Cotswolds Choral Festival, 16–20 June 2025

CELEBRATING MUSIC AND PLACE

16–20 JUNE 2025

A celebration of the finest vocal music in England’s prettiest region.

MOZART ALONG THE DANUBE

28 JULY–4 AUGUST 2024

THE DIVINE OFFICE

30 SEPTEMBER–4 OCTOBER 2024

OPERA IN SICILY

18–24 OCTOBER 2024

MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE

8–15 MAY 2025

COTSWOLDS CHORAL FESTIVAL

16–20 JUNE 2025

MUSIC ALONG THE SEINE

16–23 JULY 2025

HANDEL IN VALLETTA

NOVEMBER 2025

UK SHORT CHAMBER MUSIC BREAKS 2024/25: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective with Matthew Rose | 15–18 November 2024

The Marmen Quartet | 11–13 April 2025

INTRODUCTION TO THE FESTIVAL

4. 6. 10. 14. 13. 16.

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

Choose between five hotels in Bibury, Burford and Lower Slaughter.

MEET THE MUSICIANS

International musicians of the highest calibre.

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

The day-by-day itinerary including details of the performances.

Published: April 2024. Illustration: Gloucester Cathedral, aquatint 1831.

JOINING & LEAVING THE FESTIVAL

Information about travelling to and from your festival hotel by train or by car.

BOOKING

Details of how to book, along with the booking form and our conditions.

COTSWOLDS CHORAL FESTIVAL

AN INTRODUCTION

Quite simply, there is no prettier part of England than the Cotswolds...

The topography of hills and hidden valleys, the exquisitely variegated textures from centuries of farming and grazing, myriad dry-stone walls and ancient hedges, abundant broadleaf woodland and exceptionally picturesque villages: these are reasons enough to visit.

There is also a cluster of capacious, grandly conceived and magnificently wrought churches. Products of the wealth generated in the Middle Ages by the wool trade, these mini-cathedrals are among the most beautiful parish churches in Europe.

Toss in a couple of hugely handsome secular halls – one Regency, one in a Tudor manor – and the Cotswolds comes as close to perfection as the location for a music festival as is imaginable.

Two of the hotels are in Burford, than which a lovelier and livelier little town does not exist. A further three are in Lower Slaughter and Bibury, both even smaller communities but also blisteringly picturesque. In both places, walk five or ten minutes in any direction and you will find yourself in the quietly beautiful countryside.

...and the music will be as beautiful as you would wish to hear.

Though this is primarily a festival of choral music, there is tremendous variety of sound world – a real spectrum of repertoire, of era and place of composition, and of ensemble size.

The 500th anniversary of Palestrina’s birth is acknowledged in a couple of concerts, and due attention is paid to ‘local’ composers. For nearly 200 years, a quite disproportionate number of English composers were born or lived

in the region. These include Hubert Parry, Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney and Gerald Finzi. But many other composers will be featured: British, foreign (largely Italian), historical and contemporary.

We are delighted to be able to present eight top class ensembles, all choirs except for one vocal ensemble (of some of the finest voices of our time), and an instrumental group from Italy and Switzerland. Some of the choirs enjoy world-wide fame, others are closer to the beginning of their careers but will be the stars of the future.

This is as fine and as concentrated a celebration of music of the voice as you are likely to come across in a long while.

Illustration:

Cirencester, aquatint 1793 by Joseph Constantine Stadler after Joseph Farington (1747–1821).

THE FESTIVAL PACKAGE

The price includes:

— All eight concerts.

— Accommodation for four nights –choose between five hotels. See page 14.

— Breakfasts, all four dinners, and interval drinks.

— Talks on the music by Professor Stephen Darlington.

— All coach transfers, including to/from railway stations on the first and final days. See page 13.

— All tips and taxes.

— The assistance of festival staff and a detailed programme booklet.

THE SPEAKER

Professor Stephen Darlington mbe is one of the country’s leading choral conductors. From 1985 to 2018 he was Director of Music at Christ Church, Oxford, establishing it as an acknowledged centre of academic musical excellence, and maintained the highest choral traditions of the Church of England in the Cathedral. An extensive discography, comprising over fifty CDs, includes several award-winning recordings. He was awarded an MBE in 2019.

MARTIN RANDALL FESTIVALS

This festival has been devised and planned by Martin Randall and Lizzie Watson. It follows the format that Martin established 30 years ago with our first Danube Music Festival, of site-specific concerts for a private audience. Since then we have organised festivals along the Rhine, Loire, Main and Seine rivers; in Oxford, Suffolk, York, Lincoln, Canterbury and the West Country; to Seville, Toledo, Burgos, Santiago, Venice, Florence, Rome, Bologna, Sicily, and the Veneto; to St Petersburg, Prague, through Thuringia, and the Alentejo.

