Blenheim Palace

On Friday, we woke up to a nice, partially sunny day. After a tasty "full English" breakfast and a walk around Woodstock, we went to see Blenheim Palace. (If you pronounce this other then "blennim", you are obviously an American tourist). After all that fresh air and natural beauty in the Lake District we longed to once again enjoy the delicate aroma of furniture wax and the dazzle of ormolu.

When John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (and ancestor of Winston Churchill) led British troops to victory at the Battle of Blenheim against France's Louis XIV in 1704, Queen Anne gave him a large tract of land and 240,000 pounds to build his estate. Blenheim Palace is the result.

We started in the Churchill exhibit. Winston was born here when his mother went into premature labor while attending a party at Blenheim. The exhibit has all the requisite photos, medals, letters, etc, but is unique in its display of Churchill's paintings. They are quite good, and add yet another dimension to this complex, multi-talented historical figure.

We moved on to a guided tour of the house, which was pretty much as-expected--lots of French furniture and decorative objects, and impressive portraiture. Two things unique to Blenheim--the beautiful large tapestries, and the fact that the current Duke (11th) still lives here. His private apartments are open for touring (when he is away) for an extra 4 pounds; we skipped it.

The final experience was a multi-media presentation in which we were guided through 300 years of palace history by a ghostly housemaid (lady's maid to the first Lady Marlborough); kind of fun and clever in spots, but a little on the hokey side.

We walked around the formal gardens a bit but soon realized that, lovely as they are, they pale in comparison to the magnificent countryside of the Lake District. We'd had enough of huge country homes (and overpriced gift shops); a drive of less than an hour (through small towns and countryside, no motorways) brought us back "home" to Catslip.