Blenheim Palace

We visited a place called Blenheim Palace this past weekend. We knew it was related to Sir Winston Churchill and we had heard it was beautiful, but that's about all we knew. 

After an hour drive, we pulled up to the long straight driveway of the palace. It was around £20 to park and enjoy the palace, park and garden (for free you can convert it to an annual pass, which allows you to come back anytime in the next 12 months for free). The first thing we noticed was the big beautiful black and gold iron gates that served as a front door to the palace. We walked through those gates which were nothing more than an entrance to an outdoor courtyard, which makes for a nice surprise when you're expecting to walk indoors. 

Looking ahead we saw the next set of iron gates about 100 yards again so we wandered toward them excited to get inside. Funny, after walking through those gates, you're into yet another massive outdoor courtyard, so I joked and said "that was fun, nice house". But when you look to the left, that's when you see the stunning palace itself.

We walked in and turned to the left after glancing at the largest foyer I've ever seen. We stumbled upon a tour that was starting in 2 minutes. The tour was a video guided tour which meant you watched a video in each room and doors automatically opened at the end of each video. Sorry to say we'd skip that tour next time. Although we did learn some great facts along the way, including the key fact that he was born here.

We returned to the front of the palace and turned to the right this time. Perfect, it took us straight to the State Rooms. As beautiful as you'd imagine. We saw the room he was born in, which comes with a unique feeling when you're standing there.

We then wandered to the gardens and the grounds. There are multiple gardens and a pretty decent waterfall. We had great conversation, enjoyed the views and grabbed some tea in the cafe. 

I'd say it's a great spot to visit, and they somewhat surprisingly don't cover much of Churchill (pros or cons of his decisions and actions). We've heard great things about a place called Chartwell, which must be where he lived more than where he was born.