Blenheim Palace

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Geo: 51.8688, -1.3786

We came to Woodstock, on the edge of the Cotswolds, to see Blenheim Palace. Breakfast was "the full English" to the delight of the children, and we were off to the Palace early...too early, we realized at 9am, because the Palace didn't open till 10.30am (we were welcome to wander around the 2000 acres of Parkland - but it was -6 degrees, so although sunny, that had little appeal.

We were lucky to see a sign pointing to the grave of Winston Churchill as we left the grounds for a drive - and had read about it in Notes From A Small Island. Just lovely - a peaceful parish church, where the last few generations of the Spencer Churchill family are buried (that's the family name of the Dukes of Marlborough). A real little find.

We then returned to Blenheim, and were part of the first tour of the State rooms, after viewing the exhibition on Winston Churchill (he was born here, as the first grandchild of the then Duke and the first child of the second son - i.e. Winston's cousin, a year younger but son of the first son, later became Duke. Winston also proposed here, and spent much time here). The State Rooms were as fabulously opulent as you would expect, and we were thrilled with the many important portraits with Blenheim cavalier King Charles spaniels in them.

Frankly, it seems that the dukedom is a bit of a curse - lots of sons dying (the dukedom passed by the female line to the third Duke, as the first Duke's sons predeceased and the dukedom wooded otherwise have died out within 25 years!! The land and money to build the Palace were given by Queen Anne (BFF with the 1st Duke's wife) as a gift from the "grateful nation" (aka taxpayers!) for the first defeat of the French in 50 years. Before the building was complete, the Duke had fallen out with the Queen and was exiled to France - he returned, but died within 2 years of moving into the (incomplete) house. Since then, it seems every Duke has been described as profligate. The current Duke has done three stints of jail time and was a well known junkie whose father took legal actions to try to deny his son the dukedom. So money can't buy everything.

Blenheim is a most amazing house/mansion/palace. Words can't describe the size or opulence. Wonderful!!

A walk around the Italian and Water Terrace gardens and Secret Garden, through "The Untold story" exhibition and a look at the stables, and we were exhausted. We stopped in Woodstock to look around the town, which is cute, then home for a rest before dinner at pub in Woodstock and an early night.

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