{"id":7512,"date":"2026-09-04T11:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=7512"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:12:53","slug":"what-is-student-life-like-on-silwood-park-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2026\/09\/04\/what-is-student-life-like-on-silwood-park-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"What is student life like on Silwood Park Campus?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Written by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When most Imperial students think of\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park, they imagine a luscious,\u00a0mysterious\u00a0and green campus filled with animals and plants that are not often seen in the likes of\u00a0our other campuses\u00a0such as\u00a0South Kensington or White City. In many ways,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0right\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and every image pictured of\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park is true!<\/p>\n<p>As a representative of this less well-known community at Imperial, I\u2019d like to bring to light the student life, activities and community found at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>An introduction\u00a0to\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/silwood-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Silwood Park<\/a>\u00a0is Imperial\u2019s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares of land and\u00a0comprising\u00a0habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an \u201cancient\u201d\u00a0forest\u00a0and open grasslands. A simple search on\u00a0iNaturalist,\u00a0an\u00a0app where you can\u00a0map and share observations of biodiversity across the globe\u00a0with\u00a0an online social network of naturalists,\u00a0shows that a total of 1,436 species of flora,\u00a0fauna\u00a0and fungi\u00a0has been documented\u00a0on campus,\u00a0and a further search on eBird shows that 111 species of birds have been documented on campus so far.<\/p>\n<p>More interestingly,\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park is also the site of many long-term field research projects with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/silwood-park\/our-outdoor-laboratory\/field-experiments\/nashs-field-experiment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nash\u2019s Field Experiment<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/silwood-park\/our-outdoor-laboratory\/field-experiments\/breeding-ecology-of-blue-tits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blue Tit Project<\/a>\u00a0being two of the more well-known projects carried out on-site.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Student life\u00a0at\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The campus is home to mostly postgraduate students, interested in projects involving ecology,\u00a0conservation\u00a0and evolution. Most of us are interspersed through several clubs that are based at\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park. Notable examples include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chicken\u00a0Club\u00a0\u2013\u00a0who\u00a0take care of the chickens that are raised behind our halls of residence<\/li>\n<li>Book\u00a0Club\u00a0\u2013\u00a0who\u00a0gather regularly to discuss books of interest in their reading list<\/li>\n<li>Gardening\u00a0Club\u00a0\u2013\u00a0who\u00a0manage the allotments in our community garden<\/li>\n<li>Conservation\u00a0Club\u00a0\u2013 who\u00a0organise nature walks and conservation-based activities for the students on Silwood Park Campus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Being a part of the larger Imperial\u00a0student community, many of us are also members\u00a0and regularly\u00a0participate\u00a0in activities of clubs based in South Kensington too!<\/p>\n<p>Informally, we also have clubs that engage in sports like badminton,\u00a0basketball\u00a0and pickleball\u00a0(my personal favourite!), which are based either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at the indoor sports halls\u00a0locatedin nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.<\/p>\n<p>On top of club activities and lessons, we have many community-led events that happen on\u00a0campus.\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park has its own student council that organises and\u00a0facilitates\u00a0such activities, to ensure that we have a vibrant and exciting student life! In the past months, we have had the\u00a0Silwood\u00a0language exchange, where our largely international community came together to share our languages and cultures over the course of a few weeks, and\u00a0we also had our annual Chinese\u00a0New\u00a0Year celebration at the start of the year, where everyone came together to make dumplings and\u00a0couplets to usher the beginning of a new lunar\u00a0year.\u00a0We\u2019ve\u00a0also\u00a0had community-organised parties commemorating celebrations from all around the world (such as Carnival),\u00a0or parties organised for the sake of the love of parties.<\/p>\n<p>My favourite\u00a0campus event though\u00a0has to\u00a0be the\u00a0weekly pub quiz,\u00a0organised by our student community.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0part of\u00a0Silwood\u00a0culture that the losers of the pub quiz will have to set the next one and I can unabashedly claim the highest number of pub quizzes set this year.