British Travel Journal | Spring 2020
Eco-friendly tourism is at the top of our 2020 travel agenda. We have introduced a new Sustainable Travel series, kicking off this issue with ideas for Environmental Volunteering, in an eco-conscious quest of our own, we have discovered a supplier of recyclable paper wraps for sending our magazines in the mail. Next issue we will be featuring the UK’s finest eco-friendly holiday homes so, if you know of any hidden gems you are happy to share, please get in touch. Back to this issue - our 10 of The Best Charity Challenges, are sure to inspire. From cycling across Britain to skydiving from 15,000 feet, you can raise some vital charity donations while pushing yourself to your limits. The World Pilot Gig Championships is a seaside spectacle like no other on The Isles of Scilly this May, and we go Behind-the-Scenes ahead of The Cheltenham Festival, this March. Other destinations we uncover this season include the beautiful Lake District, spending a wonderful 48 Hours in St Mawes and the Roseland, an adventure packed weekend on The Isle of Man, and, arguably with the best views in London, our In the Capital series this season takes us to discover the highlights of leafy Greenwich. As always I hope this issue helps to inspire your travel experiences, and the spring season brings you many magical moments spent savouring the glorious British Isles - wherever you choose to visit.
Eco-friendly tourism is at the top of our 2020 travel agenda. We have introduced a new Sustainable Travel series, kicking off this issue with ideas for Environmental Volunteering, in an eco-conscious quest of our own, we have discovered a supplier of recyclable paper wraps for sending our magazines in the mail. Next issue we will be featuring the UK’s finest eco-friendly holiday homes so, if you know of any hidden gems you are happy to share, please get in touch. Back to this issue - our 10 of The Best Charity Challenges, are sure to inspire. From cycling across Britain to skydiving from 15,000 feet, you can raise some vital charity donations while pushing yourself to your limits. The World Pilot Gig Championships is a seaside spectacle like no other on The Isles of Scilly this May, and we go Behind-the-Scenes ahead of The Cheltenham Festival, this March. Other destinations we uncover this season include the beautiful Lake District, spending a wonderful 48 Hours in St Mawes and the Roseland, an adventure packed weekend on The Isle of Man, and, arguably with the best views in London, our In the Capital series this season takes us to discover the highlights of leafy Greenwich. As always I hope this issue helps to inspire your travel experiences, and the spring season brings you many magical moments spent savouring the glorious British Isles - wherever you choose to visit.
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NEVILL HOLT OPERA<br />
10 JUNE – 1 JULY<br />
—<br />
Beginning as recently as 2013 with a staging of The<br />
Magic Flute, Nevill Holt Opera is a newcomer on the<br />
country house opera scene. This festival takes place at<br />
Nevill Holt Hall, Leicestershire, the home of the Cunard<br />
family from 1876 to 1912 but now owned by David Ross,<br />
co-founder of Carphone Warehouse. In 2018 Ross built a<br />
beautiful new theatre for his festival, seating 400 people<br />
in the hall’s seventeenth-century stable courtyard. This,<br />
the smallest opera house in Britain, was subsequently<br />
shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.<br />
With a commitment to new talent, Nevill Holt Opera<br />
aims to cast young singers whenever possible. This year<br />
the festival offers productions of La traviata and Don<br />
Giovanni. nevillholtopera.co.uk<br />
—<br />
Where to stay<br />
Hambleton Hall is 14 miles to the north of Nevill Holt<br />
WEST GREEN HOUSE OPERA<br />
18 JULY – 26 JULY<br />
—<br />
West Green House was built in the early eighteenth century<br />
by Henry Hawley, the general who led the cavalry charge that<br />
massacred Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army at the Battle of Culloden<br />
in 1745. In the twentieth century this Hampshire mansion came<br />
into the possession of Sir Victor Sassoon, builder of the Peace<br />
Hotel in Shanghai. Sassoon left the property to the National Trust<br />
on his death in 1957. In 1993 Marylyn Abbott, former marketing<br />
and tourism manager of Sydney Opera House, bought the lease<br />
and instituted an opera season which is held annually in July and<br />
August. A purpose-built auditorium in the garden known as The<br />
Green Theatre stages all the productions. This summer’s festival<br />
includes Eugene Onegin, Puccini’s La Rondine, the musical Gigi<br />
in concert and Howard Goodall’s choral work Invictus: a Passion.<br />
westgreenhouseopera.co.uk<br />
—<br />
Where to stay<br />
Tylney Hall is three miles from West Green House.<br />
You might also enjoy.... BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA a mini festival – staging just one,<br />
little known opera annually - in the garden of the Deanery at Bampton. This charming, mostly seventeenthcentury<br />
rural Oxfordshire house uses a curved yew hedge to enclose the opera stage. In August performances<br />
transfer to The Orangery in Westonbirt. 17, 18 July – 31 August, bamptonopera.org<br />
<strong>British</strong><strong>Travel</strong><strong>Journal</strong>.com 59
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