Blenheim Palace - How much time ?
 

Please advise what the "average" time touring
Blenheim might be. Do you take a guided tour? How long does it take? Just trying to
plan out that day in our trip. Thanks for
the help.

The Palace has a website so you can look at all the possible things to see both in and outside - http://www.blenheimpalace.com/. I think the guided tour inside takes about an hour. They move the groups through pretty smoothly, obviously they're used to having a lot of people visit.

For me, it was one of those places like Versailles that after a point you are almost nauseous with all the ostentation. But the setting is amazing, and the exhibit on Churchill is quite fascinating, if you're interested in him. He is, in fact, buried just down the road, or over the park, at Bladon near a simple country church.

You could spend a whole day exploring the grounds, but if you're just after the palace, leave 2 hours to make sure you budget time for waiting for the next tour to begin and seeing some of the Churchill exhibit.

Depending on your schedule, while in the area, you might explore Woodstock a bit. It's a fascinating village on its own.

Thank you, rickmav. I had been giving it about 3 hours total and that sounds about right by your comments. Thanks.

I'd give Blenheim a half day to visit the house and the gardens. 3 to 5 hours depending on your stamina.

I think guided tours are the only option for seeing the house. When we were there two years ago our guide said the tour would take approximately an hour but the actual duration was an hour and 45 minutes.

I recall this because my young daughter (who had reached her limit on historic homes) timed the overage to the nanosecond. Our guide was a fascinating storyteller and the group had many questions, so our trip may not have been typical.

We spent another hour and a half looking around the grounds. And then an additional hour or so taking the mini train to the "pleasure gardens" which was a nice play area for children (and payback for the long tour of the house).

It sort of depends on how busy, and how nice, a day you visit. The initial part of the house tour (after an introductory breifing/historical overview in the main entry hall) is covered at your own pace. This is through the Winston Churchill museum rooms and a hallway where you pick up the guided bit through the state rooms. If it is crowded or you take enough time to examine the many WS displays/letters this first leg can take 30 to 45 mins or more by itself.

Then the tour through the main rooms - about 45 mins, then walking through the Italian/Water gardens, getting a meal or tea in the restaurant, and if you are there a day when the private apartments are open another 30-45 mins there.

So 2 hours is probably the bare minimum w/o stopping to eat/drink - but if it is a nice day and you want to walk across the lake and out to the monument add another 45-60 mins. You can park on the grounds - but I usually prefer to park in the village and walk in through the town gate - the Palace coming into view across the lake and the bridge is one you won't soon forget.

To clarify - My 2 hours minimum is just for the house and gardens immediately next to it. obxgirl is close to the mark w/ she says 1/2 a day if you want to explore any of the grounds. I've taken MANY folks there over the years and we usually spend between 3 and 5 hours there.

Jenn:

Agree with obxgirl and janis - at least half a day. Many people do take a picnic lunch with them and enjoy in the lovely grounds. You are in for a treat. This is well worth your time.

Sandy

I was under the impression that Jenn was just interested in the 'house'. But, if not, I agree with the others that it can take many more hours to explore the grounds, village, church, etc. Depends on your interests and schedule.

Is there an additional charge to view the private apartments? Tours were available when we visited but it wasn't in the cards for us.

Is Blenheim possible as a day trip from London?

Jeffrey, It's a good a day trip from London, tho easiest by car. You can get a train to Oxford and a bus from there to Woodstock.

As rickmav and janis have noted, Woodstock is a very pleasant village.

i would say that first of all it depends on the time of year...in cooler weather, like now, you would spend very little time outside...i warmer weather you could spend a whole day outside... as i remember the inside tour takes about 1 hour....the estate is a massive place and you could spend hours there....the town is lovely as well....it is small however...

We did Blenheim Palace as a daytrip from London. We took the Oxford Tube bus to Oxford, then took a local bus out to Woodstock. The bus drops you at the palace gates and it's about a 1/2 to 3/4 mile walk to the house.

We spent a good portion of the day touring the house, grounds, gardens and butterfly house. We then walked back into Woodstock, walked around the charming village for a while and had dinner at the Vickers Hotel (15th century) before taking the bus back to Oxford. It was a very nice day out. :)

Thank you all for your help and info. My plan for that particular day is to
pick up our rental car at Heathrow and drive directly to Blenheim. Any estimate how long that drive will be in
June? From Blenheim we are off to Burton on the Water where we stay the night at the Dial House. Blenheim is our only real destination for that day.
I am really looking forward to the visit.

It is less than 60 miles from LHR to Woodstock and will take about an hour, give or take - depending on the time of day and the traffic on the ring road around Oxford.

You'll have plenty of time and be sure to stop in Bladon after you leave Blenheim and visit the churchyard where Churchill is buried. It is a tiny village and you really can't miss the church (but be prepared for a narrow road up to the church).

plan on an hour and 1/2....it takes a bit to get to the M40 from heathrow and there is currently lots of construction near heathrow....from blen., its not far to bourton....i love the bourton area....we often eat in the pub at near-by Naughton...it may take another hour to bourton from blen....
the grave site is interesting and very simple...a nice little jaunt...

do you have a good map book...i use the ordance maps which are available at any english book store or gasoline station...cost about 10-15 pounds...

be prepared for huge costs in england...i was there at the beginning of december and was turned off because of them....the exchange rate is bad now but generally everything is so expensive, even in the countryside....food improves all the time hoever...

