Blenheim Palace and the Cotswolds
October 17
Our little cottage is very cute although it feels extremely cozy. Three floors with the bedroom on the top, the bathroom and cozy sitting room on the second, and the kitchen and fireplace room on the first.
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| The Rollright stone circle |
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| The Kings Stone |
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| Beautiful English scenery |
Bleinhem palace was a great site to visit. Winston would have been the 10th Duke of Marlborough had it not been for the birth of his cousin. Bleinheim Palace was built between 1705 and 1722 by 1st Duke of Marlborough as a thank you from Queen Anne for winning the Battle of Bleinheim. Winston’s grandfather was the 9th Duke of Marlborough who was married to Manhattanite Consuelo Vanderbilt. Bleinheim palace is also the setting of the film (or series?) Queen Charlotte, so they were displaying costumes in the rooms.
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| Bleinheim Palace courtyard |
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| The foyer |
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| The foyer ceiling |
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| The room where Churchill was born |
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| The paintings on the wall were all painted by Churchill himself |
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| This bust of Hadrian was recovered from Herculaneum! |
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| Many cabinets of Meissen china traded for some hunting dogs. |
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| This one plate has insects painted on it, proving that each piece was hand painted |
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| Family portrait in the red drawing room |
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| One of many tapestries lining the walls along the rooms on this corridor |
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| The dining room which the current family still uses for special meals |
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| The library (very long room) with thousands of books including May first editions from Charles Dickens and others |
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| More of the library |
We enjoyed the Winston Churchill exhibit which had an absolutely incredible life size wax figure of Winston.
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| Winston’s crib, newborn outfit and lick of curls from him when he was 5. |
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| Iconic coat and hat |
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| Cigar box gifted to Winston jeweled and filled with his favorite cigars |
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| Wax figure of Winston dressed by his personal tailors and shoe maker. He was a small man! |
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| Truly amazing attention to detail! |
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| An absolutely beautiful country home. |
Leaving Bleinheim we made our way to nearby Bladen and Winston’s grave. He is buried along with many family members at a very small church which was not easy to get to.
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| Winston Churchill’s grave. Just beyond was a school yard with many children at recess |
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| Consuelo’s grave |
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| Bibury |
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| Waiting for our lunch in Bibury |
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| I had the locally distilled Gin and Tonic with grapefruit. Delicious!! |
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| The Swan hotel in Bibury |
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| I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to see some of the ubiquitous sheep! These were just on the side of the road. |
Next stop was Bourton-on-the-Water, so precious!! I did some shopping and we visited the Model Village (which a scaled down version of the town) and then, back at our place, we built a fire before walking to the Blue Boar for drinks and dinner.
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