Country House Opera: Discounts for Under 35s
The summer months bring a programme of opera festivals hosted in country houses across the UK. Most offer discounted tickets to under 35s. We’d recommend signing up a few months in advance of when you want to book your tickets so that you can be sure to make it onto the list in time for booking day. If you enjoy our content, cool! Please consider supporting us on Ko-fi with a £3 donation. Thank you.
16-29 year olds
Lewes, East Sussex
Glyndebourne is an opera house in East Sussex, one hour from London by train. Every summer it hosts the Glyndebourne Festival and offers £30 tickets for under 30s. Dress up in black tie and take a picnic and bubbles. If travelling from London, there’s a train from Victoria to Lewes, which is met by a free coach. The usual timetable for the day is as follows: have some drinks in the beautiful grounds before the opera begins; watch the first half of the opera; enjoy your picnic during the long interval; then finish the opera before heading home.
18-35 year olds
Wormsley, Buckinghamshire
Garsington Opera is a six-week summer opera festival that takes place in the rolling landscape of the Chiltern Hills, less than an hour from London. GO<35 membership costs £10 and includes access to a pair of tickets for £30 each; priority booking before it opens to the public; and a half-price programme. Alternatively you can sign up for the GO<35 Magnum membership, costing £20, which offers up to four tickets for £45 each plus priority booking and a half-price programme. The nearest train station is High Wycombe, and there is a train transfer service available for £8 each way. The Oxford Tube provides a frequent coach service from London and Oxford to Lewknor, which is 10 minutes from Wormsley.
18-36 year olds
West Horsley, Surrey
Grange Park Opera (not to be confused with The Grange Festival, another opera festival) is hosted at West Horsley Place, a 350-acre estate between Guildford and Leatherhead, within a sprawling 14th-century house surrounded by formal gardens with secret corners. There are £36 tickets available for under 36s. If travelling from London, there are four trains an hour from Waterloo taking 45 minutes. The walk from Horsley station is around half an hour through peaceful fields. The dress code is black tie and you can take a picnic or dine in the restaurant.
18-35 year olds
Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire
Longborough is an intimate 500-seat theatre set amidst the rolling hills of the Cotswolds. 18-35 year olds can get a discount on selected seats to selected performances. Longborough’s grounds consist mainly of grass and gravel paths so wear sensible footwear, and they say you can be as smart or as comfortable as you like in terms of dress. The theatre is a converted barn and isn’t heated, so you’re advised to take a blanket.
Under 35s
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
The Vache Baroque Festival is held in the grounds of The Vache, a historic stately home in the heart of the Chilterns. As well as an opera performance, you’ll get to see pop-ups and installations, which offers emerging artists a platform to play, sing, dance, act and design. If you’re aged 35 and under, you can get tickets for £25. The two nearest train stations are Gerrards Cross and Chalfont & Latimer. The latter is accessible from London Marylebone station, and is also a Tube stop on the Metropolitan Line. A complimentary shuttle bus is also offered.
18-35 year olds
Alresford, Hampshire
The Grange is a neoclassical Grade I-listed mansion in Hampshire, seven miles from Winchester. For £20 a year you can become part of the High Flyers scheme, which offers £40 for any seat in any performance. Other benefits include priority booking, an invitation to an exclusive High Flyers event, and free bus transfers on the Festival Express from Basingstoke station (under 1 hour from London Waterloo).
Hannah Fiddy is a creative entrepreneur, developing new audiences for classical music. She has created and promoted numerous concerts outside of traditional spaces, including warehouses, pubs, clubs, museums, hospitals, prisons and even in Primark. Hannah is also an interviewer, writer and guest lecturer, and runs the Avon Chamber Choir in Bristol. In a past life she founded London Flashmob, producing quirky events from wedding proposals to cultural pranks for up to 1,000 people.
Follow Hannah on Twitter @Hannah_Fiddy.