Garsington opera was famed for its classical summer performances, held under a stretched PVC roof, appended to the flank wall of Garsington Manor in South Oxfordshire. Set up in 1989 by its owner, financier Leonard Ingrams and his wife Rosalind, the opera's events were characterised by their makeshift nature. Atelier One's PVC membrane would cover a motley assemblage of stage and seating; and, if the rain drummed down, a cowering audience would huddle within its confines as the orchestra pit slowly filled with water, in a show of British stiff upper lip. Its burgeoning popularity and reportedly increased noise levels led local residents to mount a Middle Englander revolt in 1997, setting off car alarms, trimming hedges, running lawnmowers and even flying a Cessna plane low over a performance of Haydn's Le Pescatrici. But when the opera was forced to find a new home some time after the untimely death of Ingrams, its reputation was such that country houses queued up to continue its founder's legacy.
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