Meet the musicians. Find out more on pages 10–12

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Day 1

Monday 16 June Burford

For arrival details, please see Joining & Leaving the Festival on page 13.

Coaches depart Bibury and Lower Slaughter for Burford.

The exceptional loveliness of the little town of Burford is not let down by its church, which Simon Jenkins rates as the finest in Oxfordshire. Unlike the other major Cotswolds churches, St John the Baptist is the outcome of piecemeal accretion from the 12th century onwards, funded by individual families rather than a syndicate of citizens. Nor is the church let down by its excellent Victorian glass, which is largely by Charles Kempe.

A talk on the music precedes the concert.

Concert, 5.30pm:

Burford, St John the Baptist The English Verse Anthem

The Gesualdo Six Owain Park director

In the English Reformation, new and vibrant forms of vernacular music-making emerged, including the verse anthem. Unlike the traditional ‘full’ anthem, where the choir maintains a continuous presence, the verse anthem introduced an interplay between solo voices and the full consort, providing rich opportunity for narrative expression and musical development. This programme celebrates composers who specialised in this distinctive form.

Highlights include the Star Anthem by John Bull, a quintessential Jacobean verse anthem celebrated across contemporary sources. The best-known in the 21st century is This is the Record of John written by Orlando Gibbons for a visit of Archbishop Laud to his alma mater St John’s College Oxford.

Return to festival hotels for dinner –Burford returns on foot, Lower Slaughter by coach; Bibury dines in Burford and then returns to Bibury by coach.

Day 2

Tuesday 17 June

Northleach, Fairford

Coaches depart for Northleach.

In the 15th century Northleach was the premier wool town of the Cotswolds. The wealth this brought found magnificent expression in the staggeringly beautiful Perpendicular church of St Peter and St Paul, which is situated in a tree-lined churchyard on the edge of the village. The interior, brilliantly lit through large clear windows, is full of fascinating medieval features including the country’s finest assembly of monumental brasses.

Concert, 11.30am: Northleach, St Peter & St Paul A Song of June

The Carice Singers George Parris director

The Cotswolds are perhaps at their best in late June, and this programme sings a song of that landscape: of skylarks keeping their summer music, the hum of village life and the distant tolling of church bells. The music is exclusively by British composers until a deviation to Finland for a midsummer night’s song and the gorgeously steamy embrace of a Saturday sauna.

Coaches return you to your festival hotel for an independent lunch and some free time, before departing for Fairford in the late afternoon.

One of England’s greatest wool churches, the chief glory of St Mary’s at Fairford is the stained glass – the only complete set of medieval narrative glass in England. In this sequence the artist and royal glazier, Barnard Flower, portrays the history of the

Photograph ©Bill Knight (Cotswolds Festival 2018).

Christian Church. Remarkably, Fairford also holds the largest surviving collection of late medieval woodwork.

Concert, 5.00pm:

Fairford, St Mary’s BBC Singers

Programme to be confirmed.

Return to festival hotels for dinner.

‘ The music was exceptional. Venues well chosen and beautiful.’

Day 3

Wednesday 18 June

Cheltenham, Gloucester

Coaches depart festival hotels for Cheltenham. There is a choice between either leaving earlier (for free time and an independent lunch in Cheltenham), or after an early independent lunch at your festival hotel (to go directly to the talk and concert).

The Pittville Pump Room is the magnificent centrepiece of comprehensive development of an estate on the edge of Cheltenham built in the 1820s. In Greek Revival style, it is the last and largest of the buildings erected to cater for visitors to Cheltenham in the wake of the discovery of curative waters in the early 18th century and overlooks the lawns and lakes of Pittville Park. The Main Hall is in regular use for concerts.

A talk on the music precedes the concert.

Concert, 2.30pm: Cheltenham, Pittville Pump Room

The Myrthen Ensemble

Mary Bevan soprano

Clara Mouriz mezzo-soprano

Nicky Spence tenor

Marcus Farnsworth baritone

Joseph Middleton piano

Programme to be confirmed.

Illustration: Pulpit in Northleach, Church of St Peter and Paul, etching 1803.

Transfer to Gloucester by coach.

