Blenheim Palace is the ancestral home of the Dukes Of Marlborough and most famously, Winston Churchill.
We set out on a bright December day and made a detour to a little village in Oxfordshire called Hanwell. This a place that plays a part in Peter's ancestry. Several relative on his mother's side, the Gunns were born and lived here so we went to the church and checked out the graveyard to see if we could find any. Inside the church there is a World War I memorial and we found the name, A.Gunn of the Royal Field Artillery. Later we found out that he was killed in 1916 and that he was a cousin of Peter's grandfather, have to make further investigations.
St. Peter's Church, Hanwell
Blenheim Palace was a gift from Queen Anne to John Churchill, who was a Colonel in the English Army at the age of 25, his claim to fame was that he never lost a battle and the property was in recognition of his exploits. He was the victor over the French at the Battle of Blenheim and this was where the Palace got its name. It is a lovely house in beautiful grounds that took the landscape gardener, Capability Brown, ten years to complete.
As a Christmas present Sue and Alan bought us high tea at Blenheim. Very nice, sandwiches, cake and tea...... yum!
Uniparts, the car parts company, were having a Christmas dinner and all was being prepared as we were leaving, antique cars, red carpets and James Martin as chef.... we couldn't get an invite although Alan tried really hard......
