Formal Gardens

The Formal Gardens of Blenheim Palace owe much to the 9th Duke of Marlborough who, in the 1920’s, with the help of the French landscape architect Achille Duchêne, redesigned the previously uninspiring gardens to provide the Palace with the formal majestic setting that visitors see today. A trip to Blenheim Palace would not be complete without visiting the Water Terraces, Rose Garden, Arboretum, Cascades or the Secret Garden.

From the magnificent Water Terraces, designed around the Bernini river-gods fountain, to the beautiful Italian Garden centering on the Mermaid Fountain designed by Waldo Story, the formal gardens of Blenheim provided a sumptuous setting, reminiscent of the grand chateaux of France and Italy.

It took five years, from 1925 to 1930 for the Water Terraces to be built and involved an immense amount of thought and planning. Today, these terraces are reminiscent, on a smaller scale, of the Parterre d’Eau at Versailles. As well as the Bernini river-gods fountain on the second terrace, which was a scale model for the famous fountain in Rome's Piazza, the terraces have other unusual aspects, such as the lead sphinxes with the features of the 9th Duke's second Duchess and the caryatids carved in situ by Visseau, which support the first terrace, flanked by tiers of shells.

The Arboretum is reached from the Sheep Walk, a southward drive that starts at the lower Water Terrace and winds on past the Temple of Diana, built for the 4th Duke by Sir William Chambers. This unpretentious temple stands on a high point, commanding a view over the lake. It was here, during the summer of 1908, that Mr Winston Churchill, as he was then, proposed to Miss Clementine Hozier, who was to become Baroness Churchill.

In 1975, the present Duke of Marlborough restored the temple, adding two plaques. Lady Churchill officially opened the restored temple on 11th April, the same year – she remembered,

"There was a bench here then… and as I sat there with Winston I watched a beetle slowly moving across the floor. 'If that beetle reaches that crack,' I said to myself, 'and Winston hasn’t proposed, then he isn’t going to.' But he did propose!"

Four Incense Cedars, each over 50 feet (15 metres) high, tower above yew and prunus. The Arboretum also contains other interesting and rare trees and shrubs, and is particularly attractive in spring, when the blossom is out and the grassy banks are covered in daffodils and bluebells.

The Rose Garden is contained within a circular walk, arched over by slender hoops supporting climbing roses of a delicate pink. The central feature, a pool with a statue, is surrounded by symmetrical beds of roses in shades of red, pink and white in a delightful display of floral beauty.

From the Rose Garden a walk takes the visitor past the Temple of Flora and on to the Grand Cascade. Designed by the famous ‘Capability’ Brown in the 1760s, the cascade lets the River Glyme fall from the lake to become a slow river that winds south westwards under Sir William Chamber’s New Bridge, where after a further fall in the area known as the Lince, it joins the Evenlode, a tributary of the Thames.

England has higher falls than the Grand Cascade, but few more picturesque or, when the river is high, more lively.

The Secret Garden lies to the east of the South Lawn. As part of the commemorations of the Tercentenary in 2004 of the Battle of Blenheim, the present Duke restored this garden, first laid down by his father, keeping much of the original layout while introducing many new features. In contrast to the formal gardens and sweeping parkland it is a secluded area where winding paths lead over bridges to tranquil water, ponds and streams. Its style and the fact that the plants are named, means visitors can relate this to their own gardens.