Full day tour of Oxford and Blenheim Palace

Oxford - England's Oldest University
The Bodleian Library in Oxford
Trinity College, Oxford
Blenheim Palace

The colleges of Oxford, England's oldest university town, amount to one of the finest displays of medieval architecture in the country and most are open to the public when the university schedule allows. Magdalen is many people's favourite and parts of Christ Church were designed by Wren whose first public building was the nearby Sheldonian Theatre. The Divinity School, part of the Bodleian Library, has a magnificent Gothic interior, while the Ashmolean Museum boasts one of the country's best art collections outside London. The Botanic Garden, Britain's oldest, is a peaceful place for a stroll, or you can engage in a traditional student pursuit by hiring a punt on the River Isis.

Queen Anne had the extensive Blenheim Palace built for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, as a reward for his leadership in the defeat of the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. It was designed in the grandest of styles by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, with murals by equally eminent artists on allegorical themes, and a grand marble monument to Marlborough in the chapel. Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister in World War ll, was born here and there is a small museum devoted to him. There are formal gardens and a park landscaped by Capability Brown and, in addition, there are a miniature railway, a maze and a butterfly house.