Under 35 schemes

The 20s end, and a new horizon dawns. A cold, dark horizon, bereft of the Glyndebourne Under 30s scheme. But wait: what light breaks through the gathering cloud?

Garsington’s GO<35 scheme

The Garsington Opera House, at Wormsley, lit up at night. Utterly spectacular.

The Opera House, at Wormsley, lit up at night. Utterly spectacular.

Less a scheme than a humanitarian outreach project, Garsington picks up all those who have graduated from the Grange Park and Glyndebourne schemes and gives them another five years of discounted gorgeousness in John Paul Getty’s stunning Wormsley gardens, complete with glass opera house, and uniformed Scouts to carry your picnic for you. It really doesn’t get much better than Garsington. And they even give you free champagne!

Like most good things, you do have to work for this a bit, but after all, you are older now. The steps are:

  • In January, discover the date the scheme will open: check the website for details and put the date in your diary
  • In early February, join the scheme, which costs £10: you are allowed up to 2 memberships per household, so treat an appropriately-aged sibling and max out your ticket buying power for £20. Memberships sell out, so be quick!
  • Then, wait for them to tell you which dates the GO<35 tickets will be sold for. It feels like ages, but actually is only a month or so
  • They release the booking date and you mark it in your diary in letters of fire (in 2015 it was 16 March)
  • On the day, you can book online or by phone: each Membership entitles you to a pair of tickets at £30; BE QUICK!
  • Ask the boss if you can leave early that day: Garsington is close to London, so if you work in London it’s just a question of catching a 4pm train from Marylebone (the 16:21 service to High Wycombe, to be precise, if you’re going Monday to Friday)

Garsington operates a free shuttle coach for GO<35 Members to and from High Wycombe train station (usually £5), which you need to book at least 24 hours in advance online here. Otherwise, Wormsley is ludicrously easy to get to from London.

Enjoy!

Grange Park Meteors

The Grange Park Meteors scheme, similarly, offers £35 tickets to the under 35s, on specific dates. The steps are like Glyndebourne:

  • Register on their website as a Meteor
  • Put the booking date in your diary in thickest, blackest ink
  • On the day, book promptly online or over the phone
  • Ask your boss for the relevant day /afternoon off

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