Weekend Adventures: Blenheim Palace & A Jousting Tournament

blenheim palace

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!

6 comments:

  1. We loved touring Blenheim Palace when we visited Justin in Oxford. Unfortunately, jousting was not provided while we were there - that would have been great fun! I have truly enjoyed your blog and hearing about your experiences!

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  2. Thank you so much for your note, Gwen! Sorry you guys didn't get to see any jousting when you were at Blenheim Palace, but just know it pales in comparison to the fun of a khlong boat tour!

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  3. Soooo cool! This is a not a big house recommendation... but one of my favorite things we did in London last year was go see Stonehenge. I'm not sure if it was my art history background that made me geek out when I got there, but it was one of the most amazing things I saw when we were there. I love your weekend adventure posts! :)

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    1. You're literally the 2nd person today who told me we had to go to Stonehenge! We are definitely putting it on our list :)

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  4. No need to convince me to follow you there when we come to visit! Looks spectacular including the picnic scene between the palace and lake!!

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