Blenheim Palace 1st

As we felt that we had sadly neglected the children’s education in English history, today we set out sights on Blenheim Palace, a monumental (and that’s putting it mildly) stately home situated in the village of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.  It is still the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and UNESCO recognised the palace as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and 1724.  It was created to celebrate victory over those ‘cheese eating surrender monkeys’ the French during the Wars of the Spanish Succession.  In particular, it was a gift from Queen Anne, and a grateful nation, to the First Duke of Marlborough who was the military commander who led the Allied forces into battle on 13th August 1704 at Blindheim (Blenheim).  After the Battle, Marlborough personally received the surrender of Marshall Talland, leader of the French forces.

As with any good story, the building of this palace had plenty of drama with the First Duchess, Sarah Churchill, by all accounts the villain.  She apparently had no desire for such a grand residence but her hopes of a small country house were completely ignored.  She fell out with the architect and also the Queen, which was not a good move.  At one stage the family even left the country in exile.  The second problem was that Royal funds promised for the Palace dried up, probably as a direct result of falling out with the Queen.  Building of the Palace came to a halt in the summer of 1712 and was eventually completed at the Duke’s own expense.

Following the palace's completion, it became the home of the Churchill family for the following 300 years, and various members of the family have, in that period, brought various changes in the interiors, park and gardens and several of them seemed to have had a great deal of fun whittling away the family fortune!!  At the end of the 19^th century, the palace and the Churchill’s were saved from ruin by a North American marriage. Thus, the exterior of the palace remains in good repair and exactly as completed.

The most famous member of the family is of course Sir Winston Churchill who was born at Blenheim and spent a considerable amount of time at the Palace.  Winston was the grandson of the 7th duke and a close friend of the 9th Duke and Duchess.  He is famously quoted as saying he made his two most important decisions at Blenheim, to be born and to marry, and that he was happy with the outcome of both.

As soon as you drive onto the extensive grounds, the house packs quite a punch and the influence, for those of us who know what we are looking for, of ‘Capabilty’ Brown is clearly evident in the landscape.

 Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge

 The palace as viewed on entry from the Woodstock Gate

 Views towards the East Gate

 As we were a little early to tour the palace itself, we headed towards the gardens first taking in the view of the palace from the Great Court.  As the saying goes, “A man’s home is his castle!”

Blenheim Palace is considered a supreme example of English Baroque

 And this home had a great set of gates!

 The Clock Tower Arch 

What you can’t see clearly is that the ‘English’ lions on top the pillars are assaulting the cockerels of France – subtle!

 Trophies of war seen in front of the portico

 It took some time as the Great Court was, as the kids would say, ‘mahoosive’, but we finally made it to the Water Terraces, which were completed in 1930.  They are said to be reminiscent, on a smaller scale, of the Parterre d’Eau at Versailles, and, having visited Versailles only last year (yes, bragging here!) I could see what they meant.  I guess the big difference, aside from scale, was that at least the English one was functioning during our visit!

The terraces were quite lovely and the kids, and Nathan, had a bit of fun mimicking some of the Grecian statues.  I, of course, was far too mature!!

 The very essence of Greek Gods & Goddesses!!

 The head of this sphinx is that of Gladys Deacon, second wife of the 9th Duke.  One presumes this was meant as a compliment but I hope Nathan doesn’t get any ideas for our future garden!

 The Arboretum lies beyond the lower Water Terrace and winds past the Temple of Diana, built for the 4^th Duke by Sir William Chambers.  It was here, during the summer of 1908, that Sir Winston Churchill proposed to Miss Clementine Hozier, who was to become Baroness Churchill.

From the Water Terraces Nathan caught sight of his favourite part of the palace, the great South Lawn, which had a fantastic outfield!!

 Spot of cricket anyone?

 Unfortunately, when we made our way around to the Italian Garden we were all a little disappointed to find the current Duke has decided that this spot is all his and we could only view it from above.  Honestly, anyone would think he lived here!!!

