For anybody looking for a Glyndebourne-esque experience a little closer to home this summer, Diva Opera’s sparkling new production of Verdi’s Falstaff, in Capability Brown’s gloriously landscaped grounds at Wotton House, might just fit the bill.

Based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Verdi’s final opera was written when he was 79, and was only his second comic opera. The much-loved title character will be played by Alan Fairs, one of the company’s founder members, who regularly sings principal roles with the UK’s leading opera companies.

This is a chance to enjoy opera at the highest level, while also indulging in afternoon tea, a champagne reception in the interval, and either a picnic in the magnificent Sunken Garden or a three-course meal in the John Soane-designed manor house.

Behind this operatic extravaganza, though, is a tale of tragedy — and also tales of hope and courage. The event is being held in aid of Cecily’s Fund, which provides educational opportunities for children in Zambia orphaned by Aids.

The charity was set up in 1998 by Basil and Alison Eastwood in memory of their daughter, Cecily, who worked with such children during her gap year, but was killed in a car crash just before she was due to return home.

Like many good things, the charity happened almost by chance. After putting announcements in the local and national papers, asking either for flowers or donations to help orphans in Zambia, Basil and Alison were amazed to receive a total of £6,500, much of it from people who didn’t know the family but were keen to help.

“We sent it out to the organisation she’d been working with,” explains Basil. “After about six months, when we were feeling a bit stronger, we went out to Zambia to see what they’d done with the money.”

What they’d done was to buy enough books to see orphaned children through school for one year — but didn’t know what was going to happen when the money ran out. It was all the incentive the Eastwoods needed, and the foundation of Cecily’s Fund has enabled them to put thousands of children through primary and secondary school, as well as offer opportunities for tertiary and vocational training.

“If you put a child into school, you’ve got a commitment to keep that child at school throughout their school career,” says Basil. “Now, just under 10,000 children are in school because of us, and probably well over 11,000 have been through school as a result of our work.”

The cause has clearly touched the Eastwoods’ hearts — and not just because of their daughter’s involvement. “Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world — I’ve never seen poverty quite like it,” Basil says. “And the impact of Aids has been horrific. In a country of 12 million, there are 1.2 million children under 16 who have lost one or both parents. If we can give these children an education, we’re giving them a ladder to climb out of the destitution to which they are otherwise condemned. Not only that, but children who make it through to the end of a normal school career, despite all the difficulties, are really rather special people.”

An important part of the charity’s work is to recruit and train young people to run health education workshops in schools. These young people are known as peer health educators, and Cecily’s Fund works closely with the Copperbelt Health Education Project (CHEP) in Zambia, an organization set up in 1988 to help reduce the spread of Aids.

The peer education programme is run by Paul Kasoka, who was himself orphaned through Aids at the age of 11, and was supported through school by Cecily’s Fund. “Aids has such an effect on people,” Paul said on a recent visit to Oxford, where he addressed a small reception in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour. “When children lose their parents it’s like they lose hope, and their future, and they often become street children. I felt as if education was my second father. The opportunities that Cecily’s Fund has given me, and others, is very valuable and has given hope to a lot of people. I never thought I would have the opportunities to do a job where I could make such a difference.”

The opera evenings in aid of Cecily’s Fund have been running since 2004, originally in a field opposite the Eastwoods’ former home in Woodstock, and moving to Wotton House last year.

“Diva Opera are very professional and great fun to work with,” Basil says. “It doesn’t make us an enormous amount of money, but people come and hear about us and how vital our work is. It’s been one of the main ways in which we’ve broadened our supporter base.”

Falstaff is at Wotton House on Saturday at 3pm. Visit www.cecilysfund.org for tickets and information, or email admin@cecilysfund.org. To find out more about Diva Opera, visit www.divaopera.com