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Not more than ten minutes drive from Oxford is Blenheim Palace. I was advised to visit by a colleague who knew that I enjoyed visiting historic homes and gardens. And this is the birthplace of Winston Churchill, who is said to be one of the United Kingdoms greatest Prime Minister’s. I had no idea how large the Palace would be. So this blog will be just about the interior and some of what I saw and there are a lot of images. And my next piece will be about the formal gardens as they are amazing and there again was so much to see ! The palace is a World Heritage Site.

This is the Column of Victory, which I didn’t get a chance to see up close.

This Palace is not run by either the National Trust or English Heritage and I did think at the time that the entrance fee of over £23 per person was a bit expensive. We arrived at lunchtime and the car park was already packed and it also looked like there was a farmers market going on.

We were in the Palace grounds before you knew it. And the Palace was recently used for Mission Impossible Rogue Nation. We entered onto the Hall. which was beautiful and I nearly missed the painting on the ceiling.

We viewed the Winston Churchill rooms first.

Where we saw where he was born and hundreds of photos. And it was really interesting and packed. This is where it fell down. There did not seem to be much organisation and it was heaving with people, pushing try to see and read everything. This is why I try and see things during the week, its quieter.

You could also have a tour of the private apartments, but we went to see some of the formal rooms.

Before finding the long library – they are my favourite in these places. This one is home to over 10,000 books and at the end is its own organ.

The Palace also has its own Chapel.

Where the organ was tucked underneath a marble staircase.

Before you exit onto the formal gardens and that is another story !