Weekend Adventures: Blenheim Palace & A Jousting Tournament

Christopher and I found our dream home. Granted, we'll never actually get to live in a place like this, but at least we can visit it any time we want.

We ventured over to Woodstock yesterday--a small town about 8 miles from Oxford--and visited Blenheim Palace where Sir Winston Churchill was born. The HGTV-loving home fanatic in me was in heaven as we toured the inside, walking through the state rooms, dining room, and massive library built in the early 1700s. It was the grandest home I've seen so far. Could you imagine growing up in something this huge? Hide and seek would be AMAZING!

During lunch, we headed outside for some old-fashioned burgers and jousting. I think words would do an injustice in describing the experience, so I'll just let this video I snapped do it instead:


While Christopher sat there geeking out (as he should), I looked around and realized we were in fact the only adults out there without children...


After the half hour of action on the jousting field, we put our picnic blanket down on a quiet spot in between the palace and lake. It reminded me a lot of our Sunday tradition in NYC's Battery Park, the only difference was that we were looking at swans instead of sail boats, and the Statue of Liberty wasn't watching over us. I miss her so much, but if I have to be anywhere besides home, I choose this place.

Check out the Blenheim Palace web site if you're interested in visiting (and for those of you who are coming to visit us, we traded our tickets in for an annual pass, so we'll probably convince you to come back with us!)

Now that you know how much I love big houses, do you have any recommendations for other ones I need to see in my life? Let me know in a comment!