This is the end of our tour around the Cotswolds and really had a wonderful time with all the relatives and friends; we really thought Carole's cottage charming, albeit quite small for such tall people We had a nice breakfast of cereal and toast with milk and coffee, then Carol drove us out to Blenheim Palace (pronounced Blen-im) not too far distant.
Carol wasn't feeling too well, so she dropped us at the gate and promised to come pick us up when we were done.
This is an enormous estate and one of England's largest houses. The palace balances the intricacies of delicate detail with ambitious architecture on the grandest scale and is the birthplace of Winston Churchill. It was begun relatively recently as far as these things go, in 1704, after the Duke of Marlborough led an army against the French under Louis 13th who, a century before Napoleon, was trying to conquer all of Europe in what is known as the War of Spanish Succession; this is far too complicated to attempt to explain. His army met the French at a small town in Bavaria named Blentheim and through superior tactics won a decisive victory there. As reward, Queen Anne gave the Duke the ruined Royal Manor and a park with funds to build a monument there to the battle's success Over the centuries, the successive Dukes of Marlborough added to the buildings, landscape and architectural attributes and many of the Duchesses, while maintaining luxurious lifestyles, built schools and almshouses and had great concerns for the welfare of the poor and needy living under their auspices.
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| Blenheim Palace's entrance court |
Considerably sized down to a small area in the palace, it remains the residence of the current Duke, an inherited title; however, the palace and Title no longer produce revenues. The palace was named a UNESCO World Heritage site and is now opened to the public, a tour costing about $30 a ticket; the landscapes and gardens are some of the most beautiful in England. There has always been farming associated with the estate which continues today and the neighboring village of Woodstock has a thriving tourist industry associated with the palace.
The grounds are exquisitely beautiful with expansive grassy lawns that goes into the distance; there are many landscaped areas with stands of daffodils and tulips, including a nice "secret garden", with all the plants and trees labeled like an arboretum. There is a huge lake in the midst of the estate; a waterfall at the end of a one mile hike through a man made forest and another area served by a miniature train with a playground for kids, not yet open for the season.
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| A little of the huge lawn that surrounds the palatial estate |
We toured the great mansion, notable for a surfeit of paintings of family members down the centuries and enormous tapestries hanging on the walls with woven pictures depicting several famous battles and some showing life around the palace.
There was a nice cafe overlooking the Italian Gardens, carefully cultured gardens with incredible fountains; we had a very nice meal, another butternut squash soup for Evie and a baguette sandwich for me with tea and coffee.
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| Only one of the many halls |
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| Gardens at one side |
There was an exhibit on the first world war, partially because young Winnie served in it (that's Winston Churchill), but also because one of the great halls was turned into a hospital ward. There was much history of Winston, with pictures of him in uniform back in the 1890's, through the first war and then of course, his greatest hours during the second. They played some snippets of his great speeches, including the best: "We shall fight on the shores and beaches...we will NEVER surrender!" That one still brings me near tears to hear, used to great effect on a song by Supertramp, which might have appalled him, yet helped immortalize his words for another generation.
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| Daffodils galore near the Secret Garden |
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| Small part of lake that skirts part of the grounds on the walk to Woodstock |
After much walking and fairly saturated in the convoluted history of Blenheim, including the Duke of Marlborough's marriage to an American heiress in the 1890's whose wealth financially saved their bacon at the time, we finally left the palace grounds and made the short walk to the renaissance era town of Woodstock!
We were done in by the time we walked through the big entrance gate and into the town square and fell into seats at an ancient pub, built in the late 1400's, where we had some tea and a pint. The name Woodstock is Old English in origin, meaning a "clearing in the woods" in what was once, a thousand years ago, a Royal Woods. The town was here as early as 1080 AD and used to be famous for making gloves; however, these days, tourism is its main attraction. Most British TV fans know that Inspector Morse resided here and much of that long running series was filmed in and around the Woodstock area.
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| The Star Inn, where we rested |
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| Inside the pub |
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| City Hall across from the pub, with children playing soccer in front |
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| View of picturesque Woodstock |
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| On the busy main street |
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| Pharmacy in old building |
It took Carole only about a half hour to kindly come and pick us back up, giving me some time to walk a couple of blocks and take some pictures of this very picturesque village.
On the way back to her little cottage, we stopped at an old road house called "The Sturdy House" for dinner. I had a beef stew, Evie had chicken and Carol a hearty portion of liver and onions! There we multiple suits of armour standing sentry and the required pub attached but also a playground for the kids alongside.
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| The Sturdy House |
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| Sitting after dinner at the road house |
We got back "home" to Carole's at around 8pm and I lay down and finished the SciFi novel given to me by Andrew, Evie's cousin, and wrote a bit in the blog while the girls chatted it up before heading to bed.
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