The Sunday Times’s Hugh Canning described Opera Holland Park this week as “London’s less posh answer to Garsington” — which neither organisation is likely to consider particularly complimentary. Having attended productions from each on successive nights last week, I certainly consider them alike in the artistic standards being achieved.

An appealing feature of OHP’s Don Pasquale on Friday was to see soprano Majella Cullagh (above) reprising the role of Norina which she sang with such success five years ago at Garsington. Later treats in store include new productions of two Italian rarities, Puccini’s La rondine, which I listen to all the time on CD but have never seen, and Alfredo Catalani’s La Wally.

The Holland Park productions are popular with people from Oxford owing to ease of access — the park being a short walk from the Oxford Tube’s Shepherd’s Bush stop. On Friday, I took the train, though, having learned at the last minute of the series of huge outdoor concerts taking place in Hyde Park. Last summer, when there were similar Hyde Park shows, I was obliged to take a taxi back to Oxford after a performance of La bohème, because every Tube sped past the stop already filled with fans of The Kings of Leon.

I travelled to London on Friday in a packed two-car train, with a three-car set attached behind. The fact that the one available lavatory was out of action — apologies from the management! — made it a slightly uncomfortable ride for me and, as I could see, for other passengers too.

Rail came into its own on the return journey, though. Curtain calls at Don Pasquale ended at 10.15pm, and I was back in Oxford by 11.40pm. The journey time included a ten-minute walk from the park to High Street Kensington tube station and a short ride on the Circle Line. Pretty impressive, I thought.