Travel bucket list idea:
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (UK)
Birthplace of Winston Churchill, UNESCO World Heritage Site, 2,000 acres of Capability Brown-designed gardens, a gargantuan palace dating back to the early 18th-century – Blenheim is almost bewilderingly rich in heritage.
This Baroque beauty was built as a gift to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, from Queen Anne and a grateful nation in thanks for his victory at the Battle of Blenheim on 13th August 1704. Passed on down through the generations, it’s now home to the 12th Duke of Marlborough and his family.
The Palace holds spectacular collections of art, furniture and porcelain, housed in ornate, grand state rooms. Alongside, there’s a new, interactive exhibition dedicated to Winston Churchill – and you can also see the tiny room where he was born.
There are several themed tours on offer – of the Marlborough’s private apartments, of the ‘downstairs’ where the servants worked (ala Downtown Abbey), buggy tours of the formal gardens, and of the stables – offering a deeper insight into life here in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the Walled Garden you’ll find the ‘Marlborough Maze’ – two miles of hundreds of yew trees to get lost in. When (if?) you find your way to the centre and out again, pop next door to the tropical Butterfly House to see butterflies from all around the world (and a few zebra finches).
Blenheim is just outside Oxford, about a 1.5-hour drive from London, up the M40. Trains leave from London Paddington and Marylebone for Bicester, which is a short taxi ride from Blenheim (taxi rank at the station).
Pre-booking tickets is advisable but not essential. Themed tours must be booked in advance via the website.
You can download an app on site containing an audio tour, for fascinating insights into the history of the grandest rooms and must-see artefacts, told by expert historians (but don’t forget to take your own headphones).
The Palace is open daily from mid-February until early November, then only on Wednesday to Sunday until mid-December. It closes in January.
On many Sundays during the year they hold live organ recitals on the famous on the famous Henry Willis organ. The website doesn’t show dates, so contact them for more details. There’s also a wonderfully atmospheric Christmas Market here, from mid-November through mid-December, with over 70 art and craft stalls.
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