\u00a0Despite losing at\u00a0numerous\u00a0pub quizzes due to my poor\u00a0knowledge\u00a0of general trivia, there\u2019s always\u00a0good fun\u00a0to be had\u00a0with\u00a0good company and a good pint of beer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image-handler.unibuddy.co\/6a58f8121d9466a44f6f7074.JPG\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image-handler.unibuddy.co\/6a58f812d201230f10235d21.JPG\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Silwood\u00a0Park:\u00a0my home away from home<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Despite being\u00a0located\u00a0a 30-minute walk from vibrant vibes of civilisation (e.g. the train station and the closest village), life at\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park has never felt mundane or lacking. On top of the\u00a0numerous\u00a0events and activities,\u00a0we have a warm and welcoming community\u00a0comprised\u00a0of students from all over the world. All of us love nature,\u00a0love our beautiful campus grounds and more importantly, enjoy each other\u2019s company. We\u2019re a close-knit community that enjoys spending our time stargazing in the winter cold\u00a0on the open field located next to our bar, that enjoys looking at the birds and mammals which grace our room windows with their presence, and a community that enjoys spending time in the midst of other nature lovers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image-handler.unibuddy.co\/6a58f812e14d040b0e093d2b.JPG\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Most evenings, I spend my time cooking with my dear friend from India who equally shares my love for Asian food and birding.\u00a0We&#8217;re\u00a0often joined by our friends who live a short minute walk away, in the\u00a0neighbouring\u00a0halls of residence.\u00a0After dinner, we\u00a0usually\u00a0play board games or watch movies together.\u00a0Living on\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park Campus is\u00a0quite literally the portrayal of a quiet,\u00a0peaceful\u00a0and idyllic life. In winter, this is accompanied by the warm, comforting embrace of the heaters\u00a0located\u00a0throughout our halls of residence and campus buildings.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image-handler.unibuddy.co\/6a58f812ef41f0c5e6fa6f03.JPG\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Of course, these comforts are only possible with the help of the Student Accommodation team, who look out for us and make sure that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0as comfortable as possible on campus. We also have a dedicated Student Experiences Coordinator who meticulously plans events for us to\u00a0help us stay engaged and bonded as a campus community.\u00a0They&#8217;re\u00a0also responsible for bringing cute and fuzzy therapy dogs onto campus\u00a0to support\u00a0our wellbeing\u00a0with occasional licks,\u00a0warmth\u00a0and affections from\u00a0our beloved\u00a0four-legged\u00a0friends.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Reflecting on my time at\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The past months\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0spent living and studying\u00a0at\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park have been nothing short of amazing.\u00a0Looking back, this\u00a0is\u00a0largely due\u00a0to the strong network of friends and community that I have enjoyed\u00a0spending time with. Even as I travel around the world for research or for leisure, I find myself excited to return to campus and share stories of\u00a0my adventures\u00a0with my friends.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image-handler.unibuddy.co\/6a58f813f9b87435f6504dd5.JPG\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Should you be blessed with the opportunity to study at\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park,\u00a0I hope that\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0be able to enjoy such beautiful and strong connections as well. Take your time and enjoy our\u00a0beautiful campus with your new-found friends, explore the charming and peaceful villages and parks surrounding our campus,\u00a0and visit London occasionally to enjoy the dynamic culture and musicals on West End.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image-handler.unibuddy.co\/6a58f8131262b4aa6871eb41.JPG\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You can read more about my student experiences at Imperial in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/Stories\/my-imperial-story-clarence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my student profile.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation When most Imperial students think of\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park, they imagine a luscious,\u00a0mysterious\u00a0and green campus filled with animals and plants that are not often seen in the likes of\u00a0our other campuses\u00a0such as\u00a0South Kensington or White City. In many ways,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0right\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and every image pictured of\u00a0Silwood\u00a0Park is true! As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1636,"featured_media":7513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[300979,300923],"tags":[300980,234473,82],"class_list":["post-7512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-silwood-park-campus","category-sports-and-societies","tag-silwood-park-campus","tag-societies","tag-student-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1636"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7512"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7517,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7512\/revisions\/7517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}