One of the places many of our guests want to visit is Blenheim Place because of its link with Winston Churchill.  Blenheim was the residence for more than 250 years of the Spencer-Churchill family and birthplace of Winston Churchill. 

The Palace itself is a magnificent building designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in the English Baroque style.  Building work started in 1705 and finished in 1722.  The current Duke of Malborough and his family still live in the Palace so there are not many rooms that you can actually tour round which is a bit of a disappointment but its still worth a visit to admire the magnificent architecture from the outside and to wander round the gardens.  The gardens were designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in his unique style of ‘picturesque landscapes’ for which he was so famous.

  Although Blenheim is most famous for the formal gardens and Italian gardens surrounding the Palace and the sweeping parkland, lakes and cascades, there is another side to Blenheim.  The current garden manager has restored a three acre Secret Garden situated between the palace and the pleasure gardens.  It was originally created in the early 1950’s for the father of the present Duke of Malborough as his own private garden and deliberately designed to be in stark contrast to the grandeur of the overall Blenheim landscape. Unfortunately, when the Duke died there followed 25 years of neglect.  In 2003 restoration work started and it now looks like it has always been there in its present form. It has been created to be in touch with those of us who garden on a small scale and there are lots of ideas to steal from this garden helped by the fact that everything is labelled. This secret garden is just one of the treasures in the grounds of Blenheim Palace.  Also not to be missed is the arboretum, the productive gardens and the museum of gardening history, which gives a fascinating insight into the world of a Victorian gardener.