Accommodation

Trinity Hall guarantees accommodation for all first-year graduate students. While accommodation for any other year isn’t a promise, it’s understood that you will probably be given it if you request it.

College Accommodation for Graduates

The College accommodates graduates in several locations:

Grads do not normally reside at Central Site, but there may be exceptions to this (e.g. for students with disabilities – see below).

Bear in mind that smoking is prohibited everywhere on college grounds except designated outdoor smoking areas. Details can be found in the Red Book.

You can see some photos of the Trinity Hall accommodation on the photos page.

All room rents listed below are for 2009-2010.

Wychfield

Living at Wychfield has advantages and disadvantages. Though you will be situated in beautiful gardens amongst many friends, the surrounding neighborhood is hardly urban and contains few shops. If you are the sort that prefers nearby shops to nearby peers, you might be better off living in town at Bateman Street. However, there are a couple of pubs and curry restaurants near and dear to Wychfielders, some of which are quite good. The closest shop to Wychfield is the Nasreen Dar store situated at the end of Histon road, approximately 5-minute walk away from the Huntingdon Road end of Wychfield. This is a great local shop with a huge range of  exotic ingredients as well as hardware products, whole foods and freshly baked bread. The closest supermarket stores (a Co-Op, Aldi and Iceland) are a 10-minute walk away (a shortcut is to take Richmond Rd which is just up a bit from the Huntingdon Rd entrance, go to the end and through the bicycle path, turn right and continue until you reach Histon Road. The Co-op, a Chemist (what Americans call drugstores) and Post Office are on your left; Aldi, Iceland and a charity shop are on your right. The nearest Sainsbury’s is best reached by a bike ride down the hill. There are several other colleges next door, including Churchill, Murray Edwards, Fitzwilliam and St. Edmund’s, which means that although there isn’t much in the way of next-door shops or restaurants, the area is nonetheless full of students. Furthermore, many will relish the open skies and relative quiet of being somewhat removed from the city centre (click here for a satellite view of the neighbourhood), being surrounded instead by fields (the Cambridge University Farm is nearby). Philosophers might be interested to know that Ludwig Wittgenstein’s final resting place is practically next door.

In summary, there are two main drawbacks to consider when choosing Wychfield. First, the rooms are on average more expensive than those at Bateman Street, although they are also in correspondingly better shape. Second, there are fewer shops nearby and most people require a bike for getting to town, though the walk can be quite beautiful if you take the back roads. Those needing to work at Addenbrookes teaching hospital or a department in the southern part of town, or those who require regular access to the train station will find themselves with a 10-20 minute commute. Those studying maths, astronomy and physics, however, will find themselves right next door to their departments, and arts students might like to know that the University Library is slightly closer to this end of town than Bateman Street. A major plus that cannot be overlooked, of course, is also the Wychfield Plodge – whose porters will help you pump your bicycle tires if necessary, let you into your room when you’ve locked yourself out, receive parcels for you, and generally brighten your day with a bit of banter when you pass through to check your pigeonhole.

New Builds

This is the newest and most high-end accommodation Trinity Hall has to offer. The New Builds are located on the Wychfield Site, adjacent to the Wychfield Porters’ Lodge and next door to Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses, Herrick House as well as the sports pavilion, playing fields and gardens. The units within the New Builds consist of “staircases” of eight en-suite rooms. Up to four people share a kitchen. On the ground floor of each staircase is a large living room space with couches and a TV. This creates a multi-levelled community effect, in that about 15-20 people share the living room, but you share your kitchen space with just three others, and finally, for solitude you can retreat to your private room, of which the walls have been insulated to offer greater sound-proofing.

It should be noted, however, that these luxuries (including heated towel racks!) do not come without a cost, and these are at the top end of College accommodation in terms of price (except for the penthouse suites in Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses ). As a result, these rooms may appeal most to those not on limited funding, or to those for whom a private toilet and shower is worth the extra cost.

  • All rooms (ensuite): £99.30 – £103.60

Launcelot Fleming & Walter Christie

Each building is centred around a large common room with couches, a table and a TV. Sitting in there can be like being in an M.C. Escher drawing: the many windows inside the building give you views into the kitchens and stairwells of the building, as well as to the outside. There are around 25 students living in each of the two buildings, which lends itself to an occasionally lively communal atmosphere.

