Ever since my literary agent sister Debbi Michiko Florence posted pictures from her experience at…read morethe inaugural Harlaxton Kidlit Retreat hosted by our friend best-selling young adult author Kristy Boyce, I was very eager to take part in a retreat at Harlaxton College! For 6 days, I got to stay at Harlaxton Manor. There's a whole Wikipedia page for anyone interested in going down the rabbit hole of the manor's history. To make a long story short, it was built by a nobleman named Gregory Gregory (yes, that is really his name!), and is currently owned by University of Evansville. I loved exploring the manor, admiring the architecture, and getting good laughs over seeing my boyfriend's name everywhere I go. It was such a joy to write in such gorgeous surroundings every day, and switch up my location. I could write in the haunted library, the gardens, conservatory, ballrooms, wherever I wanted! I felt like I was in the castle from Beauty and the Beast. All my novels feature a castle in some shape or form, so it was a treat to be able to immerse myself in the experiencing of staying in one for a writing retreat. I liked pretending this was my home for nearly a week. Every day, on top of our writing time, we had optional activities and excursions that we could take part in. The staff was amazing and went above and beyond to ensure that we had such memorable and wonderful experiences! These included: Afternoon Tea Playing croquet Garden tour Pub tour (we visited 3 pubs and had dinner in one called Chequers Inn), Visiting Belvoir Castle (pronounced "Beaver," because the British hate the French lol) Attending Kristy's reading and signing of her book Hot British Boyfriend. Fun fact, the fictional school Emberton in her book is inspired by Harlaxton! Banquet to end the retreat I completed revising an updated outline for a new novel, and sent it back to my agent before the end of the retreat. Mission accomplished! Harlaxton felt so magical. I'm honestly a city girl, but I loved living in the manor in the English countryside so much, it actually felt jarring once I was back in a city like York and London. Not complaining. Kristy did such a phenomenal job creating a memorable writing retreat experience! It's going to be hard to top a retreat where I get to write in a fairytale castle!

Amazing study abroad experience. Went to harlaxton with my school as a summer study abroad program…read moreand was so grateful to get to stay at this beautiful manor. The dorm rooms were really nice. There were rec rooms, vending machines, a pay phone for local calls (like takeout or a cab). There's a laundry room, gym, and bike rental. The town close to it is small, friendly and charming. If you want to stay close to the manor there are beautiful gardens on the ground and trails next to it. The bluebell trail is only open a few weeks out of the summer and is just breathtaking. The living facilities are amazing and the staff is great. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided everyday and a bistro (aka a bar) is open at night mon-Friday. There is also a gift shop. Besides being used as a university you can also have your wedding at this manor. I hear the bridal suite is beautiful. Tours are also given.

This is a grade 1 (outstanding) Ofsted college. The college expands over multiple sites (Leamington…read moreSpa, Rugby, Moreton Morrell, Henley in Arden and Pershore in Worcestershire). All students are catered for from 16 to 106. Facilities are excellent with gyms at most campuses along with student run restaurants. For information on courses call 01926 318000

I studied Marketing with Events Management here and enjoyed (nearly) every minute of it. When I…read morefirst started searching for marketing degrees in Birmingham I was surprised that they taught it the University College Birmingham and not Birmingham University. However, I soon learnt that where the lectures take place didn't matter as the degree was still accredited by the University. I'd say the main advantage of choosing UCB is that it's the college where young chefs learn their trade. Part of their course would allow them to run the student canteen which meant that we were spoilt daily with restaurant style food but charged student prices. One day I had a lemon chicken risotto with home-made apple crumble and custard for £2! If you live locally, you can walk in to the reception and ask to be let through to the onsite bakery where you can purchase fresh bread and cakes for 50 pence. Definitely worth popping in.

Went her last night for a work function and have to say the food was outstanding! Every course was…read morea delight! Bravo to students for putting on such a tasty and visually impressive spread! Would return tomorrow if it wasn't that they weren't accepting bookings until September!

University of Warwick is located in the midlands, close to Leamington Spa and right outside of…read moreCoventry. Even though it's named Warwick it's actually closer to Coventry than the town of Warwick! I'm impressed with the design and layout of the university. Although it is located quite far away, it is situated in the beautiful English country-side. The building are newer looking (it was only built in the 1960s!) but not horribly concrete eyesores. The student union has some great restaurants, pubs, and student services. The Arts Centre is absolutely lush. There is a movie theatre, pub, and dining services inside, as well as, the art exhibition on display. Truly, it's worth checking out when you have some spare time. As I live in Leamington Spa, I normally catch the bus in the mornings. Buses are frequent and the ride is really easy. Leave early in the morning though (if you have morning classes/work) as the commute into Uni can take up to an hour. Especially if the bus goes through Kenilworth and not on the motorway. I also purchased a monthly pass (through Stagecoach) for about £67, which includes unlimited rides for a month! Not a bad deal, sure beats shelling out petrol on a daily commute!

