| Blenheim Palace must be the best known of all of | | | | completed in 1722, but the park and gardens that |
| England's country houses. It is on a huge scale which | | | | were originally laid out by Queen Anne's gardener, |
| gives the visitor some idea of the high regard that | | | | were transformed in the 1760's by Capability Brown |
| Queen Anne held for General John Churchill, because | | | | the great landscape gardener who also added the |
| that was his name before becoming the Duke of | | | | lake. |
| Marlborough. This was his reward after his crushing | | | | In fact the grounds remain today much as then, and |
| defeat of the French in 1704 at the battle of | | | | are almost a bigger draw than the house itself. When |
| Blenheim a small Bavarian village on the River Danube. | | | | you visit you must go to the famous Marlborough |
| It would be true to say this lavish palace was | | | | Maze, believed to be the world's largest hedge maze. |
| deserving of a victorious general, and it could also be | | | | You may not realise but Winston Churchill was born |
| said that Blenheim palace was England's answer to | | | | here in 1874, and that in itself is a reason to visit. |
| the Palace of Versailles. | | | | Blenheim Palace is eight miles north west of Oxford, |
| Without any doubt at all Blenheim is quite impersonal, | | | | and sixty two miles north west of London, so easily |
| built in the baroque style it is the finest building of its | | | | accessible for a day. |
| kind in England, sitting in the middle of 2000 acres of | | | | If you want to stay in the area, then the timbered |
| what was once the hunting grounds of Saxon Kings. | | | | feathers Inn which predates Blenheim is within |
| The palace itself is much as it was when it was | | | | walking distance, and is well worth overnighting. |