My Student Home: a look inside private rented accommodation in Norwich

Welcome to My Student Home, our blog series on renting private accommodation while studying in Norwich, written by students for students. This blog series aims to highlight the ease and affordability of living in Norwich, which has been rated the tenth most affordable city in the UK for students. In this blog post, we meet second year student Patricia Mercer-David, who moved to Norwich from Orpington, London. Here, she shows us around her terraced house situated in Norwich’s Golden Triangle, 20 minutes away from campus.

What is your name and what course are you on?

My name is Tricia Mercer-David and I’m in my second year on BA (Hons) Illustration.

Where did you live during your first year at NUA?

In first year, I lived in Beechcroft in a ten-person corridor.

How much is your rent and what do you get for that cost?

I’m currently living in a terraced student house, each of us pay £325 rent per month.

Our house has 5 bedrooms, each come with a small desk and double bed. We share a bathroom, a kitchen with a washing machine, and living room which has a couple of sofas and a table.

We also have a large back garden with a table which is great for socialising. The house is well furnished and looked after and the landlady is great with any issues that arise.

How many people do you live with?

I live with 4 other NUA students, four of us are in 2^nd year and one is in 1^st year.

How did you find your house/housemates?

I found most of my housemates through living in student halls, but needed an extra housemate before moving in. This was an easy process as we used the NUA private accommodation share page on Facebook.

We managed to find a housemate and met up with them for a viewing within a couple weeks. So, if you find yourself in a similar situation don’t worry, you’ll work it out in no time!

We started searching for our house in January and used websites such as Rightmove to book viewings, our letting agency was Carvels Lettings.

We saw at least five properties – I really recommend viewing a place before settling on it, as seeing the property in person can reveal a lot more than online pictures.

How far away from campus do you live?

We live a 20-minute walk from campus, and under a 10-minute cycle. Norwich is great for bikes, there’s loads of cycle paths so it’s really safe.

What’s the area like?

I love the area I live in, it’s a safe road, Tesco and Co-op are only a couple minutes away and we’re very accessible to the city centre.

Our house is in the Golden Triangle – the area between NUA and UEA, so it’s very student friendly and I live near a lot of my friends.

Because of the big student population, there’s loads of local cafes and pubs with great atmospheres, and we live really near the Plantation Gardens which are gorgeous.

What’s your favourite spot near your house?

Very hard to choose just one! I’d have to say the Pear Tree Inn pub – friendly staff, cosy environment and they offer a student discount! It’s a great place to catch up with friends and they do occasional live music.

How have you made your house homely?

Plants, artwork and fairy lights. Leslie Terrance and Bo-tanical are just a few of the great independent plant shops in Norwich.

Being in such a creative city, we don’t have to look hard to find pretty prints and decorations. As well as our fellow artists at uni, there’s always art markets popping up.

A lot of these take place in Norwich Arts Centre and Studio 20. It’s a win win, as we get to have nice walls, while also supporting local creatives.

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