


At the recommendation of Dr. Johnson, who may or may not be the only person reading these posts, I decided to join a group of people for a tour of Blenheim Palace. It’s known for being the residence of the Dukes of Marlborough, and also the birthplace of Winston Churchill. It’s about a 30-minute bus ride from Oxford.
First, our group decided to walk through “The Untold Story” which is a brief history of Blenheim Palace. This tour includes mechanized mannequins and a ghost that gives some information about the Dukes of Marlborough who have lived in Blenheim. I wouldn’t recommend this part of Blenheim unless you want to be majorly creeped out. The mannequins were enough to make me run out of the place with my tail between my legs. After this tour, we walked through the State Rooms and the Churchill Exhibition.

All of the State Rooms were decorated so extravagantly — I had never visited a place quite like Blenheim before. After you walk through all the State Rooms, you’re led through the Churchill Exhibition, which is a brief history of Churchill’s life and life’s work. He was a very interesting man, but also apparently invented the romper. While I don’t doubt that Churchill wore rompers like no other, I sincerely distrust what Blenheim tried to tell me. He was quite the trendsetter, though. The romper on display was a deep red crushed velvet number with matching slippers. Trendy! This part of Blenheim Palace also allowed you the opportunity to stand in the same room that Churchill was born in. My immediate thought was “gross!” shortly followed by “awesome!!”.
I definitely could have spent more time at Blenheim, but alas, it closed at 6:00 and we had to leave. I wish I could have had the whole day there for sure.

