We want to be dropped off as close to the entrance as possible. If we come from Oxford, should we take a bus, or taxi? If we come from Woodstock, is it a brief, easy walk to the palace?

The #20 bus stops just opposite the gates. But the "at the gates" is not "at the Palace" - you will still have to walk through the grounds. It is an easy, level walk but is a few hundred yards.

The gate is definitely not "at the Palace." I do not recall the exact distance, but it felt like around half a mile to the ticket office.

This was a place I underestimated the amount of walk needed. I also visited the garden and The Marlborough Maze area. I thought I walked more than three miles inside the ground.

There's about 50 yards difference - as far as I'm aware - between where the taxi would drop you and where the bus stops. As long as you ask the bus driver to tell you when you get to the palace gates, it's about 400 yards to the palace from the stop, or about 350 yards from where taxis have to stop.

If you have mobility problems, the palace are moderately helpful (go to www.blenheimpalace.com/visiting/accessib.htm), but they can't do a great deal to sove the fact that the palace is huge and the gardens bigger still. You really need to hire a wheelchair, and the palace staff will - if you phone them beforehand - go reasonably out of their way to make some of the visit less tricky

PS: I note on your other post that you're here during Advent. Do check on the palace's website the restricted opening days Blenheim has from Oct 31 to Dec 9, and the fact that the palace (but not the park) is closed from Dec 10 till early 2008