Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A palace at the gates of Woodstock.
An introduction to Woodstock, the Oxfordshire town at the gates of Blenheim, and the park that surrounds the palace.
On this page
Read the palace
Approach through the Great Court and look at how the corner towers and colonnades frame the north front, in the severe English Baroque of Vanbrugh’s design.
A guide can give context without turning a place into a backdrop. Notice how the golden stone changes with the light across the day.
The park
More than 2,000 acres of parkland surround the palace, shaped by Capability Brown around the Great Lake he created from the River Glyme.
Begin with a detail and ask who planted it, who designed it and how it has changed. A photograph alone cannot tell you that.
Woodstock
Blenheim Palace sits at the edge of the town of Woodstock, about twenty minutes from Oxford, on the royal manor the Crown gave to the 1st Duke.
Look at the meeting of the two: a small Oxfordshire town and the great house at its edge.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the history of the palace and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the people who run them.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
