Wollaton is actually a great place for students to live, here are eight reasons to prove it

I’m going to say it – Wollaton categorically does not get the credit it deserves. The majority of student housing you’ll find is in Lenton, usually advertised along the lines of ‘ideal location for students’, so it’s not a surprise that the consensus is that it’s the place to be.

Wollaton has an unwarranted reputation of being boring and when you tell people that’s where you’re moving, you can almost see the pity in their eyes. But I’m here to set the record straight and let you know why Wollaton is a great place for students to live and perhaps, maybe, possibly even better than Lenton.

Wollaton Park and Hall is on your doorstep

I can’t talk about the benefits of of living in Wollaton without mentioning the park. Living here means no more than a five minute walk to your closest entrance. Even the people who live in Lenton have to admit this one – the park is beautiful and there is nowhere else quite like it in Nottingham.

In the winter months the Hall is decked out in lights and they put on the light display in the park. In December we could quite literally look up out of our bedroom windows and see the ‘Northern Lights’ as part of the show. If it snows, seeing the deer is even more magical and you do stop dead in your tracks to take a picture to send to your mum. We were taking winter strolls in the park, building snowmen and getting extremely nice milkshakes from the cafe.

As for summer, it only gets better. We went from full head to toe, coats, scarves, hats, gloves to a t-shirt and shorts. It’s perfect for a picnic or just a nice walk past the lake. If you’re a dog lover it’s the place for you as it’s a hotspot for cute puppies on their walks. If catching a tan is your thing, it’s the perfect place for that too with ample room for you and your friends. Kick around a football if that’s your thing, or just take in the precious Vitamin D. As for the hall itself, it makes a great Instagram post and hey, if it’s good enough for Batman then it’s good enough for us.

It’s much cleaner than Lenton and there are no rats

Any of you who have been to Lenton will know that you can’t go more than two metres without seeing an overflowing bin or rubbish all over the floor. I can safely say that you do not get any of that in Wollaton. We consider ourselves very lucky that we don’t have to shine torches on the floor every time we leave the house in case there’s a rat trying to move in rent free. Plus, if you’ve seen the rats in Lenton you’ll know they’re freakishly large and nothing like cute, little Remy from Ratatouille.

It’s quiet, if you want it to be

While some live on bustling Middleton Boulevard, there are numerous streets away from the main road with student housing meaning you can also stay away from all the noise if that is your preference. One of the many benefits of the area being partly residential is that you don’t have the issue of your neighbours blasting music until 4am on a Tuesday morning when you have a seminar at nine.

The most you get is an ambulance siren on the way to the QMC and even those normally stop by 8pm. At the same time, the horror stories of mean neighbours calling the police on you for having a house party doesn’t really happen here – as long as you’re respectful, as you should be, everyone’s more than happy for you to have fun.

You feel very safe 

Again, a benefit of the area being partly residential is the fact that you feel safe. Our neighbour on one side is an old lady whose daughter asked to pick the apples off our apple tree so she could bake a pie. Can you get more pure? Near our house is a book exchange cupboard where it’s a ‘take a book, leave a book’ policy and shockingly, the books don’t get stolen.

You’re more than happy to take your neighbours parcels and don’t have sheer panic when your parcel gets left with them. The most drama we’ve had on our road was when a Jeep couldn’t get through between two cars and they had to ask someone to move.

If there’s one thing you want from your student house, it’s to feel safe and Wollaton can offer that. You’re never worried about your stuff getting stolen because you left your laptop on the table and you can rest easy knowing you won’t be woken by shouting or police sirens.

Wollaton has more of a student vibe than you think

Trust me, this was a concern for us too. We thought we’d just be surrounded by old people with no one under the age of 50 for miles around. Turns out we were wrong. Yes, our neighbours are not students and there aren’t as many of us as there are elsewhere, but there are quite a few student houses near us, we even have friends that live on the next road down. I promise you, students do live outside of Lenton and if you don’t know anyone in Wollaton, then Lenton is only a 20 minute walk away.

It’s close to all the campuses

For us this was a big priority as I’ve got housemates that have lectures everywhere. I needed to be able to get to Jubilee easily, one of my housemates is based on main campus, two needed to be able to get to the QMC and one has to get the hopper bus to get to Derby hospital every other day. It’s no more than a 20 minute walk to main campus and that’s if you’re walking slowly. Jubilee is even closer. From personal experience, if you’ve got a 9am, you could wake up at 8:45 and still make it on time.

Nearly all the houses have a driveway and garden

A big benefit for any of you drivers out there. Almost all the houses in Wollaton have a driveway that can normally fit a couple of cars on. Ours has had three cars on it before easily and it’s great for my housemates that have brought their cars to uni. Unlike Lenton, a lot of the roads in Wollaton are not permit parking meaning it’s perfect for when anyone comes to visit, even if you don’t manage to secure a driveway.

Most of the houses here also have a garden which is great for any of you who like to work outdoors. Yes, you can get a garden in other areas of Nottingham, but here they’re relatively big in comparison and ours even has an apple tree with edible apples. We also get to see cute robins in winter and cats and foxes all year round in our garden which is always very exciting for anyone who manages to spot them. We even have a few daffodils growing which made us all very happy when we first saw them.

It’s a quick walk to Lidl, Greggs and Domino’s

While these may technically be in Lenton, they’re only about a 15 minute walk from Wollaton. In around 45 minutes you could have left the house, walked to Lidl, done a weekly shop and come back home again.

One perk over Lenton: you don’t have to tackle the mountain that is Derby Road to get home and it’s a much nicer walk home up Middleton Boulevard. I have to say, my student finance is extremely grateful that our local supermarket is a Lidl but if we were desperate for something (milk, it’s always milk) and too lazy to make the trip, then we do have Co-op down the road.

Domino’s is great for when you really don’t fancy cooking and pasta is looking unappealing for the fifth night in a row. Plus we all know we can get a medium with two toppings for £6 if we go and collect which is definitely doable from Wollaton. There’s also a Subway and Wok&Go noodle bar. As for Greggs, who doesn’t fancy a sausage roll after doing their food shop?

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