Hi, im a 1st year at Exeter and thought i'd put together a short 'real' insight into the various accommodation. I know how worrying it can be to choose a place.
Anyway...
I was originally placed in Kingdom Mews by St Davids, but I wanted to be on campus for my 1st year so i phoned up and asked to move. The only place available was at Lafrowda. I took up the offer anyway, and it's the best move i could have done.
I'm in enhanced Lafrowda, which, for the money, is arguably the best accommodation you can get. It's the 2nd cheapest at the university, yet is better than ANY of the catered halls. I must stress though, that Lafrowda is only good is you get the enhanced flats block N,P,Q & R). The older flats (blocks A,B,C & D) are really bad.
I know a few people at Kingdom Mews who said that it's really nice there - modern rooms etc, but it's a bit of a trek to lectures. Although they run a free bus.
I would strongly advise against catered halls, unless you really are crap in the kitchen. Rooms in Duryard are sh*t, to put it bluntly. Mardon and Lopes are marginally better.
Don't bother applying to Rowe House or Clydesdale. What they don't tell you is that they are reserved for 2nd and 3rd yrs ONLY - i've managed to get a place in Rowe next yr
James Owen is a nice place, probably better rooms than lafrowda enhanced, but again, it's a trek to get to uni. About a 20 minute walk.
All in all, in so glad i moved to Lafrowda, and really thankful that im in enhanced! Ideal location - Lemmy (bar, club and food) is about 200m away. Business school is just passed the Lemmy, so extremely useful if you are going to be studying there.
If you want to see any photo's of our flat, and other random drunkeness, check here:
http://groups.msn.com/LFR3