Dark Matter Sheep Some ramblings of a musical astronomer

Gregynog Hall and students who don’t like beer

I've spent this week living in a stately home. Its a stately home which is leased to University of Wales, is freezing cold, has terrible coffee, and smells slightly of dog, not wet dog just smelly dog. These things just add to the charm of the place. The house was given over to be used the University of Wales in 1963 by its owners, Margaret and Gwendoline Davies, the granddaughters of Victorian tycoon, David Davies Llandinam. It is stipulated in their wills that the house be used for educational purposes. The estate is still owned by the trust which the Davies sisters imparted the house to, and the University of Wales leases it, using it primarily as a conference centre.

There are all sorts of strange ghosts of the house's previous existence subtly propping up dark corners.  I spend about half an hour playing on a Steinway piano, which was remarkably well tuned, in a medium sized concert hall (which also contains a lesser make of piano and an organ that is badly in need for restoration. There is a Gregynog Festival of Music and Poetry in June every year and has been carrying on since 1930's where big names in the English music scene were often present, such as Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Holst and Britten. This year I noticed that Emma Kirkby, Catrin Finch and the Tallis Scholars are among the headlining acts.