Blenheim Palace

Ella was desperate to see a castle or palace and we are lucky to have both within reach however after investigating we decided to visit Blenheim Palace on Sunday.

Blenheim Palace was a gift from Queen Anne to John Churchill following his famous victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. It is also the birth place of Sir Winston Churchill in 1874. The Palace and it's formal garden and parks were created a world heritage site in 1987.

From our perspective this Palace was simply amazing. To think that in the era it was built, the division between the rich and the poor must have been staggering! We walked through the Churchill Exhibition which meandered through the building. There was the Great Hall, China Ante Room, Bedroom where Winston was born, Red and Green drawing rooms, 1st, 2nd and 3rd state rooms followed by the long library (55m in length!) We marvelled at the Baroque architecture, the extensive collections of portraits, the intricate ceiling designs, the famous huge tapestries as well as the magnificent organ at the end of the long library. We weren't able to read very much - trying to entertain (and contain) 2 energetic girls in such an environment was enough of a task! However the girls were given a booklet which involved spotting animals in each room - so they became Palace detectives - which did help to keep them occupied.

From the Palace we ventured outside to enjoy a well deserved coffee and cake overlooking the Water Terrace. Our intentions from here were to catch the miniature train to Pleasure Gardens an area dedicated to families. Unfortunately we turned up to catch the diesel locomotive Sir Winston Churchill, which pulls several canopied carriages, to find that it was full so off we set to walk the mile or so.

Before launching into the fun at Pleasure Gardens we sat down for a picnic lunch. First stop was the Marlborough Maze which apparently is second largest symbolic hedge maze designed to reflect the history and architecture of the Palace. Here is an aerial image of the maze from the net, with the entrance in the bottom slight to the right of the middle. Was worried we were going to lose Ella who showed no hesitation and ran in (through the exit) and off. Luckily there are a few dead ends so we did catch up with her but as we were wondering around there were quite a few parents calling out their child's name! Meanwhile Katy and Andy began at the start, visited both towers and the central point finishing before us!

Also at Pleasure Gardens were a series of puzzles which kept Andy occupied for a while! We played on the adventure playground, visited the lavender garden (which was not looking very good probably due to a long and cold winter) and finished off at the butterfly house (our 3rd for the trip so far!)

We timed it perfectly to catch the Sir Winston Churchill back and headed home for a much needed rest!