Walking West from London, stops had been organized at Winslow Hall, Blenheim Palace, Broughton Castle, Stanway House and Daneway House.

For ten days at each the 'keys to the house' were available allowing the buildings and their landscapes to be fully explored. This gilded sphere tops the main North facade to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

BLENHEIM PALACE

With Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor as architects the quality of the design and building is exceptional, helped by the trades' revival following the fire of London.

Some fifty years after the completion of the building Capability Brown modified the Park into the form that we see today.

It was constructed as a national monument to celebrate the British defeat of the French at Blenheim, on the Danube, in 1704 during the war of the Spanish Succession.

Funds to build the Palace were presented by Queen Anne to John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough who led the army.