The 15th-century tower of Gloucester Cathedral is one of the most beautiful architectural creations of medieval England, the procession of massive cylindrical piers in the nave a potent expression of Norman rule. The cathedral’s fame, however, derives from its eastern parts, whose exquisite 14thcentury remodelling is the earliest largescale manifestation of the Perpendicular style. Superlatives continue: the east window is the largest expanse of glass of the Middle Ages, the cloister is the most homogeneous and the tomb of Edward II may justifiably claim to be the finest medieval monument in England.

Concert, 6.00pm:

Gloucester Cathedral Sons of Gloucestershire

Gloucester Cathedral Choir Adrian Partington director

For nearly two centuries, Gloucestershire has been the birthplace or permanent home of many of the UK’s greatest composers: Vaughan Williams, Holst, Parry, Howells, Finzi and Gurney to name a few. No other English county can claim such a constellation of musical stars as its own. All these composers gained inspiration from both Gloucestershire’s uniquely beautiful and varied countryside, and also its majestic cathedral, with its famous acoustic. The Cathedral Choir will be performing music by each of these sons of Gloucestershire, all of whom loved this ancient and spectacular building.

Return to festival hotels for dinner apart from Bibury, who eat in Burford and then transfer back to Bibury.

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Day 4

Thursday 19 June

Tetbury, Chavenage

Coaches depart festival hotels for Tetbury.

The church of St Mary is Gothic, but only the tower and spire are medieval. The rest dates to a rebuild 1771–81, a rare and eccentric instance of large-scale Georgian Gothic. The medievalising style was apparently demanded by the parishioners in preference to ‘modern’ classicism. The type of Gothic chosen was the latest phase of Perpendicular, and though gauche by purist Victorian standards, the vast windows and the light-filled spaciousness make for a special kind of loveliness. It is fortunate the galleries and complete set of box pews have been retained.

Concert, 11.30am:

Tetbury, St Mary’s A Blue True Dream of Sky

Echo Vocal Ensemble

Sarah Latto director

The programme is carefully curated to reflect the beauty and splendour of the natural world. It features sumptuous music by Kenneth Leighton, Samuel ColeridgeTaylor and Judith Weir, goes on to examine man’s historical and current relationship with nature with works by Palestrina and Shruthi Rajasekar and then looks forward to the future in the work of Philip Glass, Rory Wainwright Johnston and Anohni.

Independent lunch in Tetbury. After lunch, the audience is split into two as the hall in Chavenage House cannot accommodate everyone at once.

When not attending a concert this afternoon, festival participants are given a private tour of Rodmarton Manor, one of the finest secular accomplishments of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Described as ‘the ideal 16th-century Cotswold stone manor house’ by the Pevsner Architectural Guide, Chavenage House was built in 1576 in Elizabethan style, with regular enlargements through subsequent centuries, consistent with the original style and materials. The oakpanelled, portrait-laden ballroom where our concert takes place was one of these later additions, but original 16th-century features remain such as various fireplaces, and elaborate panelling in the Oak Room. The house has been owned by the Lowsley-Williams family since 1891, and is still very much a family home.

Concert, 2.00pm or 4.30pm: Chavenage House Ariadne’s Resonance

Theatro dei Cervelli

Andrés Locatelli director

Roberta Mameli soprano

The voice of Ariadne lamenting on the shore of Naxos has been an obsessive presence in poetry and music since Catullus and Ovid. Abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne laments her fate, moving from anger and regret to hope and forgiveness. This concert is a musical exploration of the ways in which Ariadne’s voice came back to life in early modern Italy and has haunted vocal music ever since. Starting with an 1890 arrangement by Alessandro Parisotti of the Monteverdi-Ottavio Rinuccini 1608 aria from the otherwise lost opera, the programme presents a range of 17th-century composers and a focus on the baroque cantata.

Return to festival hotels for dinner.

‘A lovely variety of music and it was all wonderful... I was thrilled to hear the Tallis Scholars.’

Day 5

Friday 20 June

Cirencester

Depart hotels for the final concert of the festival, in Cirencester.

By some measures the largest parish church in the country, St John the Baptist is the most splendid of the Cotswolds wool churches. Its celebrated three-storey south porch is also the largest in England. Inside, the sheer height and width of the three great aisles of the nave, rebuilt 1516–30, are breathtaking. The chancel is 13th- and 14th-century. The organ was built by Father Willis in 1895 and rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison in 2009.