Also, when we were there, they were offering a special tour of the present family's living private living quarters. For a few pounds (£3 I think) you could tour a few of the private rooms.

My sister and I stayed in a cottage in Bourton for a week - absolutely crazy during the day with tour buses and then so lovely in the evening with the bridges and the river flowing through town and ducks on the banks.

If you have time you may want to visit the Slaughters - Upper and Lower - just down the road. Lovely little villages. We also fell in love with Chastleton House. Operated by the National Trust, and you have to book to get in, they only let so many people enter at a time. What's interesting about the place is that they've only restored it enough to keep it from falling down and so it has this fascinating faded feeling like Miss Haversham's wedding banquet.

Hope you have a great trip.

I visited Blenheim in '89. The private apartments were an additional fee but worth it. Still luxurious but not as ostentatious as the public rooms. As we were waiting in the hall to start the tour, the duke walked by and said hello--then came back in and said hello again.

I linked this to the London Superthread

We also did Blenheim Palace as a day trip from London in April 2003, and it easily deserves a full day even if you don't count the travel time from London (train to Oxford, bus to Woodstock.) However the bus into Woodstock does NOT drop you off "at the Palace gates" as a previous poster indicated, but rather in the center of town about half a mile from the gates, then with the walk from the gates to the house it's easily a mile in all - but if my 75 year old Mom could do it, so could most people. The private apartment tour does cost extra and I really regret not taking it. If you're lucky enough to visit on a day when the weather is nice (as we were), the grounds and gardens could easily fascinate one for the entire day. The cafeteria at the Palace opens up onto the Italian fountain gardens which were absolutely beautful. There's also a little tram that for £1 drives you around the grounds on a tour; the guide pointed out at Duke of Marlborough's sheep which were all pregnant with twins. Since this was the last part of our visit, the tram driver was kind enough to, at our request, drop of my Mom and I at the gate rather than back at the Palace so we saved a bit of the walk back to the bus stop. Our only quibble with the entire experience was that there were no benches in the village of Woodstock where my afore-mentioned 75 year old mother could sit down while waiting for the return bus.

For anyone who may have seen the film "Hamlet" with Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Kate Winslet, and Julie Christie, this is where it was filmed. The Duke of Marlborough was an extra in the film!

BC

Must have been a different bus. The one we were on dropped us off right outside the gates. We had to walk down the street a bit (but not far) to catch the bus back to Oxford.

Buses and Blenheim.

All 20 and 20A buses from Oxford's railway station and its Gloucester Green bus station stop at Blenheim Palace gates. So, on Sundays, do X50s. From that stop it's at most 250-300 yards to the palace itself. There is an Oxford-bound bus stop on the other side of the road, almost directly opposite the alighting stop. It has (and has had as long as I can remember) two benches - big enough, between them, for at least eight normal people to sit down.

All Oxford-Woodstock buses also stop 500 yards further on in central Woodstock. Most passengers get off here (buses are mostly used by Woodstock residents working or shopping in Oxford). The nearest palace grounds entrance to this stop is nothing like half a mile away, but does involve a further 500-600 yard walk to the palace. There are no benches at this stop, or at the corresponding Oxford-bound stop on the other side of the road.

Why Daisy got off at the wrong stop isn't clear. Just make sure you get only the 20 or 20A and ask the driver to stop at the palace gates. Don't assume he'll stop there just because you have a foreign accent: many visitors are actually more interested in Woodstock than in the Churchill family's florid monstrosity.

Perhaps flanneruk could visit Oxford & Woodstock and educate the bus drivers as to where they stop & don't stop. Daisy DID ask him about stopping at the BP gates on the #20 bus (boarded at the Oxford train station), and Daisy did NOT "get off at the wrong stop". In April 2003 there was one bus stop in Woodstock and it was on the High Street. Not an impossible walk to the BP gates and front door, and the village of Woodstock and the BP grounds are certainly attractive enough to make the journey enjoyable.

I walked to the relevant bus stop this morning. And, pedant that I am, measured out the distances on the pedometer Mrs F put into my Christmas stocking during the Three Minutes' Silence.

Daisy - there REALLY are two bus stops. You would well to believe flanneruk - he is from there.

One bus stop is in the village but the other one (the one flanner recommends) is back towards Oxford on A44 (Oxford/Woodstock Rd). Those benches he speaks of have been there at least since the mid 70's (and I suspect much longer than that) when I was living in Oxfordshire. And while it may seem like a mile from the village stop to the Palace - it isn't. Over the years I have walked several times from near the Bear hotel in the village center and I'd guesstimate it is barely 1/3 of a mile maybe a tiny bit more.

To clarify, "back towards Oxford" is still IN Woodstock, but just SE from the village center on the main road to Oxford.

Flanner, how envious I am that you live in/near Woodstock. It's such a charming village! After spending most of the day at Blenheim, we walked around Woodstock, taking photographs and had dinner at the Vickers Hotel.

I still use those photos as my computer wallpaper. :)