Creative OATS accomodation options

[Desk-pilot]

I'm considering accomodation options near OATS and currently B&B or a lavishly appointed tent are favoured options!

I plan to spend 2-3 nights a week near the school - say Tue, Wed, Thur and commute the other days from home approx 50 miles away (50 mins journey last night when I left Oxford at 6.45pm). Failing that, there's always a night in OATS halls I guess although a previous post didn't exactly rave about those!

The attraction of B&B is that for 2-3 nights a week it would be an easy 'drop in' kind of option but that would cost £50-£75 a week and offers no cooking facilities. I'd thus have to eat in a pub (expensive - or at least it is with a couple of pints!) or go to a chippy (bad for waistline) or eat at OATS - can anyone indicate the cost and quality of OATS evening meals?? Can anyone recommend a good B&B near OATS and indicate prices?

The other option is to buy a large tent with plenty of space to stand up inside, study if the weather's bad etc. This is likely to cost £200+. I have the rest of the equipment to camp apart from an electric hook-up cable (£80) which would provide electric light and power a refrigerated cooler box (to keep the beer chilled!)
Cost is £5 a night approx and you get hot showers, your own place, plenty of fresh air, and the ability to cook your own meals as well as having more cash to eat out if you choose. Given that I could slip into a B&B during the cold months I could still spend from May-Sept this year and April-July next year living in a tent a couple of nights a week.

I have done quite a lot of camping, indeed I love it even in our existing small 2 man tent so a big 5-6 man dome would feel like the Hilton.

I spoke to a local campsite who said they'd had several OATS students on site in a mixture of caravans and tents as well as one instructor - if they're fellow ppruners perhaps they could indicate how they found it?

Initially I thought this a bit off the wall, but I think it could work quite well, heck if there were a few of us doing it, it could be a fun summer (inbetween the huge amounts of work ahead!)

Desk-pilot

[window-seat]

sorry, can't help !!

All we had to do at Jerez was worry about how high to set the air-con!!:D (oh and where to get some descent grub)!! :p

Good luck!

(if going for the camping option, would suggest a cheap caravan, you could park it outside the ops room)!!;)

[topper2]

I stayed at "The Lawns" whilst doing my ATPL exams last month. They normaly charge £30 per night but may give a discount if you stay longer than a couple of days. Room had a microwave and a portable fridge was available if no one else was using it.

They're based in woodstock, so only about 4 minutes drive from OATS. Maybe worth giving them a try?:ok:

[witchdoctor]

The food at OAT is pretty poor, especially given the cost. You would get much better value for money (and more flexible mealtimes, not to mention servive without a snarl) eating out and about. Woodstock has a good selection of pubs, hotels and restaurants, but they ain't cheap. Not sure on the B&B prices as I was renting, but it was a great place to live as most students usually find out during the second phase of training once they have had enough of the halls.

[Hobo]

You could always buy/rent a narrow boat with others on your course and moor it on the Oxford Canal - which goes through Kidlington.

[F3]

Hobo is definately thinking along the right lines. This thought used to occur to me whenever sitting in the Wise Alderman beer garden. Happy days!

[glider26]

Desk-Pilot,

I don't spend much time on PPrune and even less posting replies (I think this is my second one ever) but I feel so strongly about this one... Having spent 18 months at Langford (OATS accomodation) the best advice I can give you is to stay away from anything at OATS that's not directly linked to their flying programme, i.e. food and accomodation.

The time I spent at Lanford still sends a chill down my spine. Hardly ever got any sleep and wouldn't have fed the cantine food to a stray dog, especially the evening stuff. And mine isn't an isolated complaint. No one on my course enjoyed the accomodation or the food there. Some people got B&B's on the eve of flying tests just to make sure they got some rest. Enough said.

At one point some of us thought about getting our own accomodation and although we gave up on the idea because of the cost of it, if you can afford it then definitely try and find an alternative to Langford and its cantine.

Enjoy your training!

Glider

[DX Wombat]

I clicked on this thread by accident but nevertheless I think window seat has the best idea. :ok:
An old, cheap caravan with mains hook-up and a little double burner and grill is an excellent idea. Join the Caravan Club - they have an excellent site at Woodstock. All Caravan Club sites are of a high standard, the toilet blocks immaculate, plenty of hot water and free showers. The cost of the electricity is now included in the fee. I'm not sure what the current fees are as I haven't got my handbook up here with me, but if you would like me to find out and let you know just email me. If you get yourself a 4 bed caravan you can leave the bed set up all day so you won't need to sort it out every morning and evening. Not only that, you will still be able to go camping in comfort in the wetter weather once you have finished your course. :ok: :) If you don't fancy cooking for yourself all the time you can always treat yourself to a pub lunch or two.
Hope all goes well for you. I suppose it could be said that the allegedly poor conditions there are an incentive to passing everything first time :ugh: so you don't have to return, but I can think of better ones than that.

[badattitude781]

Hi glider26,

So you were in Langford. Its funny to hear of your time there. My cell was in Mitchell Hall. I remember one of the guys on my course flately refused to go into the showers without shoes on because they were so dirty!

I moved out of their halls asap.

[Tim_Q]

Caravan sounds like a good idea, a friend of mine borrowed his parents for a while when he was at Oxford. I have no idea what site he stayed at. Most caravans seem to spend the majoroty of their lives parked on people's drives (or parked on the M6 :* ), maybe you know someone can borrow from?! A tent could get a bit tedious once the novelty wears off, you can guarantee that the night before a skills test it will throw down with rain so you can't get any sleep!