1,000 Places to See in Your Lifetime: May 2011

Glyndebourne Festival, Lewes, East Sussex, England

Glyndebourne Festival, is truly unique in the world of opera. Glyndebourne is recognised globally as one of the great opera in a country-house. Its productions travel worldwide, are performed live in other opera houses and screened in cinemas from New York to Tokyo.

Glyndebourne remains very English institution. It opened in 1994 to everyone's delight and tickets are somewhat less difficult to come by. The Glyndebourne Festival presents six productions each year in a 1,200-seat opera house. Glyndebourne on Tour, founded in 1968, takes three productions around the UK each autumn. Together, Festival and Tour present about 120 performances a year to an audience of around 150,000. Glyndebourne’s widely respected Education programme, established in 1986, hosts over 230 community and outreach events a year.

Each year,Glyndebourne festival runs from May to August, it offers a programme of six operas. Around 76 performances attract a total audience of over 85,000. For others it is the social season's highlight; there is the ritual evening picnic enjoyed on the garden-framed lawn. Sheep and cows graze within sight while musicians can be heard tuning up.

Although the Festival runs only through the summer, the opera house is busy year-round. At the end of the summer it hosts the opening weeks of the Tour, providing a less-formal alternative to the Festival at lower ticket prices. And through the rest of the year it is used for education projects, concerts, rehearsals and scenery fit-ups.

The Glyndebourne 2011 Festival opens on 21 May with a new production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.Other productions include a new production of Handel's Rinaldo and revivals of Don Giovanni, L'elisir d'amore, Rusalka and The Turn of the Screw, and do refer to the brochure for more information of Glyndebourne Festival.

Location: 1.5 miles / 2KM east of Lewes, 55 miles / 88KM south of London.

Lynmouth, Devon, England

Lynmouth Harbour

Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, located at the northern edge of Exmoor National Park. Once a fishing village, today it is a busy tourist area due to its proximity to the Park, in addition to the novel tram that connects it to Lynton, a quaint Victorian village whose tea-rooms all sit atop the cliffs near the Valley of the Rocks.

Lynmouth is located near the sea, the River Lyn running through it; while Lynton sits on the cliffs above, near the renowned valleys and heather topped hills. The Victorians dubbed this entire area "Little Switzerland" due to its incomparable beauty, the rapid change from beach and bay to the upper cliff village ambience, with rivers and waterfalls flowing through wooded valleys to the sea and the river gorge home of Lynmouth with its own quaint qualities and Rhenish Tower at the end of the quay.

Lynmouth was described by Thomas Gainsborough, who honeymooned there with his bride Margaret Burr, as "the most delightful place for a landscape painter this country can boast". -Wikipedia-

Lynmouth is famous on its unique holiday experience, it is a perfect place to access the scenic inner moor, visit historic houses, inspiring gardens, catch glimpses of the majestic red deer and the wild Exmoor ponies.

Things to do in Lynmouth
Horse Riding
Horse Riding is the most enjoyable ways of seeing part of Exmoor, and the coast of Lynmouth.

Walking
There are plenty of short walks, medium length walks, on the South West Coast Path and the gateway to Exmoor for the most adventurous. For the short stroll, Hollerday Hill can hardly be bettered offering views of both the North Devon and Welsh coasts. You will appreciate the unique herd of wild but docile goats and the buzzards hovering in the sea breezes. The Valley of Rocks is a truly magical place with its strange rock formations. For a medium length walk take the path from Lydiate Lane (ancient road to Barnstaple) out over South Cleave. The land falls away sharply to reveal the Valley of Rocks in all its glory. Continue down through the bluebell woods to Lee Abbey and return via the coast path.

Fishing Around Lynmouth and within Exmoor National Park
You can find game fishing for salmon and sea trout but good coarse fishing and, on the coast, excellent sea fishing. To fish on the rivers of Exmoor, National Rod Licences must be obtained from the Environment Agency as well as permits from the owners of fishing rights.

A lady fishing at Lynmouth Harbour

SurfingLynmouth is popular with locals and keen outsiders but is perhaps not as agreeable as some of the other beaches which have sand and facilities for surfers. Westward Ho! falls into a similar category. The most popular are Woolacombe, Putsborough, Saunton and Croyde.

Surfing at Lynmouth

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
Offering narrow gauge train rides in Exmoor National Park at Woody Bay.
The tram was built to transport passengers and freight between the Lynmouth and Lynton, opening in 1890 with a simple cable system operating the tram. The railway is now a Listed Monument, insuring that tourists will continue to enjoy this marvelous, however brief journey to the top of the cliff where one can find wild goats among the rocky outcrops with spectacular rock formations created during the Ice Age.

Lyn and Exmoor Museum
A charming small museum with collections of agricultural and domestic tools from Lynton and Exmoor. Also maritime, railway, and natural history. Unique pictures of the Lynmouth Flood, and a Victorian dolls' house.
Housed in Lynton's oldest surviving domestic dwelling, it even includes its own ghost!