Cotswolds: Revisiting Churchill’s home at Blenheim Palace

Welcome to Downton… I mean Blenheim, have a seat!

We are going back today to our early-fall Cotswolds trip because we still have a bunch of pictures that we would love to share with you. First in case, our day at the Blenheim palace, a world heritage site, the house of the Duke of Marlborough and where sir Winston Churchill was born.

Being completely frank with you, I have to admit that partially we decided to visit the Blenheim palace, not only for it’s historical relevance, but because I had binge-watched Downton Abbey while planning the trip and I was quite obsessed about its similarities.

The wonderful tv series Downton Abbey took inspiration from the real-life stories that took place in Blenheim and the Duke’s ancestors, and definitely, if you have seen the series, there’s something that strikes you as very familiar once you step inside the palace and learn more about the Duke of Marlborough family. Specially the 9th Duke of Marlborough, that married an American heiress to support the state (does that sound familiar?), although theirs was an unhappy marriage, quite far away from the one depicted in the tv series. Nevertheless, the looks of the house & the downstairs-upstairs (with the bells system) are such an instant deja-vu.

I can’t believe I have watched for the first time Downton abbey so so late, sometimes I get in the hype wagon when the wagon doesn’t exist anymore, ha! Does that happen to you too?

Of course the palace has been the real location for many movies as well, like Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet or James Bond movies. I’m mentioning just in case it ring a bell from somewhere.

Since in our Cotswolds trip we were going to be so close to the Blenheim palace, we decided to change the scenery of the natural area for half a day. Our plans included taking a train back during the afternoon to Broadway, one of the most popular Cotswolds towns with hatched roofs. Due to a wrong advice by Mr. Google maps we weren’t in time to catch the train to travel to Broadway, when we realized that the map had guided us to cross a private property (what!) and the detour was of around two hours, which left us not having a single bus to Broadway for that day. One of those public transport users setbacks! Positive side, we were able to see more of the gardens and the exhibitions.

See you in the next post, in the closing of our Cotswolds trip! Thanks for joining our travel, best companions we could wish!