Blenheim Palace, Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch – Day Tour

2nd April 2025

Here at Best Value Tours we are delighted offer outstanding Day Tours around the UK and Ireland and today we are featuring one of our most popular, Blenheim Palace, Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch – Day Tour | Best Value Tours, full details are below, but first some fascinating history of magnificent Blenheim Palace.

Blenheim Palace is a country home in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. Residence of the Marlborough Dukes. Blenheim Castle became Blenheim Palace in the 19th century. Built between 1705 and 1722, it is one of England’s largest homes and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

The palace commemorates the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. It was meant to reward John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough for his victories against the French and Bavarians in the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in the Battle of Blenheim. Queen Anne partially funded construction on the grant property in 1705. Political infighting led to the Crown rejecting further financial support in 1712, Marlborough’s three-year voluntary exile to the Continent, his duchess’s decline, and Sir John Vanbrugh’s reputation damage.

The uncommon, short-lived English Baroque style of the palace brings divided architectural appreciation today as it did in the 1720s.Its family residence, tomb, and national monument use makes it unusual. The palace is Winston Churchill’s birthplace and ancestral home.

After the palace was finished, the Churchill (later Spencer-Churchill) family lived there for 300 years, modifying the interiors, park, and gardens. The 9th Duke of Marlborough’s marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt saved the palace from collapse in the late 19th century.

The finance of the new house remains a contentious issue. The mansion was proposed as a reward within months of the Battle of Blenheim, when Marlborough was still to win many more victories for the country. It is certain that a grateful people led by Queen Anne wanted to give their national hero a suitable dwelling, but its size and nature are unknown. A warrant signed by the parliamentary treasurer, the Earl of Godolphin, named Vanbrugh as architect and detailed his duties in 1705. Unfortunately for the Churchills, this warrant did not say Queen or Crown.

When development began in 1705, the Duke of Marlborough paid £60,000, which Parliament should have added to build a monumental house. Parliament voted to build Blenheim, but no amount was specified or inflation or over-budget expenses were included. Funds were volatile early on. After her repeated fights with the Duchess, Queen Anne paid some of them, but with growing reluctance and lapses. After their final fight in 1712, governmental funds and work stopped. £220,000 has been spent and £45,000 was due to workers. Marlboroughs were exiled to the continent and returned following the Queen’s death in 1714.

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough 1700 by Sir Godfrey Kneller
His brother, the Duke of York, succeeded Charles II in 1685 as King James II. Churchill became the Hudson’s Bay Company’s third governor after James’s coronation. After becoming Gentleman of the Bedchamber in April, he became Baron Churchill of Sandridge in Hertfordshire in May. After the Monmouth Rebellion, Churchill became Major General and acquired the lucrative Third Troop of Life Guards colonelcy.

To help William, Prince of Orange attack England, Churchill rode to Axminster with 400 officers and warriors in November 1688. Churchill, his loyal servant, fled to France when the King discovered he could not keep him. At William III’s coronation, Churchill became Earl of Marlborough, a Gentleman of the King’s Bedchamber, and a Privy Council member.

After triumphing in the Spanish Succession, Churchill became duke of Marlborough in 1702. In the war, he won Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709). Following his victory at Blenheim, the Crown granted Marlborough the tenure of Hensington, near Woodstock, to build the new palace, and Parliament awarded him a significant sum. The Crown’s petit serjeanty for the land was the peppercorn rent or quit-rent of one French royal banner delivered to the Monarch annually on the Battle of Blenheim anniversary. The Monarch displays this flag on a 17th-century French writing table in Windsor Castle.

Charming but cranky, Marlborough’s wife. As Princess Anne’s childhood companion and Mistress of the Robes, the Duchess of Marlborough affected her personally and politically. After their 1711 fight, Queen and Duchess ceased paying Blenheim’s development. After the Queen’s death on August 1, 1714, the Marlboroughs returned from political exile on the Continent.

The Duke and Duchess recovered court favour after returning. Duke, 64, completed the renovation at his own expense. Work proceeded in 1716 with just the Duke’s meagre finances. After the Duke had a stroke in 1717, the thrifty Duchess took over the building site, ending harmony. Despite not enjoying the house’s design, the Duchess blamed Vanbrugh for its escalating costs and extravagance. After speaking with the Duchess, Vanbrugh left the building site in a rage, saying her new masons, carpenters and tradesmen were inferior. His preferred craftsmen, like Grinling Gibbons, declined the Marlboroughs’ lower rates. The Duchess’s craftsmen, led by James Moore and Hawksmoor, copied the masters.

“Under the auspices of a munificent sovereign this house was built for John Duke of Marlborough, and his Duchess Sarah, by Sir J Vanbrugh between the years 1705 and 1722, and the Royal Manor of Woodstock, together with a grant of £240,000 towards the building of Blenheim, was given by Her Majesty Queen Anne and confirmed by act of Parliament… to the said John Duke of Marlborough and to all his issue male and female lineally descending.”

The Duchess’s main priority after the Duke’s death in 1722 was complete the home and park. In 1723, Vanbrugh’s assistant Hawksmoor designed Woodstock’s park entrance’s “Arch of Triumph” after the Arch of Titus. The library, various state room ceilings, minor room embellishments, and outbuildings were planned by Hawksmoor.

The grieving Duchess finished the magnificent property in discreet spots by cutting pay and using lower-quality materials to honour her spouse. In 1735, the Duchess negotiated with Rysbrack for Queen Anne’s library statue, but its completion date is uncertain. In 1732, the Duchess wrote “The Chappel is finish’d and more than half the Tomb there ready to set up”.

Magnificent Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace, Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch – Day Tour | Best Value Tours

Departing London you journey to the picturesque villages of the Cotswolds. On our fully guided tour you visit the elegant market town of Burford and Bibury, “the prettiest village in England”.

Journey through narrow lanes to Stow-on-the-Wold, the highest town in the Cotswolds then enjoy a two course lunch in one of the oldest Inns in the country.

Take a photo stop in Woodstock and enter the magnificent Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Admire the interior of this stately home and see the room where Sir Winston Churchill was born.

Then explore the beautiful gardens that surround the Palace before returning back to London.

More details and booking link

Blenheim Palace, Cotswolds, Country Pub Lunch – Day Tour | Best Value Tours