Grange Park Opera

Only 23 miles from London by the Surrey Hills, Grange Park Opera has become one of the major summer opera festivals in Europe. Founded in 1998 by Wasfi Kani CBE, the company has staged more than 50 operas.

Productions take place at the Theatre in the Woods, a new five-tier opera house based on Milan's La Scala. The audience – invariably, but not exclusively in black tie and cocktail dresses – arrive in the afternoon, have a glass of champagne at The White Wisteria Champagne Bar, and then explore the grounds of the Tudor house which was lived in by Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, until her death in 2014.