Overall: An awesome University, but sadly located in Coventry…read more This is the university I fell in love with. I did my Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry B.Sc.(Hons) here. I loved the way it felt - something I didn't feel with the other universities I visited. Although it's not exactly a brand new university, on universities scales it is a pretty young university, built in 1965 with most, if not all the buildings painted white. In the past few years, Warwick University has been in the top-ten highest ranked research institutes within the UK, and is slowly being recognised worldwide. It's a campus university with everything on campus, with three campus sites - main, Gibbet hill and Westwood. There are halls of residences dotted around the campuses and I have to give a five stars for the Jack Martin residences. It was probably more than I could afford, but it was worth it - each room has its own en-suite, but a shared kitchen. In my final year, I had a room in the Tocil residents, I soon moved out - it was a room, based in a flat full of 12 disgusting students, with 2-3 shared bathrooms - ewwwwwww. If you're a little more strapped for cash, try Rootes. The student union has expanded throughout the years and gives numerous facilities for having a good time or simply getting lunch/groceries. The university also has an Arts Centre, 25 m swimming pool, sports halls, gymnasium, squash courts, athletics track, rock indoor-climbing facility, tennis courts and cricket grounds. There's a couple of bad things about this university. Firstly, it's located in the outskirts of Coventry, and to get there from another city without a car, requires train and bus travel. Secondly, it's located in Coventry! It seems all is well when on campus, but as soon as you go out of the campus confines, it's dire!

This college moved to a brand new purpose built campus in 2009. Now located at Hamilton outside of…read morethe city centre not the Newarke. My review is for 2019.

I went to this college 13 years ago and loved it. I studied…read morecatering and hsopitality, at the time they had a great set up with 2 public restaurants that the students would work in. It was a great way to get real hands on experience. They offer many different courses.

I completed my undergrad degree at Greenwich in London and was totally underwhelmed by the…read moreuniversity experience. I wasn't sure what to do next until my friend (and future housemate) asked me to drive him up to Staffordshire University so he could have a look around for his degree. We popped along for an open day and from that point on I never looked back. The reception I got on the open day from the student ambassadors was great. They were very talkative, very friendly and spoke highly of the university. Already, Staffs was one up on Greenwich. Campus wise I was impressed with the student union facilities. The LRV (main nightclub venue) was huge and the Ember Lounge (bar) was also very cozy and atmospheric. Once enrolled on my course I spent many a great night in these venues watching stand up comedy, music and even things like alternative jazz & poetry nights. Facility wise I was bowled over too! At Greenwich I had to put up with inferior media facilities but Staffs had the lot. Industry standard cameras and plenty of them, loads of edit suites so you would have no problem actually getting to use the equipment. If I was to progress in the industry I knew I had to study somewhere like this! I was able to use the equipment whenever I wanted and as a result I now have a really great attention grabbing show reel which has helped me get into the industry. Social wise there was a lot on offer too with nearly 70 different clubs to join. Everything from football/rugby to things like L.A.R.Ping and Ultimate Frisbee. As a result of this I made so many friends that even after my MA I stayed in Stoke to be around the university environment. What is remarkable is that before I came to Staffs I really lacked confidence but I found meeting new people so easy here. Other impressive attributes are the university's own cinema, a 24 hour library, a forensics crime scene house, a smoothie bar and a broadcast studio with TV cameras and radio broadcast rooms. Since finishing my MA here I have taken part in a university based scheme which gives graduates the chance to start thier own business and as of September I will be running my own production company. Living wise Stoke is one of the cheapest places in the country. You get far more for your money here and rent is very cheap. To get ahead in your chosen industry I would highly reccommend Staffs.