Showers and toilets are usually shared with one or two others, and kitchens are shared by three to five. Refrigerator space is extremely limited (freezer space less so, although they’re kept on the ground floor), but the kitchens are nice both for cooking and eating in. The showers and toilets are minimalist in design – small and windowless – but clean and functional. Each room is equipped with ample storage space (including lockable cupboards), several tables and lamps, and includes a sink and mirror hidden behind a close-able door.

Otherwise the rooms vary quite a bit. Most of the windows budget seems  to have been used up on the kitchens and common rooms, leaving the rooms with few. About half of the rooms receive ample sunlight, but the other half, due to the orientation of the buildings and the placement of several very large trees, can be quite dark throughout the year, requiring you to switch on the lights even in the morning (the New Buildings are more consistently bright). On the top floor are two split-level penthouse suites, which have multiple skylights and access to a small rooftop patio shared between them. Every room in these buildings is slightly different from the rest, and there is some variation in size and rent, so it’s worth emphasising on your accommodation form whether your priority is size or price.

Overall, Walter Christie and Launcelot Fleming are pleasant living environments, particularly if you are concerned that your academic toils may leave you in splendid isolation. If you ever find yourself at home alone on an evening, and wish not to be, just make your way down to the common room or your kitchen and chances are you’ll quickly be joined by someone else.

Walter Christie and Launcelot Fleming both house only graduate students. Built in 1994, the two buildings are identical except that one (Walter Christie, above right) has the washing and drying machines in it and the other (Launcelot Fleming, left; top left) has a computer room with a printer. But as they are directly next door to one another, this is hardly a reason to prefer one over the other.

  • Small rooms: £79.00 – £82.90
  • Medium rooms: £86.80
  • Large rooms: £90.80 – £94.29
  • Split-level rooms: £108.70

Herrick House

Set in the centre of the Wychfield site, between the New Buildings and Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses, Herrick House is an architectural marvel. It is a large cube of concrete situated in a pretty garden through which little grey squirrels are constantly bounding. Its compact cubicness sits in strong contrast to the dreaming spires in town, but the building won awards (in its time) for innovative interior design. Certainly, some clever things have been done to maximise storage space, and as Trinity Hall graduate accommodation goes, it’s as big if not bigger than most couples flats.

The building consists of three floors, with four flats on each floor. In a given flat there are two main rooms: a large living/kitchen room and a slightly smaller bedroom. There is also a modern bathroom (with a shower but no bath tub) and a short hallway. The living room has a kitchenette along one wall, including a bar fridge, sink, oven, hotplates, bench space and plenty of cupboards. It’s perfectly adequate if you feel like cooking all the time (although you will have to supply your own crockery and cooking utensils). The rest of the room is the living/study area, which is fitted with some small slitted openable windows, a kitchen table with chairs, a desk with four shelves over it (and an internet connection). Though some complain that the flats have few windows, or at least fewer than you’d think would be possible, much of this is made up for by the large window seat at one end of the room. This window lets in lots of light around the window area (but can also be curtained) and is very nice for sitting and reading in, or for simply admiring the view over the gardens outside from.

The bedroom is not large, but contains a double bed (for those of you from countries with queen-sized beds, they don’t seem to have them in the UK! Bring some double bed sheets) as well as a chest of drawers. One excellent feature is that one of the bedroom walls can be slid back so as to make one big L-shaped room, giving the feeling of much more space and light.

Finally, there is a passageway from the entry to the bedroom, which was optimistically described by one resident as a ‘walk-in wardrobe’ but which is more like a very small hallway with a wardrobe and shelves on one side. Generally there is quite a bit of storage space, and the heaters work well (in fact we have trouble turning ours down).

Drawbacks of Herrick House are the slight unreliability of the hot water at night and the lack of a common living area shared by all the flats in the building. As one resident said, it’s hard to be witty and sparkling when you tend to meet other residents only in pyjamas doing a late-night load of laundry. On the other hand, another resident has pointed out how nice it is to be woken up in the morning by singing birds, rather than drunken students, and you are unlikely to ever hear traffic noises so deep in Wychfield.

There is one washing machine on the first floor (£1.20 per load) and one dryer (20p per load). There is also a small storeroom on the top floor which is piled high with junk.

