as to which is better- I couldn't give you an objective opinion.

It's one of the larger colleges in terms of gross student number but because it's split into two different sites, it feels smaller and rather homely.


edit: forgot to attach the photo. Also attached is the view from my room.

That looks really nice. I think personally I'd want to be self-catered so it's great they offer that. Do you have to specify when applying that you would prefer self-catered? How many people share a kitchen? Is it in a sort of 'flat' format, and if so, do they try to put you with people with similar interests to you?


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great, thank you so much for the pictures! I've been struggling to find any of a student's room :-D
my last question (honest..well maybe) is how far away is your accommodation from the actual university
I am going to be studying law, not sure what subject you do, but do you know if the law building is far from where you live, or is it closer to the bailey?
plus are there a lot of social events and things to do in durham / events organised by ST Cuth's?
Thanks for your responses by the way, they are really insightful and encouraging me to firm Durham!

Hola gang, long time TSRian, first year Cuth's student here.

It's about that time of year when you're allocated your college and no doubt some of you out there have been accepted/put into Cuth's.

Any burning questions you have about Cuth's, feel free to fire away.


PS. you're going to the best college.

Edit: If you're planning on attending one of the Post application open days, we gone done made a facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stcuthsopendays2014/

Hi I got reallocated to cuths and I've got a few questions.

Firstly, I would prefer catered but I really don't want to share a room. would that normally be possible since I've heard that most rooms in the bailey are shared. Is the food any good from what you hear? Also I heard because its so large you don't get to know everyone and the community isn't that great... is that true or do you feel you know everyone / most people in your year? last thing: how far away are parson's and bailey's from where the maths lectures take place (I'm guessing its the science site)

Oh and also when do you need to write your preferences for accomodation? Is it after we get our exam results?

thanks for the help

edit: forgot to ask: if we put durham as our second choice uni what happens with the accomodation, do we still get to chose etc or do we get placed in the leftover places after everyone else who had it as their first choice is given a room

There's a 50/50 split between shared and single rooms on the Bailey, if you do want to be fully catered, this the reality of the situation. Having said that, I know people who were adamant they did not want to share a room, found themselves having to share a room and absolutely loving it. Admittedly it's not for everyone, but doesn't mean it'll be a bad experience.

Also, not everyone living on the Bailey selects a single room as their first choice and I know the people in charge of room allocation do their best to put everyone in their first choice.

I've sampled the food on offer and I quite like it. It's carb based (potatoes, rice, pasta being the main staples) but there's a good amount of variety: stir fry, toad in the hole and lasagne were the last 3 meals I had. The Saturday brunch is an absolute godsend, I myself live on the self-catered site but the 10 minute walk to the Bailey is absolutely worth it.

The community at Cuth's is like no other college in the sense you get two communities in the same college- the Parson's field and bailey sites both have their own quirks and feels to them but that's not to say there's a divide between them- that's very much dependent on who you end up being friends with.

I have friends on the Bailey, I know people who don't have friends on the Bailey but to say the community at Cuth's isn't that great is far, far off the mark. I know the large majority of people on the Parson's site and quite a few from the Bailey as well. The opposite is true for the Bailey folk.

Maths lectures are (as far as I'm aware) on the Science site and it's pretty much equidistant from both sites.

Accommodation preferences are indeed sent after exam results and sadly I don't know what bearing firming/insuring Durham has on which accommodation you get.