I live in Pelsall and when I decided to go to Staffordshire University but the Stoke-on-Trent…read morecampus I couldn't drive and with the commute on the train over an hour, the best choice was for me to go and live at university. Now to get onto the biology course I wanted to do I had to do a two week bridging course so lived at the university for the duration. I lived in the universities housing residence which I loved. There was room enough for five people and the people who I met were fantastic. We all got along apart from with one person who kept themselves to themselves and it was nice being only a few of us as we managed to bond quickly. When I applied to go to university the year later I wanted to stay in these houses as I loved the fact there would only be a few people and the bedrooms were quite big and the living area was lovely. Now I was shocked when I was told a week before I was due to start that I was going to be put in halls because they had made a mistake with my account and all of the houses were full. Like every person about to move into halls I was excited but terrified at the same time and asked myself all the familiar questions. What if they are all horrible? What if I don't get on with them at all? Will my food get stolen? Are they secure? Will it be with all girls or mixed? What floor will I be on? How many toilets will there be? How many showers will there be? Now I will tell all prospective students now just what the halls are like and exactly what to expect from your stay from my personal experiences. - What are they like? The halls of residence at Staffordshire University are pretty much like the majority of universities. They are split into floors and on each floor there is room for around twelve people to live. Everybody has their individual rooms and then there is a shared kitchen and bathroom. Some halls will have a separate living area but for us we just had the kitchen. The rooms on a floor are linked by a corridor and then doors to get outside. The halls that I stayed in had three floors and were colour coded. I stayed in the Royal Doulton halls yellow which was the middle floor. You had to have a key to get into the doors leading into the halls from the outside and then another key to get onto your floor. You then had an individual key to get into your own room. The halls I stayed at were extremely clean and the same goes for other halls I have visited. Remember before the new year of university starts and all of the freshers start, the cleaners will have been in the halls and tidied making sure everything is spick and span for when you move in so you don't have to worry about the cleanliness of the place. Now the one thing you do have to expect is that the rooms are sometimes very small. My room literally had enough room for a single bed, a very small desk and a small wardrobe and not much more room to move. Nevertheless don't worry as although it looks like you can't swing a cat in there, it is extremely liveable and we still managed to get about 6 people in there to watch a film, not exactly comfortably but we coped. The bathrooms were fine and were cleaned by the university cleaner every day. We had four toilets, three showers and a bath and every one of them had locks on the door so you didn't have to worry about anybody walking in on you. The kitchen area was where we spent the majority of our time. There were two ovens, a microwave, fridge, 2 fridge/freezers, a kettle, a toaster and then enough cupboards for everybody to have one each. The cupboards were made with the ability to padlock them so you could keep your food safe. In the middle of the kitchen was a large circular table with seats around it so that everybody could sit down and socialise. The kitchen was also cleaned daily by the cleaner but you do have to do your own washing up. - What is it like living with all of these people? Honestly it is scary at first but I can tell you that after a couple of days you will feel much better. I am not ashamed to say that I cried when my parents and sister left me at university and I had to go and meet all of these people but a few hours later and I was fine. When you first move into the halls it is freshers week so basically there are hundreds of people feeling just like you do and just want to make friends. Within my halls we had a warden for every coloured hall and luckily enough ours was living on our floor with us. It is there job as a warden to make sure everybody gets settled in as well as possible and usually they will have something organised for the first night when everybody gets there. We were there and we were told that for our first night at university we were going to be taken to the student union for the evening. Now going out drinking and dancing is the one of the best ways to loosen up and get to know people. We went there had a few drinks and by the time we had got back that evening we were all chatting and

Leicester College is an institution of further education located in well shockingly Leicester. Well…read moreknown around the country the college also has very close ties with several universities in the Midlands, most notably Leicester's very own Demontfort University. Situated at three different points in the city with three unique campuses [Freeman's Park, St Margarets and the newly refurnished and rebuilt Abbey Park Campus which opened in September 2008], the college provides a safe and exciting environment offering a range of courses from A Levels to vocational and university level. I studied at Leicester College when I first left school back n 2005 and have returned this year to undertake an Access course. I have nothing but praise for every aspect of the college accademically and professionally and would reccomend it above any other FE institutions in the city. Abbey Park campus has four floors fully furnished with beautiful flooring and windows. The layout of the college is very straightforward and everything is easy to find though I do feel that the library and canteen are the only areas lacking and a lot of thought wasn't put into their design during the planning stages of the refurbishment. The tutors themselves are always there to lend a hand. I've felt more and more confident since returning due to the encouragment and support offered by the staff. They make you feel welcome from the word go and use a variety of techniques to help you learn including new electronic white boards which opens up a whole new world of teaching. You feel comfortable and happy whilst in the college at all times. It doesn't even feel like a chore or a job you hate when you attend. The extra support on offer though I have to say is the strongest I have seen during my research into different colleges in the region. My cousin suffers from bipolar disease and the extra help she has received is outstanding. This involves a special bus from her homw to college everyday as well as a note taker for her classes and a special needs tutor. There are also an amazing team of learning mentors which I have taken ful advantage of who are there everyday to give you extra help outside of class not only on coursework but any aspect of your college or personal life. There's just so much on offer here that isn't thrown int oyour face the moment you walk through the door, you have to look at it and the result is an enriching and powerful process. The college is also great if you are over 19 and thinking of returning to study as there is a higher percentage of mature students at the college than those that have just left school and the college is phenomonal when it comes to applying for UCAS. I reallyt have no complaints at all about the manner in which I am treated on campus by tutors and fellow students. The way other staff behave, the enrolment process - nothing. And many people I have spoken to have told me how much they also enjoy their time at Leicester College. Summary: One of the top ten FE Colleges in the country

Just got my degree from here. Really nice supportive place to learn. Good accomodation and…read morefacilities.