Ashburne Hall

Ok so I might be more than a little biased. But Ashburne Hall really is the crème de la crème 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 über 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!

Ashburne Hall rests at the starting of fallowfield’s most wanted places to stay. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t mark this as one of those most wanted places. It has almost everything that a good uni acommodation should have.
— good rooms, of decent size
— a music room
— laundrette
— computer cluster
It also has surprising things like a piano in the music room and one of the perks of this place is that if you’re lucky you may find most of your books in the Library here! Yes, they have a university library! woo-​hoo for that!
Yet, this isn’t the most wanted! Why? Because it simply lacks that exciting it factor that the most happening halls need! But other than that, it is just one step below the ‘most wanted’ list.

Ashburne Hall has got a pond.
This is the main attraction of Ashburne Hall. Of course, you don’t want to live in Ashburne Hall. What this pond is for, is to provide an alternative to the kebab shops of Fallowfield for those exiting clubs and bars in the wee hours of the morning. If you have had a few drinks, and you are feeling a little silly, but not very hungry, then what better thing to do, than go and play in the pond!
Please note that the above is a compete joke and that playing in the pond is strictly against university rules, I have never done it myself and would never endorse or condone such behavior.

Set just inside Fallowfield is the enigmatic Ashburne Hall. Previously only for female university residents, it has since graciously opened its doors to the less savoury male populace, although only in a small, manageable quantity.
Once you have navigate through the rather unassuming entrance path you are greeted with a picturesque vision of beauty, with a lovely courtyard and pond complimenting a rather statuesque and grand building. Inside it is equally grandiose, with a large dining hall and sophisticated drawing rooms; it feels very much like a stately manor in which there just happen to be students.
Of course, you do also have to get past the security guard on the entrance. And the patrols. And the numerous card-​locked doors. Oh, and you’ll need a resident’s ID too. Presumably the DNA scans and facial tracking cameras are located further inside.
But it is a beautiful hall, one of the most beautiful in fact.
If only it wasn’t so much like an open prison.