Houghall Court, durham

As an international student, I have found living here to be a much better experience than living in college accommodation. It is generally very quiet, which makes a huge difference to daily life and sleep. Although you can sometimes hear people walking in the corridor or opening doors, the walls themselves have very good sound insulation. I can sleep peacefully without worrying about being disturbed, and I also do not feel like I am disturbing other people. For me, this alone is already one of the main reasons I would choose to live here. Another thing I really appreciate is how quickly the staff deal with problems. In most cases, if you report an issue in the morning, you will usually get a solution by the afternoon. That level of efficiency is actually quite rare, and it makes living here much less stressful. It is something I genuinely value and one of the reasons I like this place so much. The transport is also very convenient. If you buy a student ticket on the Arriva bus, it is easy to get around Durham for a low price. It usually costs only around £1.60, which is very affordable. For example, if I need to buy groceries, I can just take the bus to Tesco, and it only takes a little over ten minutes. Getting there and coming back is very easy, so daily life feels very manageable. Although the accommodation itself does not have a gym, Maiden Castle, Durham University’s excellent sports centre, is just across the road. The facilities there are fantastic, and the range of sports available is much better than in many other places. You can play football, go squash, run, or use the gym, so there are plenty of ways to stay active. Another thing I personally enjoy is the environment around Houghall Court. There is a field with animals behind the accommodation, and I often go there to look at the sheep and relax. It is a small thing, but it really helps me reduce stress and feel calmer. Also, if you are in the polo club, living here is especially convenient because the location is ideal. Overall, I think this is a very comfortable and practical place to live, especially for students who want a quieter environment, efficient support from staff, convenient transport, and easy access to great sports facilities.

Rooms are relatively small. Design is not user friendly. Heater system is not warm and will turn off automatically. One of the staffs is really helpful.

Lived here for my last year of uni with 3 of my mates. It was the worst accommodation ive lived in for my entire time at university. The staffs' behavior bordered on harassment at times, coming into our living space out of hours making all of us feel incredibly uncomfortable. The reception staff made various rude, and at times homophobic, remarks towards my friends, at one point threatening to kick us out at 2am after coming in from a night out. They sound the fire alarm early in the morning once a week for over 2 mins at least, making you get out of bed and dressed thinking its an actual fire drill. It is hugely overpriced, with a mediocre location. I know the Durham housing market can be tough but please try to avoid at all costs.

Before getting into my actual review, something to mention is they have been putting up prices by ridiculous amounts yet nothings been added for it to be justified. It’s far from the university/centre so I’m unsure why it’s £224 pw for a normal en-suite for 24/25 when previously you could get it for £165pw and is why I definitely did not rebook. £199pw was borderline justifiable but anything above this is not and you should probably look elsewhere if you’ve got the budget to be affording somewhere nicer. However, here has been my experience (23/24, standard ensuite) - Room is actually a really good size given what you see around Durham, and it has plenty of storage (under bed, 2 drawers, large shelf, wardrobe etc and more in the bathroom) - Good facilities - pool room, movie room, common room with a Wii etc and frequent events with free food and drinks - If you book a maintenance request, they will tell you when they should be coming (eg within 2 days), and they have always knocked on my door before entering, or if I was not in they have completed the maintenance (because I requested it!) until it has been resolved. Never have I had an experience where they came in unannounced where I was not expecting them. - I’ve only ever had to put my heating onto the first/second option as the room keeps the temperature in super well. It will stay on for quite a few hours and will only switch off if you don’t touch it for those few hours but given you don’t open the windows, your room stays warm. - Kitchen has good storage, we had extra shelves that people could share if theirs was full and cupboards were relatively good sizes. It was equipped with mops, ironing boards, dustpans etc - Electric stove which was easy to use and clean, and surfaces are also easy to clean and they weren’t fussed about extra appliances. - Bins are a bit out of the way, they have signs to not throw bags over the fence since you have to walk all the way round to enter the shed. Should consider adding a door to the other side. - The reception is opened most of the day, although it has been closed some hours of the day. However, they do close it if they are helping a student out (eg replacing batteries on doors) and there’s no other staff on hand but they’ve always been open again when returning a few hours later. - Relatively good experience with parcels/letters. They send you an email if you have something to collect, but I have had a few instances where I knew it had been delivered but it was not logged, so I had a bit of back and forth with reception and they found it in the box. They did apologise after for it but definitely get them to check around if you know for sure it was delivered. Letters and small parcels don’t get logged. - Housekeeping do basic checks, they tell you when they will be coming in and leave a sheet with feedback - The location is good if you frequent maiden castle A LOT, and buses are usually delayed if you’re thinking on relying on them - You have to pay for washing and it was more than I paid when I lived in college (more than £5 for washing + drying) - They explicitly tell you that they have weekly fire drill alarms (this year was 10-11am on Thursdays) so you should expect this every week regardless (and you don’t need to leave for these) so unless you blatantly ignore emails and signs then that’s your own fault for not realising. They do do fire drills out of these hours where everyone needs to evacuate but so far we’ve only had 1 in the first term. - Staff are really nice, the only time they wouldn’t seem so is if they’re not following they’re usual process/procedure and are unsure how to react (ie my experience with the parcels) and if you’re doing anything you’re not supposed to be It’s a nice accom, but not for £224pw and up. You can get a better experience nearer to the uni/centre for sure. I would love to hear what is going to make it worth £200+ but if everything is staying the same then they should definitely reconsider their pricing in line with what they are offering.

Stayed there for a year in a studio unit and needless to say it was the best accommodation by far. The receptionist Danielle was really helpful and I had a very comfortable stay. Rooms were pretty spacious and clean. Would definitely live here again if I'm a Durham Uni student again.