durham uni self catered colleges - spill the tea

hello, im going to visit durham next month but not on an actual open day so i need to work out which colleges are worth visiting/where to devote most time to.
i only want to do self catered but there aren't many options at durham.
please could you give opinions/spill the tea on these colleges:
-castle
-stephenson
-cuths
-john snow
-josephine butler

thank you!!! x

Castle - Extremely unlikely
Stephenson and Butler - Very possible, share same ground
Cuths - Bit of a **** hole
John Snow - Cannot comment

everyone told me not to put my preference down as castle because I likely wouldn't get it, I thought "screw it", did it anyway, and got in - I didn't even get reallocated despite missing my offer. Don't let the over-subscription of it put you off! You always have a chance

what's castle like?

the self-catered block is a little bit away from the castle itself. Maybe 10 mins walk. But it's close enough that you can walk there and socialise. Most of the people in castle's self-catered block socialise amongst each other fairly well. There is a kitchen per floor with about 3-6 people per floor, depending. There are maybe 6-8 blocks total. Each of about 3-4 floors. So about 100 self-catereds. The kitchen is nice and spacious and doubles as a social space it's that big. It even has a TV in it.

I would however recommend rethinking your self-catered only mindset. I was going to apply to Josephine Butler because I wanted self-catered but then went for Castle because it's a castle and I thought I may as well try. I got in to castle and after the post offer open day I chose to put my preference as fully catered because I get to eat 3 meals a day in the castle and I was much closer to everyone for everything social. I know the financial implications can seem daunting but there are grants and stuff to help with that. I got £2k to help. Even then I made sure to have a fairly strict budget. I had about £30 /week socialising money for beer etc. which goes a long way in Durham as the college bars sell pints for £1.60-£2.10 for pretty much everything. If you still struggle to afford everything talk to college and they'll usually help with a loan or something until you're in privately rented stuff in 2nd year. Always remember, they won't let you starve.

okay thank you that's helpful, do u know how much it is per week for catered tho? (and self catered if u know?)