 The Italian Garden & East Front

 The symmetry of the Water Terraces

It was now time to enter the Palace itself and I was more than a little disappointed to be told that no photos were allowed (then I remembered we were back in the UK so I shouldn’t have been surprised!)  Our tour of the house took place in two parts.  We first made our way through the lower level state rooms taking in an exhibit on Sir Winston Churchill along the way.

Entry to the Palace is through two magnificent wooden doors into the Great Hall, one of Blenheim’s architectural glories.  It’s vastness is imposing with the ceiling reaching some 20 meters high.  This Baroque grandeur is echoed throughout the rooms on display.  As we walked from room to room with, as Abbey pointed out, such ‘creative’ names as the Green Drawing Room, Red Drawing room and the Green Writing Room followed by the First, Second then Third State Rooms there was plenty to take in from floor to ceiling.  It was actually how I imagine the rooms in Versailles would have looked if we could have seen them through the crowds as the same level of detail had been put into the ceilings.  Is one allowed to call it ‘OTT’?

The Sir Winston Churchill exhibition was very interesting and I never thought I would ever seen some of his hair cut from his head when he was 5 years old nor his baby vest!

We had to exit the building after this stage and reenter through the Great Hall to move upstairs.  We had been hoping to see more of the actual house but were ‘treated’ to a half hour walk down memory lane as we followed a ‘virtual Grace Ridley, the 1st Duchess’s beloved maid’ looking at the family history, seen through the eyes of the household staff.  We ‘met’ some of the more colourful characters such as the wilful 1st Duchess of Marlborough (whose husband would call her something rhyming with ‘witch’ – loads of questions from Abbey!) and listened to tales of ‘dramatic event’s that affected the lives of all who have lived here.  I had a great time trying to explain why the 1st Duke was banging away in the closest whilst the mistress of King Charles II quailed in terror under the bed sheets as the King pounded on the door! 

Having had enough of the Dukes and their various escapades both good and not so good, the kids and I took a train ride on the palaces narrow-gauge railway (the diesel locomotive aptly named Sir Winston Churchill) to the Pleasure Gardens.  Nathan, who went to move the car, met us there and we ate lunch in the garden café.  The kids proved just how English they have become, and just how influenced they were by their Grandfather, tucking into pork pies.

Situated in the Pleasure Gardens is the Marlborough Maze, the world's second largest symbolic hedge maze, designed to reflect the history and architecture of the Palace.  The maze covers an area of just over an acre and we had some fun trying to make our way to the centre.

Apparently when you look at the maze from either of the two bridges you can see the Dukes flowing banners, trumpets, spears, stacks of cannon balls and a canon firing.  The wheel of the cannon is the goal of the maze with the statue of Eros positioned at the hub.  (Well, perhaps if you look hard or maybe turn your head to one side or squint!)

 After successfully completing the maze (actually in the end we cheated a bit and entered via the exit but don’t tell anyone) the kids had a run in the adventure playground.  Zac quickly determined this was nowhere near aa good as Bowood so we moved on through the lavender garden to the Butterfly House.

 The Butterfly House included a special hatchery containing the pupae of many of the species, bred on site.  As we made our way through the enticing humidity (?) there were some beautiful butterflies to be seen.  Unfortunately, we are so acclimatised to the English summer weather that none of us lasted too long!

 Proving the “Red Admiral” is more than just a pub in Trowbridge!

By now we had had our fill of Blenheim Palace so headed back to the car promising the kids an ice cream on the way home.  Turns out the ice cream was to be purchased at Bicester Village Outlet Centre!  Oops!!  Actually I wasn’t as impressed as I hoped to be for all it has been talked up.  For starters it was so packed we had to end up ‘illegally’ parking near the rail station then the majority of the stores were a tad too designer for the Robbs.  Nathan though did pick up a lovely set of cuff links at Geeves & Hawkes and the kids did get their promised ice cream.  A happy end to our day out for all!