The value of great country houses
The tremendous value of saving historic country houses for the future is brought home for Mark at a visit to The Grange in Hampshire


The proposed demolition by dynamite of The Grange, a celebrated neo- Classical country house in Hampshire's Andover valley, was the catalyst, 40 years ago, for the V&A's new director, Roy Strong, to commission a landmark exhibition, ‘The Destruction of the Country House'.
Forty years later, we were enjoying the opening performance of Peter Grimes at The Grange as May tumbled into June. The saving of this great house is a triumph that has been matched Wasfi Kani and Michael Moody.
Somehow, I hadn't been to The Grange before, but on a magical summer's evening, we were serenaded by the blackbirds as our party gathered under the Doric columns before being challenged by the power, beauty and tragedy of Benjamin Britten's great work. It was a glorious performance and it was hard to imagine a better place to be in.
So much good has been saved from the near ruin of a politician's whim. The proud, great, shabby house now has a noble future and for that-and the other houses that have been saved-we should all be grateful.
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Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
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