The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Blenheim Palace is such a lovely place to visit and enjoy in the town of Woodstock near the famed university town of Oxford and also one of nicest places to have high tea outside London. When the bus driver dropped me out at the palace entrance bus stop, I was quite surprised to find that the palace car park was already almost full of cars of visitors even in winter. After paying a hefty 21 GBP to see palace and gardens, I was at the palace gigantic main gate with beautiful golden family seal and large letters “M” for Dukedom of Marlborough, an owner of the palace.

I was surprised with the strange layout of the palace that the main gate did not provide a grand view of the whole complex, which was typical of palace design, and actually from the entrance I could not see the palace at all as it was hind behind a forest grove, a clever design. The direction was also confusing that I had to walk pass the souvenir shop from the side entrance so that I could enter the inner palace ground; however, after the second ceremonial gate, the whole palace surprisingly appeared from the left in front of me. At first, I was quite disappointed with the size of the palace as I heard that Blenheim was the biggest aristocrat house in England, so I expected the super larger than life building similar with royal residence; however, after looking the place for a while I stared to appreciate its size and the beauty of design. Apart from the nice interior, the most interesting part of the palace building and often overlooked, in my opinion, was the ceiling of the main entrance portico which was the painting of six curious eyes.

The garden of the palace was also lovely, its water garden was one of the best, and I was very delighted that even in winter the garden and its fountains were still look nice and full functioned. The Water Terrace Café was also the lovely place for High Tea in the afternoon; the atmosphere and view were truly a good experience. The large landscape around the palace by Capability Brown was also great, the lake, cascade, beautiful grand bridge and large lawn were designed to enhance the look of the palace. Another highlight of the palace but I did not have time to try was the miniature train, so I only watched it from the distance. Palace's staffs were also very attentive and polite, sometimes I felt they were butlers of the duke and not just normal staffs! I spent a lovely almost four hours in the palace before returned to Oxford and London, a nice enjoyable day for a glimpse of elite world.