The Grange Festival England

Jeremy Pound drives into the Hampshire countryside where, behind the neo-classical columns, an evening of tantalising Tchaikovsky awaits

- Jeremy Pound

The old mantra of never working with children or animals evidently doesn't hold much water at The Grange Festival - on stage in Act I of The Queen of Spades are several of the former and one of the latter (Florence the cavapoo), all immaculately drilled. Some might apply the same rule to singers too, but an opera company doesn't have much choice. And besides, all are on superb form in Tchaikovsky's Pushkin-inspired work. Among the cast are three Russians and a Ukrainian, including Eduard Martynyuk as Herman and former Cardiff Singer of the World winner Andrei Kymach as Count Tomsky. Anush Hovhannisyan, from Armenia, is an intensely moving Liza and, making her Grange Festival debut at a mere 82, Josephine Barstow holds us all spellbound as the Countess.

I've struck rather lucky with my visit. As well as enjoying the first night of a new production that has the critics purring, I get to see the venue itself in, literally, its best light. Situated in a twisty-lane corner of the Hampshire countryside, The Grange, Northington dates back to the 1600s, though its distinctive neo-classical façade, based on an Athenian temple called the Theseion, is the work of architect William Wilkins in the early-19th century. The view from the front of the building gives you lawns aplenty - adorned with hospitality tents during festival timean ornamental lake and, beyond, fields plus grazing cows. On a sunny late-June evening such as this, it has a radiant glow.