York Uni is a combination of several colleges on one campus…read more It is set in beautiful grounds with lakes and has a pub and a bar, bookshop and library. I have stayed here as an academic but it really is the cheapest place to stay if you want a holiday or have business in York. Out of term time they do very cheap B & B and also self catering apartments for 6 or more. It is all under £100 each for the week. I think a twin room is around the £80 mark and that includes breakfast. It is an easy stroll into York. I remember one student saying he had gone for a walk to the kebab shop and seen some pseudo walls like a film set. NO The Barbican and medieval walls! Off the campus in the other direction is the village of Hesslington which has a couple of decent pubs that do food but of course there is all that York can offer in the way of food and entertainment the other way. Heslington makes a nice, quite change one evening though. The reason for the 4 stars. Well student accomodation is very basic but it is the b*y ducks! You cannot easily sit on the grass and you trail in duck pup. They started with 2 (think they are Canadian geese) and now they have hundreds! Anyway all of you wanting to visit York here is the cheap B & B! Giving away my secrets now it will be full when I want to go :)

The University of York campus is sandwiched between the city walls and the pretty village of…read moreHeslington. Its sixties concrete building were considered quite innovative at the time, I believe, but they take a bit of getting used to. Luckily, there's a very pleasant campus to help on that front, though the geese are far less welcoming. York is the only university in the country without a central student venue so don't expect a packed SU bar; the majority of the college bars are pretty dead, when they're open. The closest thing to a student bar you'll find is the King Charles XII pub in Heslington village; their cheap booze ensures they're rammed to the rafters with students in term-time. Otherwise it's but a twenty-minute walk to the centre of town and its plethora of bars, pubs and restaurants.

Love it or hate it, the new £60m rebuild has certainly divided local opinion. York College now…read morefinds itself on Sim Balk Lane and offers state of the art facilities to both its students and the local community. It offers a diverse range of courses from evening classes in jewelry making and A Levels in Ancient History to construction apprenticeships and degrees in graphic design. For the public, there are opportunities to grab cheap eats at their training restaurant, Ashfields, where you will be tempted by fantastic food cooked for you by trainee chefs. You could book yourself in for a bargain pampering session in the spa or treat yourself to a new haircut. Parking is limited during the day due to demand, so if you can get the bus, it's worth the fare as parking illegally on site may lead to you being clamped! See http://www.yorkcollege.ac.uk for more information.