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Blenheim Palace: how much time?

Hi.

We'll be traveling with two 13 year olds. How much time is typically spent at Blenheim Palace?

Thanks!

Posted by
6723 posts

Don't know what you consider typical. We spent most of the day there, although most of it was outdoors. We probably spent nearly 3 hours on the Palace interior and the related exhibits, although we took our time. I recommend exploring the gardens and grounds if the weather is fine.

Posted by
2371 posts

I agree you could easily spend all day there and there is much to see both inside & out. I do wonder though what will hold the young teenager's interests though. Are they interested in stately houses &/or history?

Posted by
3176 posts

I agree that you could easily spend most of a day there (we did) but it really comes down to how interested you are in Churchill family lore and the overall history of the place.
The Orangerie is a terrific place for lunch, and Sir Winston's grave is located literally across the street (just beyond the butterfly house) in the family plot at St. Martin's church.

Posted by
1672 posts

We did a tour and probably spent a couple hours there doing the portion of the palace open to tours and the grounds. It all depends but unless your teens are into 18th to early 19th century furnishings or gardens I’m not quite sure what would be of interest to 13 year olds. But you didn’t ask for opinions so probably a couple of hours.

Posted by
8043 posts

We only spent a couple hours, but didn’t walk around the exterior grounds at all. After we visited it we did visit his gravesite at St Martin's Church in nearby Bladon.

Posted by
95 posts

This is helpful everyone. Thank you. Admittedly, I'm the Winston fanatic in the family. My kids could make it through an hours but more than that would be a stretch.

Appreciate your thoughts!

Posted by
176 posts

We went last year with our 8 year old daughter. We spent maybe an hour in the state rooms, which was more exciting to her because there was an icons of British fashion show. We skipped the Churchill rooms because she wasn't interested. Then we spent another hour in the various gardens, and the last hour or two in the maze and the play park. The 13 year olds would probably feel too old for the play park, though our 8 year old loved it. The maze was pretty fun, and the gardens are beautiful of course. We liked the secret gardens and other little spots nearby.

Posted by
436 posts

WrenG - OMG, NGL, I almost typed “why do you hate your children!?!” LOL ;-)

But I didn’t.

Instead I will suggest that you, as a Churchill fanatic, could easily spend an entire day and still want more - but a couple of 13 year olds might be worn out, bored, and cranky after an hour, if they’re just tramping around with you seeing the stuff you like.

There is an “adventure park” that might be more their speed (although they might be too old for it?) https://www.blenheimpalace.com/adventure-play/

There’s a maze and a walled garden, and plenty of stuff to eat and drink… so if you are indulging in Winnie-mania and old house vibes, there could be enough for them to do.

But that doesn’t answer your question. And I don’t know the answer to that. I would imagine the amount of time spent is directly proportional to the visitor’s interest in Churchill and love of stately homes.

Posted by
135 posts

I'd say to budget half a day. We went to Blenheim Palace twice with our kids. The house and the grounds are gorgeous! We toured the inside of the house and spent most of our time outside exploring the grounds. Both times, we also ate lunch there.