I may as well have signed off the entirety of my student loan to Apple taxis and the self employed taxi drivers by St Davids Station. Don't get me wrong I loved my time at Point Exe, but it had its fair share of disadvantages (maybe slightly more). My original application was for Holland Hall studios, Birks Grange Ensuite and Lafrowda Ensuite, however due to unfortunate circumstances come results day, my accommodation application was not processed, and all my choices were already signed off to others, leaving me with Point Exe. At first I was infuriated, I rang up the accommodation office multiple times to try and be allocated another room, however they said I would have to wait until mid September to see if anyone else moved/dropped out. After hearing stories of some other Freshers staying in Bed and Breakfasts due to a lack of accommodation, i decided to stay with it and make do. The weekly rent was £122 from 13th September to 21st June for the 2014/2015 academic year. Birks Grange, Lafrowda and Holland Hall all range from between £136 p/w to £220 p/w so I guess you get what you pay for. - ARRIVAL - I was allocated a flat in the furthest Block - E. My flat had 7 ensuite rooms and a kitchen, there were 4 girls and 3 boys. The flats can range from 5-7 rooms, the more the better. On arrival, I was presented with a rather large set of keys, which included an electronic fob for the main entrance doors and block doors, a postbox key, a room key (which was also the key for the flat) and a kitchen cabinet key. These were rather menacing at times but nothing major, the kitchen cabinet and postbox keys remained untouched for the majority of the year, definitely not a necessity. - ROOM - My room was the first when you walked into the flat, which meant that the constant sound of the door opening and closing, especially late at night or in the morning, was very inconvenient for a good nights sleep. But you get used to it. Luckily, I was on the road side of the building, and remained undisturbed from the constant rail station noise pollution that 4 of my flatmates had to endure. However, I soon learnt to close my window at night as the busy road can also be very noisy. The size of the room is slightly smaller to other halls, however perfectly tolerable. The wardrobe is a sufficient size, I took with me 3 suitcases of clothes and plenty of shoes and had no problem with fitting it all in, it was delightful. Although I did invest in under bed storage boxes and small plastic drawers from Wilkos (under £20) to contain any remaining items and keep the room clutter free. The desk is a very good size with 4 plug sockets (x2 each) which was perfect for all the electronic devices. Each room has a long book shelf above the desk, as well as a desk lamp, internet cable and a large cork noticeboard perfect for photos/important items and Dominos menus etc etc. - BED - The single bed was comfortable enough, however it may be a problem for anyone who is over 5ft5, you may find yourself struggle to lay straight without your feet clambering up the beige walls. Definitely bring a couple of mattress protectors to thicken up the mattress a little bit, as it is sagging in some parts (although not as bad as the Penny C beds formerly used for obesity camp). There is a small bedside table and a full length mirror, perfect for pre night out selfies. The windows are situated in different places in each room, however they are quite small and only open about an inch or two, so it can be very suffocating. I invested in a £24.99 fan from Argos to keep air circulating (available at all other major retailers). September and April/May/June are the hottest months, and during the night, you will most definitely sweat more than any AU member in the gym. If a friend comes to stay, you will either need to either but a blow up mattress or just grit your teeth and share the single bed (uncomfortable). - ENSUITE - My ensuite was perfectly clean, there were no unsightly marks,mould or limescale to be seen anywhere, and the shower curtain and floor were spotless. Having an actual shower instead of a washroom like the other halls was definitely a blessing, no wet feet! However it does quite dark in the shower, so I made a habit of leaving the shaver light on to add a little more brightness. - KITCHEN - Each room had an allocated cabinet which was locked, the others we shared out between ourselves, there was plenty of space to store everything. We even dedicated the cabinet above the oven to Alcohol #fresherlife. There are 4 hobs and a oven/grill in each flat, i imagine for a flat of 5 that is perfect, however for the larger flats, extra hobs/oven/sink would definitely be useful as it can get very congested. In halls such as Druryard, there are 2 fridge/freezers, 2 sets of hobs, 2 ovens and 2 sinks, with twice the amount of worktop space for 8 people, so Point Exe is certainly lacking. Although it does force everyone to clean up faster. There are no sofas in the kitchen (as seen in pics) but we all moved our soft chairs to make a large communal sofa anyway. The dining table is sufficient, although again, on the small side for 7 people. We had to buy a toaster ourselves, and the kettles were as budget as you can get. Again - YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR / SETTLE - SOCIAL LIFE - I loved my flat, we all clicked instantly, and still remain the best of friends, with all of us living together for the next year as well. I genuinely could not have asked for a better group of people to spend first year