  • One bedroom flats: £146.60 – £152.70

Bateman Street

There are four great things about living at Bateman Street. Firstly, it’s just a five-minute walk to the train station, from where you can take a 45-min fast train to London Kings Cross. Secondly, these are not purpose-built student accommodation, but rather are old houses far away enough from the college to feel distinct (though still in town and not as far away as Wychfield). There is no porter’s lodge at Bateman Street, which may result in some lack of convenience, but the plus side is that you feel a bit more independent and a little less like you’re living in student accommodation. Thirdly, Bateman street is only steps away from the beautiful University Botanic Gardens, for which entry is free to all University Card holders. There is no better place to read and study than the Gardens in spring–the city disappears and you’re surrounded by lush flowers and trees, green lawns and bubbling fountains. It’s an asset too few people seem to appreciate in Cambridge, and it’s right on Bateman Street. And finally, it has a great location in a residential neighborhood in town with shops and pubs just around the corner. If you need a pint of milk, you need not ride your bike to get it or wait until your next shopping trip, but can simply pop around the corner to grab it (plus, the grocery store there is open till late, unlike most others).

If you have any questions about Bateman Street, please get in contact with one of the local Accommodation Reps.

Location

Bateman Street is a short distance from College (5-10 minutes or less by bike and about 15 on foot) (and, unlike with Wychfield, it’s not an uphill trip going home). Although for most departments it makes no difference whether you are at Bateman or Wychfield, if you are going to be working at Addenbrookes teaching hospital or at Homerton College for the PGCE, then Bateman would definitely be the better choice. Also, departments such as Engineering and Management are much closer to Bateman Street. Living at Bateman Street without a bike is conceivable for most, but if you’re working in the south of town then at Wychfield it isn’t.

Local area

Bateman is in a residential area and is fairly quiet, except for the occasional clatter of a suitcase being rolled down the uneven sidewalks or the sound of uniformed school children early in the morning (there seem to be about a dozen schools nearby). Just around the corner there is a Co-op supermarket and a bank. A bit further down the street (Hill’s Road), there’s a variety of shops, pubs and restaurants, and if you continue going on you’ll end up in the centre of town (passing the Arts Picturehouse, a cinema, on the way). Bateman Street is definitely better situated than Wychfield when it comes to eating, drinking and shopping. In terms of transportation, the train station is a mere four-minute walk away and no less than three different bus lines (the Citi 1, Citi 3, and Citi 7) run down Hills Road, if you’ve got more luggage than you’d care to haul on foot (likewise a taxi trip from the train station to Bateman Street will cost you hardly anything).

Room descriptions

The college once owned the entire street (hence the name Bateman, after the founder of the college) and much of the surrounding area as well. Now it owns just six houses. There are nine rooms in each house, apart from House 15, where the basement is a common room with TV, and House 8, in which the basement has been converted into a private apartment. Houses 14, 15 and 16 are all interconnected on the first and second floors. There are also one-bedroom flats on Bateman St and Norwich St.

Room 1 in both 14 and 16 are in the basement and therefore don’t get much light, but they are very large and spacious indeed. The number 2 rooms on the ground floor are also very large and get more light, but there is less privacy with the curtains open as people can look in from the street (though the room isn’t actually on the street level, as the houses are set up from the road by a flight of stairs). Number 3 rooms are a good bet: medium-sized with a view into the backyard patios. On the first floor, rooms 4 and 5 have windows to the street and 6 into the back. On the second floor, rooms 7 and 8 are on the street-side and 9 on the back. These rooms are all smaller than the ones below, but they are still reasonably sized.

For example, let’s take room 8 in House 15. The room faces the street and is larger than the rooms in the New Buildings at Wychfield, though it is not, of course, en suite. It is bigger than room 7 next door and 9 across the hall by quite a bit and only rooms 2 and 3 downstairs are larger. This room has more cabinet, desk, drawer, shelf, and closet space than one needs and has two chairs for lounging outside of the usual desk chair. The room gets just the right amount of sun: not too much and not too little. It is on the 2nd floor so the occupant can leave the window open without fear. One has to travel down half a flight of stairs to get to the nearest shower and toilet and (sadly) three flights to get to the nearest kitchen. All and all it is a great room with a lot of space and a lot of potential.

