Our teacher told us about some musical event going on in some shire near London and I forgot the name of it and can t figure it out - it s a huge event where opera is performed, people go there by train from London that leaves at 1pm, they wear cylinders and pretty dresses, then, at the shire they have picnic etc. During the evening they listen to the opera, have a dinner and listen to the other half of it. Can you help me what is it called like, please? I m not from UK so I have no clue...Thanks.

That can only be Glyndebourne! This is in East Sussex, not far from Lewes, and you can get there by train from London that goes to Glynde or Lewes. It's nearer to the south coast of England than it is to London, but it's not far to go.

Glyndebourne manor house came into the hands of a music fan in the 1930s and he started holding opera evenings. That grew and he built an opera house to do it on a bigger scale. That got too small too and now the opera house is a new one opened in 2004. The new opera house is now bigger than the manor house!

The opera starts quite early, so that there can be 80 minutes for an interval while it is still light outside. There are restaurants for dinner in the interval, or it is traditional to take a picnic and sit on the grass to eat it. The opera festival is only in the summer so this can be possible. In the winter it would be too dark outside by then. Go early in the day and you can explore the house and grounds as well. Evening dress (suit and bow tie for men, a pretty dress for women) is expected. If you can afford ￡100 for a ticket, you can afford to dress up for it!

That's what makes Glyndebourne different - it's not like going to the opera in London, where there is only a short interval in the middle of the opera where you can go to the bar for a drink. The performance starts in the late afternoon, maybe 4-5 pm, so the interval can be long enough for a full dinner or your picnic.

Edit - ah, now I know what you meant by cylinders. Most men probably won't as it's just not done for men to wear hats indoors anyway.

Glyndebourne or possibly the Aldborough festival - google both and see what you can find. People don't wear "cylinders" or hats of any sort these days.

think you must mean Glyndebourne, it's like a classical music festival, and it's held near Lewes, Sussex.

'Shire' is just the last syllable of some counties, like 'Hampshire' or 'Devonshire' - it's no longer a place in itself.

I have no idea what you mean by they wear cylinders! A cylinder is like a metal tube - and no-one wears those!

This is a link to the website - http://www.glyndebourne.com/

How do they wear cylinders at Glndebourne?

Thank you so much, you were right, it is Glyndebourne. And sorry for the cylinders, I mean the top hat/ opera hat that men wear :D Thank you!!