Open days - Durham, Bath & Bristol in 2 days

[WobblyLondoner]

DS keen to visit all three, but they all have open days on the same two days in June. We're in London. Don't have a car but could hire; the alternative would be to get the train. Don't mind staying overnight somewhere.

What would you do? Obviously Bath and Bristol would have to be the same day but would you go there first and then (if driving) go to Durham that night? Or start in Durham (perhaps go up the night before) and then drive down to B&B? Going by train would involve coming home in between and doing them as day trips.

As I write this realise I'm making a meal out of it - my only excuse is that I'm not a massive driver and the Durham leg is stressing me at the thought of it!

Durham - Bristol will be a direct train if you get the right one. Likewise Bristol-Nath-Paddington is all one line.

I look at going upto Durham the night before, stay the night, do the Durham open day then come most (all?) of the way south. Bristol then Bath, and home - or the whole thing in reverse.

I did Bath- Durham, had an interview then came back half way. Stayed with friends in the midlands then back to Bath the next day. Train is MUCH faster than driving. Knackering tho.

How do open days work? (I probably need to know this as DD is doing GCSE's)?

I think you probably need to get on the train for the lot.

Bath is about a 20 minute train journey to Bristol. Both unis have good bus services from the train stations. Bath has volunteers at the station to direct people (I expect Bristol has too)

Bristol is about 3 1/2 hours away from York (and then Durham another 45 mins-1 hour away) by train. I mention York as hotel rooms might be cheaper (and used to drive or take the train to/from York a fair bit).

Only the uni timetables (and hotel prices) will dictate whether it is better to head to Durham or Bath first.

Having typed this out, I wonder whether you might be better off heading up to Durham first, then cross country to Bristol that night...to start early in Bristol and then onto Bath?

I wouldn’t do it - it’ll be a slog and will just not be fun. They’ll be more open days in Sept. I say this as someone who went to Durham on the train yesterday and is on way home now. In Sept we did Durham and York on consecutive days and that was a slog

Bath have already released a September date. So take that off the list.
"Just" do Bristol and Durham. On the train, not via London.

Bath and Bristol on the same day won’t work out - transport is a nightmare on open days in Bath as an extra 8000+ visitors in town and really, it’s designed for horses. Go - just not on same day as Bristol!

Loads of walking on an open day even if a campus one - the Bath campus is pretty extensive these days

Do Bristol and Bath on the same weekend, one each day, and then Durham in September.

Thanks so much everyone. I'm leaning towards B&B in June and then Durham in Sept. Much more sensible!

Good decision as trying to fit B&B in one day will be impossible. There’s a lot to take in and you don’t want to rush. It’s also good to have a mooch around the city and areas where they may live in yr2/3 and not just focus on the university.

Ah, but he needs to make his university selection before the next open day (early school deadlines).

An aside - single train fare from Bristol to Durham that day is £267!!! FFS.

Sorry £167. Bad enough.

I'd do Bristol and Bath, and bin off Durham.

In all honesty there's not a lot to see in Durham. There's a small bailey full of tourists where the old uni bit is, and a newish "brutalist" style campus where most of the uni is.

The rest can be gleaned online.

I learnt my lesson with these exhausting weekend jour eyes when friends got married on subsequent days in the North and South. Don't do it to yourself!!

@WobblyLondoner have you taken a look at easyJet flights from Bristol to Newcastle? You can get the Metro from Newcastle airport to Newcastle Central station, and then train to Durham from there. Can usually be in Durham from the airport in 45-60 minutes.

And ignore @anon666 - Durham is a beautiful city. It doesn't have a campus, so not sure what she's talking about there, unless she means the science site, which has been around for at least 60 years

Assuming that you yourself don't qualify for a railcard (although presumably your DS has either a 16-25 one, or a16-17?), for what looks like a very expensive train journey, or several, have a look at what difference the initial outlay of £30 for a Two Together railcard woukd make to the fare.

Wrt the school deadline, there is nothing in the UCAS regulations to say that all 5 applications have to be made together, so your DS could submit with 4, then decide whether to add Durham having been to the open day. Or, if the school refuses to process the form with only 4 universities named (presumably in case the applicant slips in somewhere like Teesside or Bolton or Southampton Solent at the last minute), put Durham down anyway and just ignore it, wrt considering an offer etc, if he really doesn't like it at the open day.

If there is somewhere else that is currently under consideration, but would be supplanted by Durham if he likes Durham on the open day, I would suggest he should go for the naming 4 option and argue with the school that surely they want their students to go to a university that is right for them?

Assuming it's not Teesside/ Bolton / Solent, of course...

@bguthb90 you're a genius. Have just booked those. I hate to fly within the UK but here I'll make an exception. Thank you!

If you can spread out your visits, I recommend that you do. Bath and Bristol June open days were on consecutive days when DD was applying. DD and I drove, coming home in between (we're on the South Coast). The Bristol traffic was especially horrendous and the days were long. It just takes time to walk from talk to department to accommodation. We already knew the city of Bath so just stayed on campus, attended talks, looked at the department and toured the accommodation. It was still exhausting. DD also wanted to apply to Durham but didn't visit until September. DH drove up the night before and they stayed in one of the colleges. She had already decided to apply as she liked the course and used the visit just to pick the college and add that to her UCAS application.
Two years later, it was DS's turn. This time, DS and I went to Bristol on the train which was a better experience than driving and there was a special "open day" rail fare. DH did Bath the next day with DS by car. This time we did Durham back to back with Cambridge: drove to Cambridge the night before the open day, staying overnight in a college, attended the open day and drove to Durham mid afternoon and stayed overnight in St Chad's college ready for the open day next morning. Seems crazy looking back!

Don't let artificial school deadlines distort his process. School doesn't need all his slots filled to do any of their processes.

When in June is the open day for Durham? I can’t see the exact date on the website and DD has signed up to the newsletter and it doesn’t say the date in the email either.

Here: www.durham.ac.uk/visit-us/open-days/undergraduate/

Scroll down past the registration link.

Thanks @WobblyLondoner , I clearly wasn’t paying attention! 🤦‍♀️

Hi, how did you book the accommodation in the college please? I've tried googling in but I'm not winning. I'd be grateful for any help please?

Another option is fly from Bristol to Newcastle and local train to Durham which is what my son does to visit his friend up there. It was £25!!

The Chads B&B info is here - it is only available out of term time:

https://www.stchads.ac.uk/commercial/bed-breakfast/

edited to say these are all student rooms if you want an idea what they look like.

@KittyMcKitty thank you, Much appreciated