Concert, 11.00am:

Cirencester, St John the Baptist Palestrina, Pärt & Shakespeare

The Tallis Scholars

Peter Phillips director

This programme could almost be called Music for the Sistine Chapel, but there are two twists. Instead of the five movements of a single mass by Palestrina, there are five different movements interspersed with pieces by other composers. For the second twist we owe thanks to the Communist Party of China. Shortly before recent Tallis Scholars performances in Beijing and Shanghai, the censor indicated that the words of the Miserere set by Allegri were unacceptable, being religious. Peter Phillips’s solution was to substitute ‘Fear no more the heat of the sun’ from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline . This will be the European première of what may well become a concert hall classic.

For departure details, please see Joining & Leaving the Festival on page 13.

Participation in our festivals is a very different experience from conventional group travel.

No repetitive or redundant announcements, no herding by elevated umbrella, no unnecessary roll calls, little hanging around. We work on the assumption that you are adults, and our staff cultivate the virtue of unobtrusiveness.

Though there will be up to 140 participants, you will often find yourself in smaller groups – the audience is divided between five hotels, and into different restaurants for most of the dinners.

We provide sufficient information to enable you to navigate the festival events without needing to be led. However, festival staff are also stationed around the events to direct you if needed.

For prices and accommodation options, see pages 14–15.

Photograph opposite: ©Bill Knight (Cotswolds Festival 2018). Illustration: Cirencester, St John the Baptist, engraving c. 1900.

MEET THE MUSICIANS

BBC SINGERS

The BBC Singers has held a unique place at the heart of the UK’s choral scene for almost 100 years and has collaborated with many of the world’s leading composers, conductors and soloists. Awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Ensemble Award in March 2024, they are also celebrating their 100 year anniversary in the 24/25 season.

ECHO VOCAL ENSEMBLE

Photographs, left: BBC Singers ©Mark Allan; right: Echo Vocal Ensemble ©Eliza Brown.

The choir records music for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 alongside work for other network radio, television and commercial release. It also appears at major festivals in the UK and abroad, notably at the BBC Proms. At the heart of its work is a wide-ranging programme of learning activities working with children and adults in schools, music colleges, universities and community groups. The group is Britain’s only full-time salaried choral ensemble.

Described as ‘sublime, spirited… completely assured’ (The Arts Desk), Echo Vocal Ensemble is an adventurous group of singers known for their flexibility, innovation and excellence. Since its inception, the group has developed a reputation for innovative programming and multi-disciplinary collaborations, including with poet Roger McGough, composer James MacMillan, visual artist Polly Apfelbaum and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Echo aims to explore the full range of what ensemble singing can achieve, including improvisation and audience-immersive concert experiences, while achieving musical excellence at all times.

Echo’s conductor, Sarah Latto, held a choral scholarship at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and a fellowship at Yale. Among the other ensembles she has conducted are Ex Cathedra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain; she made her debut with BBC Singers in 2024.

More about the concerts

Private. All the performances are planned and administered by us, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the festival package.

Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you want.

Audience size. There will be up to 140 participants on the festival. One of our venues cannot hold this number, so at this the performance will be repeated.

Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with locale and authenticity than with acoustic perfection. The venues may have idiosyncrasies or reverberations of the sort not found in modern concert halls.

Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues may close for repairs: there are various circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL CHOIR

Nine centuries ago the boys and monks of the then Benedictine Abbey of St Peter sang for daily worship. Today’s choir stems from that established by Henry VIII, and consists of nine professional lay clerks, 16 boy choristers and, since 2016, 16 girls. In addition to eight services each week they perform in concerts at home and abroad and in live BBC broadcasts. They are key participants in the Three Choirs Festival, the world’s oldest music festival.

Adrian Partington is one of the UK’s most renowned choral conductors, Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral, Artistic Director of the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival and Artistic Director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales.

THE CARICE SINGERS

Photographs, clockwise from top left:

Gloucester Cathedral Choir ©Clive Barzillia; Theatro dei Cervelli ©Gaianè Kevorkian; Roberta Mameli ©Richard Dumas; Andrés Locatelli ©Caroline Doutre; Carice Singers.

Theatro dei Cervelli (Theatre of the Brains!) is a recently created ensemble devoted to Renaissance and Early Baroque Italian music directed by musician and musicologist Andrés Locatelli. It brings together singers and instrumentalists from across Europe (though a preponderance from Italy and Switzerland) who share a passion for Italian music c. 1500–1650.

Their mission is to explore the interaction between thought, music and emotion from a historical perspective and through study of historical performance. The ensemble’s name is taken from a treatise by the Italian humanist Tommaso Garzoni, Theatro de’ vari e diversi cervelli mondani (1583), an early-modern attempt to categorise the human mind and personality.