with, I think we all embraced the fact that we were 'nobodys' on the Exeter halls scale as we were so far away from everything, but I had a fantastic time. Block C and Block E were by far the most social, with block parties happening every other week, you need to get involved and you meet lots of people. The people I met in halls are friends I will have for a long long time. The only complaint that we all shared about Point Exe was how far away it is from campus. A steep 20 min walk up the hill, (longer if you want to go to the gym or physics building) or a 15 min walk into town is not ideal, but you have the Impy (wetherspoons) 5mins away, and with the Tuesday steak day, or Wednesday curry night deals, who can resist? Of course, St Davids station was also very convenient for going back home during holidays, or for the 2 min train journey into Exeter Central (75p with a railcard)c definitely worth getting the train if you're going food shopping. I did find myself missing many morning lectures as I could not face the walk up hungover or when it was incredibly bad weather and the bus queues were sometimes intolerable. I almost missed the beginning of an exam because of a horrendouslh long bus queue. It seems almost unfair that a Lafrowda student can wake up 10mins before a lecture and still make it, however for anyone in Point Exe, you'd have to face the 30min commute. I was one of the lazier ones, and did order a taxi up to uni sometimes, however it was relatively cheap (£4.60 for a one way trip) and I was happy to pay that price to arrive up to lectures not panting my guts out with makeup all down my face and horrific sweat patches down by back. Who would want to sit next to that? #neverok Aside from living complaints, and the walk up to uni, Point Exe provided me with a fabulous first year, and I wouldn't have changed it for the world. Enjoy x
Point exe gets a lot of bad rap and I really think that it doesn't deserve it. The kitchen is nice and somewhat spacious, there just needs a bit more surface so that more than two people can cook at a time, there also needs to be a sofa of some sort in the kitchen to make the area more communal. The rooms are ok, they will be much smaller than your room at home, so expect to have space to put everything, the aspect I was most excited about was the en-suite but its really tiny and mould grows on the ceiling which is super gross when you first see it, but by the end of the year you are used to scrubbing the mould off yourself cause no one else is around to help with that stuff. By far the worst think about point exe is that office which no one is never in, and when they are in they will take years to reply to a request. The best thing about point exe is the amazing atmosphere, it's really friendly and pretty much every one gets on in each block, sure there will be a couple of flats who don't really fit into the dynamic but I was terrified of getting to uni and hating my flatmates and it has been the complete opposite. The walk is nothing to stress about, it is not that bad and it's really not far from uni or town either. Sure point exe may not be everything you expect but it's pretty good and I would definitely recommend it to a first year
Somewhat far from campus - buses run 9-10am and 5-7pm I believe, but if you have split lectures you will have to walk up an extremely large hill to get to campus. Also nearby a busy mainroad, very noisey if you keep the window open, which you will want to (see below) Flats are hit and miss - some are much larger; both kitchens and bedrooms themselves. However all of the bedrooms are poorly designed and unergonomic. A huge problem, which has ruined my year staying here is the temperature in the flats. Exeter is a very hot place come the warmer months, and the building is not suited for such. The windows only open possibly two inches, and the rooms have effectively no ventilation, and the staff are extremely reluctant to do anything about it because there are "no legal reasons forcing them to fix the problem." When the rooms hit 25*C in any season other than winter, it affects your ability to sleep at night and also ability to work during the day, making you feel quite unwell. Coming from a much cooler climate (highlands) I cannot stress how much of a problem this is, however it seems to effect flats higher up the building worse. Staff are also hit and miss, some management are extremely kind, some are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Also worth mentioning the pictures online are absolutely no representation of the rooms at all, why they have not updated this (if it ever did represent the rooms) is a mystery. The rooms are of a much lower quality in person. In conclusion, I would strongly recommend to look elsewhere, after visiting other halls it is a shock how vastly they improve on this accommodation. Without hyperbole, there is little that I wouldn't want to see changed in Point Exe.
Its a somewhat quaint place, the staff are loverly and willing to help. The location is right between the campus and twon, and ideal if you don't mind hills or want to get fit! There is obiously St Davids train station, taxis (handy for nights out) as well as a free shuttle bus up to the campus thats from St Davids accommodation for when the weather os bad or you are hungover. There's two basic food shops and the loverly kebab man! Overall the flats are very secure, with large kitchens and decent sized rooms and bathrooms! Ive had a great tome here and definitely the fresher experience!
