Blen-chanting
On a cosy break near Churchill’s ancestral home
Walking up the long driveway on a very foggy morning, we peered through the gloom to try to make out the historic building we were approaching.
We knew Blenheim Palace was supposed to be here somewhere, but the conditions were so bad you could barely see six feet in front of you.
Eventually a faint outline of the
East Courtyard buildings appeared, the precursor to the main event of the enormous palace itself, set in an expansive piazza.
Blenheim is the only non-royal country house in England to hold the title of “palace”. But the surroundings are fit for a king and have hosted their fair share over the years.
The grandeur is inside and out – the grounds and gardens are particularly stunning.
And Blenheim is also famous for being the birthplace of Winston Churchill, with an exhibition dedicated to the wartime PM (blenheimpalace.com, entry £31).
But if history, pomp and ceremony isn’t for you then Woodstock – the small market town that sits next to it in Oxfordshire– certainly has plenty of vibrancy and life to offer.
This typical example of a Cotswold town looks pretty and sleepy in the attractive way that many of them do, but Woodstock’s art scene, food, cosy pubs and independent, family-run shops give it an extra edge.
“We’re trying to bring a little bit of East London to West
Oxfordshire,” Dantzig Art Gallery manager Marc West quips when we drop in to take a look around.
He and his colleagues certainly seem to be succeeding, regardless of their quintessentially English surroundings (dantzig.uk, free). We stayed at the gorgeous Bear Hotel. A coaching house long before Blenheim was built in its current form, the Bear offers luxury and comfort in a relaxed atmosphere while also serving up insanely good food. We went for the tasting menu on arrival after a long car journey and the teriyaki chicken and miso soup with cucumber noodles hit the spot. And our room was warm and cosy on what was a bitterly cold weekend.
Just up the road from the hotel sat the Woodstock Arms, which always seemed full of shoppers and drinkers alike enticed by its welcoming bar and log burner. Next door the Feathers Hotel is a great spot for lunch – opposite the King’s Arms, another popular hostelry.
Local tour guide Nickie of Townhouse Executive Travel took us for a look at the villages surrounding
Woodstock.
There’s always a chance of celeb-spotting in this part of the world – 90s pop star Natalie Imbruglia lives in the area as does Philip Selway of Radiohead, while Princess Beatrice is renovating a lovely-looking place nearby.
There was poignancy too as we wandered around the graveyard where Churchill is buried in Bladon, alongside other members of his family in an understated plot.
The church is hidden down a narrow lane with no hint from the outside that one of Britain’s most famous Prime Ministers is buried here (townhousewoodstock.co.uk, half-day £250).
Before returning to the hotel we stopped off at Churchill’s former local, The White House in Bladon, not far from his grave.
It was due to be knocked down to make way for housing before the pandemic struck. But once lockdown took hold, the developers changed their minds, allowing the local community to swoop in and buy it. And it’s now proudly flourishing, with a portrait of Churchill hanging over the fireplace. Bordering on the palace grounds, the Blenheim estate also played its part in restoring the pub, helping residents with costs towards the refurbishment.
Our trip fittingly ended with a visit to yet another cosy pub for Sunday lunch – The Killingworth Castle.
Landlord Jim and his team also took advantage of lockdowns to extend and renovate the restaurant area. The food certainly matches the decor and it was no surprise to find it an extremely popular place for families and their dogs. A roaring woodburner and some great ales on tap were an added bonus.
There can be a tendency to presume that if you’ve visited one Cotswold town you’ve seen them all.
But scratching the surface of Woodstock and the surrounding area, it’s obvious why it stands out as something different – offering more for families than you might expect.
It may look sleepy but Woodstock has plenty of vibrancy and life to offer