ROBERTA MAMELI

Born in Rome and now based near Milan, Roberta Mameli is an Italian soprano who sings in opera houses and concert halls across Europe. She is particularly in demand for earlier repertoire, Monteverdi to Mozart via Vivaldi, her voice distinguished by exceptional subtlety and expressiveness.

The Carice Singers was founded by George Parris in 2011. Since being described as having a ‘beauty of tone’ and ‘musicality’ that ‘few can match’ by Gramophone magazine in 2016, it has carved out a unique place in the UK’s choral scene, defined by its sound, imagination and sense of adventure. Named after Elgar’s daughter, the group mixes a sustained focus on British music with a broader European outlook, aiming for fresh perspectives and performances of exceptional quality.

Recently, the group gave its debut performance at the Three Choirs Festival alongside concerts for Music at Oxford’s festival ‘Arvo Pärt… and a Littlemore’ and the Joy & Devotion Festival of Polish Choral Music. They appear regularly at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields and were Ensemble in Residence at Cheltenham Music Festival in 2021 and 2023.

THEATRO DEI CERVELLI

THE GESUALDO SIX

The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK’s finest consort singers. The director is Owain Park, who is also a composer. Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the ensemble formed in Cambridge in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories and has gone on to perform at numerous festivals across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Venues include London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Miller Theatre, Sydney’s Opera House and the Albert Hall for BBC Proms (2023). They have enjoyed great success with a work of concert-theatre titled Secret Byrd , a collaboration with Fretwork and director Bill Barclay, and have released seven critically acclaimed albums.

THE MYRTHEN ENSEMBLE

An ensemble of some of the finest voices of our time – Mary Bevan (soprano), Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Marcus Farnsworth (baritone) –and pianist, Joseph Middleton. They can be heard in the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls and on numerous awardwinning recordings, but they periodically come together, all friends, to indulge their love of Lieder.

As The Myrthen Ensemble they have enjoyed performances at halls in several European countries and for BBC Radio 3. Their debut CD, Songs to the Moon , was released in 2016. The group takes its name from the composition Robert Schumann wrote as a wedding present for his wife Clara in 1840.

THE TALLIS SCHOLARS

Through five decades of performance and award-winning recordings, Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars have done more than any other group to establish sacred vocal music of the Renaissance as one of the great repertoires of Western music.

They have brought the works to a wider audience on six continents, venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Sistine Chapel, Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, San Marco Venice, Shakespeare’s Globe London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Beijing Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Centre Korea, Megaron Athens and Sydney Opera House.

They continue to develop their exclusive sound, praised by reviewers for its supple clarity and tone, and to bring fresh interpretations to music by contemporary as well as past composers.

‘ Perfect concerts... Each one a joy.’

Photographs.

Top left: The Gesualdo Six ©Ash Mills.

Right: The Tallis Scholars ©Hugh Glendinning. Individual photos: The Myrthen Ensemble (from left: Mary Bevan ©Victoria Cadisch; Joseph Middleton ©Marco Borggreve; Nicky Spence ©Ki Price; Marcus Farnsworth ©Andy Staples; Clara Mouriz ©JM Bielsa).

JOINING & LEAVING THE FESTIVAL

DAY 1, MONDAY 16 JUNE

The first event. Coaches leave Bibury and Lower Slaughter shortly after 3.30pm for the first concert at Burford. Bedrooms at the hotels should be ready for occupation from 2.00 or 2.30pm.

Travelling by car. There is parking at all hotels, free of charge (The Lamb is the slight exception) – see ‘Accommodation & Prices’ on pages 14–15. The car parks are of variable size – The Lamb, Bay Tree and Swan hotels have relatively limited capacity, but the Country Inn and Manor House have more space.

By rail to Kemble. Coaches meet the direct 11.32–12.56 London Paddington to Kemble direct train (March 2024 timetable, subject to change as 2025 timetable not yet published). We recommend that you book train tickets as soon as possible after they are put on sale about three months before the festival.

Taxis from other stations: from Swindon, Oxford or Cheltenham will take 35 to 50 minutes, depending on the hotel chosen (not included in the package price).

DAY 5, FRIDAY 20 JUNE

Return to the hotel. After the final concert, in Cirencester, coaches return to the hotels by 3.30pm. You will need to have checked out in the morning, before departing for Cirencester. Reception can store luggage.

By rail from Kemble. Alternatively, you can travel by coach directly from Cirencester to Kemble railway station, arriving by 3.30pm. There are direct trains from Kemble to London every hour (e.g. 15.46–16.58, March 2024 timetable).