Amenities and appliances

House 14 has four showers, 15 has just a shower on the first floor and 16 has a shower in the basement; but as the houses are interconnected, there’s no particular advantage to being in 14. All of these showers are rather cramped… The laundry is in the basement of 15. It has two washing machines (cost for a load: £1.20) and two driers (works on 20p pieces, but you will need a couple to dry a load properly).

Each kitchen has four hobs (electric stove ‘burners’), an oven, a grill, a microwave, a kettle and a toaster. The kitchens are nice and spacious with plenty of cupboard space, but there are only two small fridges (and one freezer), which really is not enough for nine people. Otherwise,the kitchens are pretty good as student kitchens go. They are large enough for a big central table that can seat about 6. We’ve had several dinner parties.

The rooms are also nice. You get a bed, desk, desk lamp, a couple of chairs (even a sofa in the larger rooms), plenty of bookshelves, a bedside cabinet, coffee table, and a big unit comprising wardrobe, washbasin and more cupboard space – it’s quite nice. The bedders, Bob and Helen, call every morning Monday to Friday to clean the kitchen and bathrooms and to take away whatever rubbish you have in your bin (put the bin outside or else they will come into your room to get it). They will clean your sink area and vacuum your bedroom once a week (though you can tell them not to by leaving a note). They also provide clean sheets every Friday if you decide to take college bedlinen; you can opt out if you want.

Houses 8, 9 and 17 are scruffier and not as light and cheery, but they are better equipped: they have an additional small kitchen on the second floor and a total of four fridges, two showers, one washing machine and one dryer per house. The large back patios of houses 14-17 have a built-in BBQ grill and several picnic tables.

In conclusion, Bateman Street is a great place to be, especially if you’ve had enough of living in halls. Everybody has their privacy but we also get to know each other well and do a lot of socialising in the kitchens and common room. The back garden is well equipped for BBQs and other spring/summer fun and, though not as insular as Wychfield, there is a sense of community. The summer-time barbecues on Bateman Street are fantastic.

Numbers 8 & 9

  • Not available 2009-2010

Numbers 14 & 17

  • Small rooms: £69.20
  • Medium rooms: £75.00 – £81.00

Numbers 15 & 16

  • Small rooms: £75.00
  • Medium rooms: £81.00

Flats on Bateman St and Norwich St

  • One bedroom flats: £152.60

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability and have any concerns about accessibility or proximity to college please contact Ms. Julie Powley, the Graduate Officer, at jp219. Arrangements, of course, can be made to suit your needs. These arrangements are handled on a case-by-case basis. It may be wise to take a look at the University of Cambridge Disability Resource Center page to see what other assistance the University can offer you. If you would like to know more about disability access in Trinity Hall, do check out our Students with Disabilities welfare page.

Accommodation Reps

Accommodation Reps are members of the MCR who are happy to answer any questions prospective students have about a particular college house. The Reps live in the accommodation they represent and will no doubt know the ins and outs, so to speak, of their particular residence. Also current MCR members who have any questions, comments, or concerns about a particular resident should feel free to contact their local rep so that the matter can be related to the proper parties. The reps are as follows (stick @cam.ac.uk after the code below, e.g., sw518, to make their email addresses):

Private Accommodation

The MCR Committee’s advice to its members, regrettably, has had to change as we no longer believe college provides an unbeatable deal regarding accommodation. It may indeed be possible, especially for those studying for a PhD or any other course that commits you to being in Cambridge for a full calendar year, to find alternative cheaper accommodation. Those working towards MPhils or on other courses that only require a 9-month residency period, will still find college the best solution as private landlords, in most cases, will insist on a 12-month contract.

The MCR Committee also notes that College provides the best option for accommodation if you have never lived in Cambridge (or the UK for that matter). Any MCR member wishing to enter the private rental market should also take care to view the property extensively and seek professional advice when signing any rental agreement. You must act fast. The best of the accommodation often is taken early on in the academic year and members are advised to begin to consider properties in or before March should they decide to investigate this option.

These websites may help you in your search:

You could also check the MCR Bulletin Board for listings as college members often like to share housing with other college members. If you are looking for a place, feel free to post an ad there as well!