Ok so I might be more than a little biased. But Ashburne Hall really is the creme de la creme of the University of Manchester's Halls of Residence. First of all, it's situated in the Fallowfield campus, which is the optimum location for fresher student digs, because Fallowfield is where it all happens! And it's still uber convenient with bus stops in both directions just outside the halls.
The main appeal of Ashburne, a mon avis, is the room size. My room here was easily three times the size of my room at home, complete with bay windows overlooking the lawn. It was fantastic. So pretty, and so spacious and just generally very lovely. Not all of the rooms were quite as big as mine, there appears to be quite a variety in room size. But even the smallest rooms are a decent size, and still bigger than ones in most other halls.
There is a lot of greenery around the hall with a large lawn area in front. It looks pretty all year round but comes into play in particular in Summer when you can revise in the sunshine, play a bit of frisbee or football or just lounge about.
Ashburne is a catered hall. Your fees include breakfast and dinner Monday-Friday. You're left to fend for yourself at lunchtime and the weekends, so basic kitchens are provided in each corridor. Breakfast is easily my favourite meal of the day, and the selection on offer doesn't disappoint: full English, porridge, croissants, toast, crumpets, cereals, dried fruit, fresh fruit, yoghurts etc etc. Dinner is slightly more touch and go. I'm not a fussy eater so I had nothing to complain about, but some of my hallmates did whinge every now and then. It's typical hall-food though, so it will be the same wherever you go catered.
The hall is arranged into long corridors, so you don't necessarily get the closeness you find in the flats of other halls. However the advantage of being catered means that everyone has the opportunity to mix and mingle at meal times so you meet people throughout the entire hall, as opposed to just people in your flat.
Decent range of facilities too. There are three common rooms, they're all in dire need of an update, but they function nonetheless. The main common room has a pool table, but this can sometimes be subject to abuse from people who choose this room to congregate in before a night out. Around the back we have a tennis court which can also double as a netball or football pitch. Handy really.
I loved my time at Ashburne, and a lot of my friends from other halls openly admitted to being jealous. Schwing! read more