Travelling by car. Cirencester has many paid car parks, we will send more details of these closer to the festival.

Fitness for the festival

Some walking is unavoidable on this festival, between coach and venues and to get around towns and villages visited. Four out of the five hotels do not have a lift; The Swan in Bibury is the exception (and this lift only accesses the first floor).

Participants need to be sure-footed and able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty.

We ask that you take the fitness tests on page 16 before booking.

If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss these with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure.

For how to book, see page 16. Our booking conditions can be found on page 19.

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

There is a choice of five hotels in Lower Slaughter, Burford and Bibury. For location, amenities, comfort, service and price, we believe these are the best in the area.

Your choice of hotel is the sole determinant of the different prices.

Rooms vary. As is inevitable in historic buildings, rooms vary in size and outlook. Traffic noise may affect some rooms, but generally the hotels are in quiet areas with little traffic in the evenings, especially in Lower Slaughter.

If you would like extra nights in Bibury, Burford or Lower Slaughter before or after the festival, ask us or contact the hotel directly. This would be better done sooner rather than later.

All prices given here are per person.

THE LAMB, BURFORD

Bedrooms are spread through several cottages and a main building which was originally a 15th-century weaver’s house – a charming warren of corridors and steps with low ceilings and exposed timber beams, comfortable and cosy. Bedrooms are individually decorated and with antique furnishings and modern touches. Classic rooms mostly have a shower only; other rooms have a bath with shower fitment and a few have both a bath and a shower.

There are two lounges, as well as a terrace and garden, a good restaurant (two AA rosettes), and a bar which is popular with locals.

There is roadside parking only, but participants are welcome to park in The Bay Tree’s car park just next door.

cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-lamb-inn

PRICES, per person

Two sharing

Superior

Suite

Single occupancy

£2,690

£2,940

Classic £2,780

THE BAY TREE, BURFORD

Bedrooms are spread between the main house and garden rooms, which are located just outside the main building. All are individually decorated in a charming, traditional style but with a few contemporary twists. Due to the nature of the building, there are lots of stairs and some floors are uneven. Bathrooms vary in size; some have a shower only, others have a bath with shower fitment or a bath and a shower.

The restaurant is bright and contemporary with a flagstone floor and there are two cosy lounges as well as a pretty garden.

There is a small hotel car park, free of charge.

cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-bay-treehotel

PRICES, per person

Two sharing

Superior

£2,890

Deluxe £2,990

Suite

Single occupancy

Classic

£3,190

£2,880

Superior £2,990

THE COUNTRY INN, LOWER SLAUGHTER

A couple of minutes from The Manor, this is a more informal and less glitzy hotel (it is in fact technically a 5-star ‘Inn’ in terms of classification). Externally traditional, the modernised interiors still retain the charm of a country inn. Bedrooms are spacious, simply decorated and well equipped. Classic and Deluxe rooms have a shower only; Superior and above have a bath with shower fitment, and a further few rooms have a separate bath and shower.

For dining, there is a traditional bar area with beamed ceilings or a bright and contemporary restaurant (same menu, two AA rosettes). The Inn sits within four acres of informal seasonal gardens.

There is a large hotel car park adjacent to the hotel, free of charge.

theslaughtersinn.co.uk

PRICES, per person

Two sharing

Superior

Junior

Suite

Suite

Garden Suite

Single occupancy

Classic

Deluxe

Superior

£3,290

£3,440

£3,590

£3,790

£2,990

£3,190

£3,640

THE SWAN, BIBURY

Located in a famously pretty village, The Swan is a 17th-century former coaching inn on the banks of the River Coln. Bedrooms are spread between the main house, garden rooms and cottages, and are individually and tastefully decorated with traditional furnishings brought up to date with modern touches. Bathrooms vary in size; some have a shower only, others have a bath with shower fitment or a bath and a shower.

There is a fairly small but airy ‘writing room’ at the front, a cosy bar and a garden with seating. Food in the contemporary brasserie is good. This is the only hotel with a lift, and it only provides access to the first floor.

There is a small hotel car park, free of charge.

cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-swanhotel

PRICES, per person

Two sharing

Superior

Deluxe

Cottage

Single occupancy

Classic

Superior

£3,290

£3,390

£3,390

£3,090

£3,540

Burford, watercolour by G.F. Nicholls, publ. 1920.

