I bought this instrument as I wanted to begin again after two decades I left my professional playing, and I didn't want to spend too much.
Not wanting to go over the cheapest solutions, I established a budget around 300/500 Pounds. I was able to test a Yamaha in a real shop, and I wasn't impressed at all, despite it was at the higher end of my budget fork.
So I decided to buy this Stentor Conservatoire that was a bit cheaper. I'm not regretting it at all.
The instrument is lovely to watch and it has a nice mellow sound. To be honest I decided to replace the original strings, a bit metallic, with a set of Prim Medium immediately.
Overall the viola is nice, and it's definitely worth the price, considering you get also a bow and a case (and rosin).
Pro: price, nice colour, nice grain of wood visible from varnish
Cons: don't particularly like the tuning pegs