Marlborough: How to pick a boarding house?

[Cornemuse]

How on earth are we supposed to select a boarding house for our DS? We don't know anyone at Marlborough, we have only visited once, and this is an important decision. How would one even go about making such a selection, please?

If it helps we put down Turner as the housemaster ( current) was recommended. However DS has ended up elsewhere so I can’t tell you if that was a good idea or not!

The main difference when I was there was that the outhouses (eg Preshute, Littlefield) had their own kitchens. Breakfast and some evening meals being eaten in their house. This gave more of a family feel and suited kids who found eating every single meal in the Norwood Hall tiring and potentially stressful. Houses closer to court suited more extrovert personalities who enjoyed always being in the thick of it. This was all a very long time ago though, so things may have changed.

My child is in the hundred at Marlborough, here are some thoughts:
C1 - Decent HM who’s fairly relaxed and is quite good fun, in the centre of Court so easy access to most places on campus
C2 - again a nice/relaxed HM that feels more like a family run boarding house/home. Near to the astros and rugby pitches if going to spend a lot of time playing sport.
C3 - joined with Mill Mead (girls house) with a shared common room (other than that completely separate) with a really nice HM, whose more traditional and firm but fair.
B1 - also in Court and is a very nice house with another traditional HM who’s a character and quite good fun.
Barton Hill - very relaxed HM who’s really nice. The actual house has just be refurbished and is opposite its sister house Elmhurst, so there are often socials between them.
Turner - good HM (and a lovely Dame) in a fairly modern boarding house. It is counted as an in/out house so is slightly further away from Court but still easy access to everywhere and not isolated.
Preshute - very nice, quite quiet HM who’s quite traditional. The house is the furthest away from everything but is good if you like tennis because it’s right next to the courts.
Littlefield - another out-house that is a nice house and decent HM who’s firm but fair.
Cotton - the HM is about to change but is a nice boarding house.
Summerfield - out-house up next to the rugby pitches with a very nice HM who’s quite relaxed and seems quite popular with the boys.

Generally speaking they are all really nice houses with all different highlights to them. The out-houses get dinner in house on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday (I think). There is a decent spread of interests between all of the houses with no house that overly excels in a certain aspect. Overall Barton Hill seems to be the most popular house as an in/out house and Summerfield as most popular out house.
Hope that helps

That’s really useful feedback. We really liked Turner and requested that as our preference on our application form, although my son was interviewed at Barton Hill and he really liked the housemaster there. He sounded very jolly and was happy to roll up his sleeves and get stuck into a games of cards with the boys.