THE MANOR HOUSE, LOWER SLAUGHTER

Built in the 17th century as a private mansion, this very comfortable 4-star hotel stands in its own grounds in the centre of the village. Bedrooms vary but are a good size, stylishly furnished and well equipped. Bathrooms are generous in size and well lit; some have a glass door to the bedroom. Most have a bath with shower fitment, while higher category rooms have both a bath and a shower.

The downstairs area is spacious, with three elegant lounges and other amenities. The renowned contemporary restaurant has been rewarded three AA rosettes. The Manor is surrounded by five acres of landscaped gardens, set in the picturesque village of Lower Slaughter which borders the River Eye.

There is a good size hotel car park behind the hotel, free of charge.

slaughtersmanor.co.uk

PRICES, per person

Two sharing

Deluxe

£3,640

Junior Suite £3,790

Suite £4,020

Garden Suite £4,240

Single occupancy

Classic

£3,390

Deluxe £3,990

MAKING A BOOKING

1. Booking Option. We recommend that you contact us to make a booking option which we will hold for 72 hours. To confirm it, please send the booking form and deposit within this period – the deposit is 10% of your total booking price.

2. Definite booking. Fill in the booking form and send it to us with the deposit. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage (see page 19) and that you sign the booking form. We also ask that to take the fitness tests described on this page before committing to a definite booking. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of the date the festival begins.

Alternatively, make a definite booking straight away via our website.

3. Our confirmation. Upon receipt of the booking form and deposit we shall send you confirmation of your booking. After this your deposit is non-returnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions. Further details about the festival may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards.

FITNESS TESTS

‘ Thank you for such a great experience. Now I know why friends speak so highly of Martin Randall Travel.’

We ask that you take the following fitness tests before booking. By signing the Booking Form, you confirm that you have done so. Please also read ‘fitness for the festival’ on page 13.

1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in 30 seconds.

2. Step test. Mark a wall at a height that is halfway between your knee and your hip bone. Raise each knee in turn to the mark at least 60 times in two minutes.

3. Agility test. Place an object three yards from the edge of a chair, sit, and record the time it takes to stand up, walk to the object and sit back down. You should be able to do this in under seven seconds.

An additional indication of the fitness required, though we are not asking you to measure this, is that you should be able to walk unaided at a pace of three miles per hour for at least half an hour at a time, and to stand for at least 15 minutes.

Illustration: Gloucester, cathedral cloister, engraving c. 1820.

COTSWOLDS CHORAL FESTIVAL • 16–20 JUNE 2025 (ML 720)

NAME(S) – as you wish them to appear on the list of participants. Please note that we do not use titles:

Participant 1: Participant 2:

Contact details for all correspondence:

Address Postcode/Zip

Country E-mail

Telephone (home) Mobile

Tick if you are happy to receive your festival and booking documents online where possible (confirm your e-mail address above)

How would you like to be kept informed about our future tours and events?

By post: Yes No E-newsletter: Yes No

What prompted this booking? It is very helpful for us to know how you first heard about this event, and if you can be specific, e.g. if in an advertisement, the name of the publication it appeared in; if we sent you a communication, what type? (e-mail or post?):

ACCOMMODATION – please tick:

THE

LAMB, BURFORD

Two sharing: Superior double Suite

Single occupancy: Classic double

THE BAY TREE, BURFORD

Two sharing:

Superior double

Deluxe double Suite

Single occupancy:

Classic double

Superior double

THE COUNTRY INN, LOWER SLAUGHTER

Two sharing: Superior double Junior Suite Suite

Garden Suite

Single occupancy: Classic double

Deluxe double

Superior double

SHARING A ROOM? Please tick one: Twin beds Double bed

THE SWAN, BIBURY

Two sharing: Superior double Deluxe double Cottage

Single occupancy: Classic double Superior double

THE MANOR HOUSE, LOWER SLAUGHTER

Two sharing: Deluxe double Junior Suite Suite

Garden Suite

Single occupancy: Classic double Deluxe double

FURTHER INFORMATION – Please notify us of dietary restrictions, or any requests for extra nights, etc.

PASSPORT DETAILS

In case of emergency. UK residents are not required to complete this section. Please use capital letters.

NEXT OF KIN. Participants of all nationalities must complete this section.

PAYMENT

We prefer payments by bank transfer. All money paid to us is fully protected regardless of payment method. Please tick one option:

BANK TRANSFER Please use your surname and the festival code (ml 720) as a reference and ask your bank to allow for all charges.

