A visit to Blenheim Palace
The optional day will take place on Thursday 4 August. Buses will collect us at Keble College and drive 10 miles north west of Oxford to Blenheim Palace. There will be a talk in the Marlborough Room, and a walk around the grounds and into the village of Woodstock. The talk will be given by Steffie Shields who will speak about the work of ‘Capability’ Brown in creating the grounds at Blenheim. This is the tercentenary of Brown’s birth, and it is being marked at Blenheim with various activities.
After lunch in the Orangery there will be guided tours of Blenheim Palace. For those who would like to then take a longer walk, the tour will be followed by a visit to Bladon, to see Churchill’s grave.
Woodstock
This is the village surrounding Blenheim Palace, although it was in existence well before the land was granted to the Duke of Marlborough, and the Palace was built in the early 18th century. It has many charming shops, and even features village stocks in its main street!
Bladon
This small village on the far side of the Blenheim Estate has a wonderful village church, St Martin’s, dating from 1804. The Marlborough family graves are in the cemetery, as is that of Winston Churchill, who was born at Blenheim Palace, and was related to the Marlboroughs.
