Eton College Boarding Houses

[mumofboys323]

Hi all asking for a friend whose son got into Eton College. Can anyone provide any information on the boarding houses and the housemasters. Is there any recommended ones or ones to avoid?
thank you

We are international and we frequently fly back from overseas to the UK so we anticipate having no issues with long breaks and B weekends. Any other international parents with current or graduated DSs at Eton with advice on navigating these longer weekends and distance? Feel free to DM me. Thank you! We are excited to get our house selection and start planning for 2027!

Would anybody here happen to have any information about the accommodations of the house master himself? I have seen in some places that it is not just a single room, but rather a space suitable for a family. I'm having difficulty finding any hard data on this topic, though. It's all oriented toward the students.

My motivation for this question is literary. I'm writing a novel about the school and would like to have as much accuracy as possible in the depiction of all aspects.

Thank you in advance.

DJS

There is a side of the house that the housemaster has - through a door in to a different area. In college (the oldest house in which the academic scholars reside) this is through few different doors - one in a corridor and one near the courtyard. So the housemaster can disappear and reappear easily. But yes easily enough room for a family

Would you happen to have any websites I can check to learn more? The school's site isn't very useful in this regard.

Some of the houses are quite large buildings, I would think many HMs are married with families. In my son's house the HM's part is like a very large family house, with lovely big rooms and a big garden. The HMs study was easily accessible I'd you needed to go to him.

There are some clips and documentaries on YouTube. Some are quite old but not much has changed. However, like the school website they focus on the life of the pupils rather than the staff.

If you want all the details look at the planning drawings that were submitted for Cotton Hall House as part of its renovation programme. You can find floor plans of each floor of the building and all rooms are marked.

The key thing is that it’s always referred to as “the private side”. Meaning the side of the building which is just for the HMs family and boys do not go there unless very specifically invited.

All of this has actually been of significant help. I even managed to locate some of the private areas on a zoomed in map. Now comes the hard part of editing my draft to make it more appropriate to the facts. Hopefully, I get the cultural aspects of living in the UK correct, too.

Thank you very much everyone. I appreciate your assistance.

Hello, hope it's okay to jump into this thread and ask if anyone has any thoughts or opinions on Holland House and/ or Mustians? They are the houses I'm seeing with my DS. Please do PM me. Thank you!