rooms are small but modern enough. However there are frequent issues with plumbing and ventilation! windows don't open more than an inch due to restrictions and the ventilators barely ever work. staff tend to organize solutions for things that can be fixed quite quickly though, although their stated office hours are questionable. ive found the best way to get though to them is to phone. Point exe is located conveniently by the railway station, however it is a steep 20-30 mins walk up to uni campus, depending on whereabouts on campus you are going. if you like me, are slightly unfit) this is very inconvenient. There is a mini bus up to campus but it only runs until 10:30 in the morning, so i't not great for afternoon lectures and there are also large queues for them, sometimes you have to wait a long time for them. the shops nearby are pricey, however laundry is cheaper here than on campus. If you like to be fun and sociable, it is probably better to go for on campus accommodation because it tends to be very quiet here and there are only 5 people in each flat, so it doesn't introduce you to the large range of people you would get to meet if you were on campus.However it depends to a large extent who you end up with in you flat and block and whether they socialize! However if you prefer it quiet or want to have space to study, it may suit you here. some of the photos online are unrealistic; there are no sofas in the communal area and many of the blocks have no lift, so one has lots of fun carrying shopping up three flights of stairs (that was sarcasm) :) overall i would have been happy enough with this accommodation had it not been a such a steep and tiring climb up to campus and so far away from all my friends and social activities and parties on campus!
The rooms are fairly well sized with a nice bathroom but found the carpet really grim and the radiator was in a ridiculous place. We had lots of problems with hot water in the first few weeks which wasn't dealt with as quickly as it could have been. Kitchen is well sized but not how it looks in the photographs, no sofa. Security is good and the staff are majoritively pleasant but weren't that helpful or sincere when we came to them with issues. Love the location near the station, the walk's a bit tough but fine once you get used to it.
The toilets needed so much work. Shower floods...
Point Exe was not my first choice halls but having lived there for a year it definitely did its job. I was very lucky in that my block was particularly sociable and friendly but if I had been in a different flat or block I may not have had as good an experience that I luckily gained. I think that in future there should definitely be careful consideration into the organisation of flats as it seems as though it was carelessly done and personalities were not matched, meaning the time we spent filling out forms on what we like to do etc. was a waste. The distance from the campus isn't a massive issue as there is a bus from the station but it definitely feels as though you are out of the loop of proper university halls and also means you spend lots of time trekking to other halls to visit people. The rooms are quite small and the windows barely open which is a massive fault as the kitchens and bedrooms can get quite hot in the warmer months. Although the bathrooms are a massive advantage over other halls as they are not wet-rooms but actually have proper showers. Kitchens are fairly big but the limitation of one oven and 4 hobs to either 5 or 7 people is quite difficult, especially when everyone cooks different dinners for themselves. I think that there should definitely be at least 2 ovens and set of hobs. There should also be a cleaner for the communal areas within a flat and not just for the corridors.
For my first year I chose an ensuite self-catered room in Point Exe. It seems pretty well-managed on arrival, clean, decently sized flats and so on. The biggest issue is that this is all a first impression - by the end of first term / beginning of second term mould is growing on ceilings, kitchen appliances aren't working very well, and you notice that the "extractor fans" in each room are more like extractor holes that don't do much. The main thing keeping me happy was the company - I don't know if it was coincidence or not but all the other students were really friendly and there was generally a fun atmosphere of flats keeping their front doors open and interacting a lot. The windows of each room can barely be opened due to their restrictors and this makes for quite warm rooms when it's not winter, and this is just my room on the bottom floor - since heat rises, the top floors were often unbearably hot when I visited. There are no sofas in the kitchen / shared lounge area, if that sort of thing bothers you, but you can take out the sofa chairs from each room and put them together to have a communal sofa area. The stoves are electric stoves and take about 10-15 minutes to actually heat up, which is frustrating for anybody cooking. It is very easy for steam from showers to set off the fire alarm if you keep your bathroom door slightly open. What does not help is that the management often takes a somewhat half-hearted approach to fixing things - we started off with one chair missing in the kitchen and another half-broken. The management took weeks and weeks and weeks to finally replace our chairs, and when they did, they were replaced with shoddy, slightly uncomfortable plastic chairs. Their office hours seem very short as the accommodation office closes at 4:30pm (officially, it's often empty by 4pm). The accommodation itself is a bit of a trek to university for those unaccustomed to walking up Exeter's hills, but I personally grew used to it. It can take anywhere between around 12 and 20 minutes to get where you need to get to, depending on what part of campus you need to reach. If it weren't for the obvious fact that the accommodation was made to look nice for the beginning of year, but deteriorates quickly after, I'd say it's worth the price. This is because my experience with other students, and the atmosphere in general has been great. But I'm aware that some students in the accommodation weren't happy with the people they ended up with, and for them the accommodation probably isn't worth it.
