A smashing Spring Clean at Blenheim
2025 will be a big year at Blenheim Palace, with the £10.4 million roof replacement project getting under way. It's something we've covered on the website a few times in the last year or so — most memorably with Henrietta Spencer-Churchill herself, who talked about the project on the Country Life podcast.
Before all that starts up, however, Blenheim are launching their annual 'deep clean' of the famous house and its contents: 11,000 books, 1,000 pieces of silverware, 38 suits of armour, some of the world's most valuable tapestries and no fewer than 19 chandeliers will be just a few of the things to be meticulously cleaned over the next six to eight weeks.
Which is all great... but if we're being honest, reading those stats just made us think of this:
https://youtu.be/Euc3Q46k8vY?si=V-PDJYtFAF6uV6Ie&t=155
We're pretty sure there won't be any Peckham-based cowboys involved in the process, of course. We wish good luck, and steady hands, to all who are.
Quiz of the Day
1) Which legendary character’s horse was named Black Bess? 2) Cottage-garden staple larkspur is more properly known as what? 3) The name of which dinosaur means ‘speedy thief’? 4) Which French Impressionist is famous for his paintings of ballet dancers? 5) Castlemilk Moorit is a rare breed of what?
Britain's best National Park pubs
Ranking pubs is a difficult business — one man's meat is another man's poison, and all that — but when over 1,600 people rank a place at 9.8 out of 10, you're probably on to a winner. That's the rating achieved by The Black Venus Inn, in the Exmoor village of Challacombe, which has come out as Britain's best National Park pub in a new list.
It's a gorgeous 16th century building that's been run by the same family — the Birches — for over 20 years, located in a spot that's ideal for exploring the local area. The research from holiday cottage company Wheelwrights put it in top spot, just ahead of the Barley Mow in Bonsall, in the Peak District, The Dartmoor Inn in Lydford, the Tai'r Bull Inn in the Brecon Beacons and the Horseshoe Inn in the North York Moors National Park.
Bohemian rhapsody
How about this for a library?
And how about this for a bedroom?
They're both in this gorgeous Norfolk house which we covered last week. Here's the link if you missed it.
Jumping into 2025
That's it for today — we're back tomorrow
Quiz answers
1) Dick Turpin 2) Delphinium 3) Velociraptor 4) Edgar Degas 5) Sheep
Henrietta Spencer-Churchill: My life at Blenheim Palace, From waterskiing on the lake to dealing with a £10 million bill for a new roof
Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill joins the Country Life Podcast.
A unique insight into Blenheim Palace, with the interior designer whose family have lived their for 12 generations
Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Henriette vvon Stockhausen and Emma Pocock are among the interior designers speaking at events hosted by Country Life
Behind the scenes at Blenheim Palace, from the £40m leaky roof to towing visitors stuck in muddy fields
Blenheim Palace: The story of the English answer to Versailles
Five things you didn't know about Blenheim Palace, from helping with royal adulterers to its unique role in equal rights
Blenheim Palace, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough's Oxfordshire home, is one of the most famous country houses on the
-
Country Life's Quiz of the Day, 7 February 2025: 10 head-scratchers to take you into the weekendGuess the house price, remember the stuff you learned at school and take wild stabs in the dark. You'll love it.
-
Seven of the UKs best Art Deco cinemas that help remind us of what we have (wrongly) long stopped expecting from public buildingsFrom the birthplace of modern cinema, to the home of the largest Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ in Europe, the UK’s remaining Art Deco cinemas are flourishing. Here are seven of the best.
-
Dawn Chorus: Lonely bat finds love, Britain's best sheep crowned, and the local theatres at risk of closurePlus we talk fishing with elite angler Marina Gibson and take the quiz of the day.
-
Dawn Chorus: Rent a house with a shark in the roof, red squirrels run riot in Yorkshire and superstitious planning enforcementPlus, top properties from the magazine and the daily quiz.
-
The test-tube cow, a bit of beaver bother, and the strings of Barbara HepworthPlus an Arts-and-Crafts delight in the Surrey Hills and the daily quiz.
-
The National Trust's big birthday present, and how much does a tuna the size of a motorcycle cost?Plus England's slowest roads, and the quiz of the day.
-
Dawn Chorus: The world-famous fashion icon who found global fame in her 90s, beating the January blues and our quiz of the dayToday’s Dawn Chorus spans the collections of American fashion icon Iris Apfel for sale with Christie’s and 25 years of the Serpentine Pavilion.
-
Dawn Chorus: A Traitors-style castle at the price of a Shepherd's Bush terrace, the very hungry otter, and Octopus's garden at Chelsea and our Quiz of the DayThe hugely popular BBC show Traitors and a hungry (and very brave) otter make our Dawn Chorus round-up today.
-
Dawn Chorus: The former acrobat arena you can now call home, the return of the obelisk and our quiz of the dayThe must have London property for sale with a fascinating past life, what happened 350, 200 and 60 years ago and the decorative take on Cleopatra’s Needle.
-
The best wedding pictures you'll ever see, what's the point of a law you don't enforce and talking about gin with James MayPlus our property of the day and the quiz.