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Bank: Barclays, 1 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HP

Account number: 4054 4558 Sort code: 20-96-63

Transfers from non-UK bank accounts: please instruct your bank to send payment in pound sterling (GBP)

IBAN: GB19 BARC 2096 6340 5445 58 Swift/BIC code: BARC GB22

DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX.

Please tick payment amount, and then ensure you sign at the bottom of this form:

EITHER Deposit 10% of total booking cost. OR Full balance Required if you are booking within 10 weeks of departure.

TOTAL: £

I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions and Privacy Policy (martinrandall.com/privacy) on behalf of all listed on this form.

Signature:

Date:

Martin Randall Travel Ltd

10 Barley Mow Passage London W4 4PH, United Kingdom

Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355

From North America: 1 800 988 6168

info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

Tel 1300 55 95 95

New Zealand 0800 877 622 anz@martinrandall.com.au

BOOKING CONDITIONS

PLEASE READ THESE

You need to sign your assent to these Booking Conditions on the booking form.

OUR PROMISES TO YOU

– We aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity.

– We will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, usually going far beyond the minimum obligations.

– We aim to provide full and accurate information about our holidays. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly.

– If something does go wrong, we will try to put it right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services.

ALL WE ASK OF YOU

That you read the information we send to you.

SPECIFIC TERMS

Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd.

Eligibility. You must be in good health, free of infectious illness, and have a level of physical and mental fitness that would not impair other participants’ enjoyment by slowing them down or by absorbing disproportionate attention from the tour leaders. Please read ‘Fitness for the festival' on page 13 and take the self-assessment tests described on page 16; by signing the booking form you are stating that you have understood what we are asking of you and are fit to participate. If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss this with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure. If during the festival it transpires, in the judgement of the festival staff, that you are not able to cope, you may be asked to opt out of certain events or to leave the festival altogether. This would be at your own expense. We reserve the right to refuse to accept a booking without necessarily giving a reason.

Insurance. If you are a non-UK resident, it is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance cover – this must cover, at minimum, medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property and loss of

payments to us in the event that you cancel your booking. Please also ensure that your insurance covers the cost of your international travel in the rare event of Martin Randall Travel cancelling the festival. Experience indicates that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not to be relied upon.

Passports and visas. Carriers of non-UK passports must ensure these are valid for six months beyond the date of the festival. Visas are not currently required for the UK for EU citizens, or citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required and obtain them if they are.

If you cancel. If you have to withdraw from a festival on which you had booked, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before departure the deposit would be forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost of your booking will be due:

Up to 57 days: deposit only

Between 56 and 29 days: 40%

Between 28 and 15 days: 60%

Between 14 days and 4 days: 80%

Within 72 hours: 100%

Additional costs for individual arrangements (including but not limited to extra nights at your hotel and room upgrades) are subject to the same cancellation charges, apart from in the instance where we have previously notified you that an additional cost is non-refundable.

If you cancel your booking in a shared room but your companion chooses to continue to participate, the companion would have to pay the single-occupancy price.

We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive written confirmation of cancellation.

If we cancel. We may decide to cancel a festival if there were insufficient bookings for the it to be viable (though this would always be more than eight weeks before departure). We would refund you with everything you had paid us.

Safety and security. Cancellation may also occur if civil unrest, war, natural disaster or other circumstances amounting to force majeure arise in the place in which the festival is due to take place.

Health and safety. We have a safety auditing process in place and, as a minimum, request that all of our suppliers comply with UK health and safety regulations.

The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of a festival except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates.

If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating a tour or festival exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the festival we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not in your view an adequate substitute, we would give a full refund.

Financial protection. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight (such as this festival), by way of a bond held by ABTOT – The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited.

English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. Privacy. By signing the booking form, or by booking online, you are stating that you have read and agree to our Privacy Policy (available online at www.martinrandall.com/privacy).

MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL LTD

10 Barley Mow Passage London W4 4PH

United Kingdom

Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Contact the London office from the USA and Canada:

Tel 1 800 988 6168 (toll free) usa@martinrandall.com

MARTIN RANDALL AUSTRALASIA

PO Box 1024

Indooroopilly QLD 4068

Australia

Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 anz@martinrandall.com.au

MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL…

is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.

MRT aims to produce the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, architecture, archaeology, history, music and gastronomy, and are spread across Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, Japan and the Americas.

For 2025 we have planned around 190 expert-led tours for small groups (usually 10–20 participants), four music festivals of our own devising (such as The Cotswolds Choral Festival ), several short history and music breaks, an extensive programme of online talks, and single days in London.

For over 35 years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

To see our full range of cultural tours and events, please visit www.martinrandall.com