Vache Baroque Report
On Sunday 6th October a group of 14 of us went to a (semi) Opera at The Vache, an outing suggested and arranged by Colin Thomas.
This was an event that I had not heard of before, and we were very lucky with the weather, it being a very pleasantly warm (and dry) evening.
It was held at the Vache Estate, a grand manor with extensive grounds in Chalfont St Giles, which apparently dates back to the Doomsday Book.
The grounds were open at 3pm and we all arrived in dribs and drabs between 3 and 5:30, meeting at a table we had booked in the refreshments tent. People brought their own picnics, varying in scale from sandwiches and crisps, to a three course meal with tablecloth and candelabra!
The performance started at 5:30 and featured an ensemble of musicians playing instruments from the 17th century together with an acting troupe called ‘Out of Chaos’.
The Vache Baroque, was formed in 2020 to promote music of the baroque period, and the instruments they played included several that I had not come across before including Bass Recorders, a Bass Violin, a Viola da gamba (like a cello), a Violone (like a double bass) and a Theorbo (an instrument like a lute but with an enormously long neck).
They performed a musical version of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ in a lovely setting of a marquee with a backdrop of a lake and woodland, playing music from the baroque period by Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, Pelham Humfrey, and others adapted from a late-17th-century version of The Tempest.
The singers were excellent, especially the female soprano who played Ariel (a few of the male roles were played by women).
The performance ended at 9pm, and we all drove the short distance home.
What a magical evening!
Thanks to Colin for arranging the event.
There are also some more photos on our 2026 Photo gallery
On Thursday the 18th June a number of the Chiltern District Welsh Society were treated to an historical and archaeological walk around Hodgemoor Woods led by Nigel Rothwell and his wife Janet.
Walking through the woods we were at the edge of the Parish of Seer Green. In the Domesday Book Seer Green was recorded as a detached woodland portion of the Manor of Farnham (later Farnham Royal). The land was governed by a companion of William the Conqueror, Bertram de Verdun. This is where a Welsh connection comes in. De Verdun was also a Marcher Lord!