Blenheim Palace Reviews 96

Too expensive. £41!!
Have to pay extra for specific tours and bus ride around grounds too.
Loos filthy, cafes dreadful with overpriced foods and dirty crockery and cutlery. Had to return 2 cold soups served. Refund eventually as didn't want to wait another 30 minutes.
Experience rooms which were exhibitions really. 😡😡
Don't bother.
My 2 stars are for the knowledge of driver on grounds ride.
Shop doesn't take cash.
Clothing at back of shop near loos so absorbing constant faecal smell. They try to cover that with horrible air freshener 🤮
Generally I'm glad I went to see where Churchill born, but it's basically a money grabbing exercise that isn't worth it.
Seems the Marlborough's always been money grabbing and not changed!!!

Finally managed to find dates for Christmas lights, had to select several times and go through the entire process, only to be told that there were not enough tickets available for the date chosen. Finally found some times where tickets are available, and now cant pay for them and just comes up with an error. Sort your Website out!!!!

Expensive entry for what you get for your money.
Large property but only a few rooms open to the public. No flow and poorly signed for the few things they do have open. Currently under renovation so not much to look at from the outside either.

A good all round day out from the glorious palace to the new coffee van

You ought to feel ashamed. Staying in the Cotswolds as part of my 70th birthday celebrations last week my son bought five full price tickets online for our party to visit and enjoy the house, garden and the walled garden as one of our special days. I am a keen gardener and visit many gardens and was so excited to see yours.

Firstly the house - under a huge renovation project, the beautiful frontage covered in scaffolding and screening so not visible to admire. How can you not mention this?

The gardens were also a massive disappointment - the walled garden horrific, bare ground, mostly dust and unkempt, barely anything growing. Looked neglected. I checked with the staff in the kiosk in case we had wandered into the wrong area. No - they told me we had just come out of it. I visited two RHS gardens only the previous week - the difference was unbelievable. Theirs were magnificent.

My son apologised to me so often and suggested we go somewhere else.

We all live more than four hours away so saying these passes can be used for the coming year doesn’t help. Also, I understand that the renovation work will run until sometime 2026.

The house inside is glorious but overall - don’t go. Our expectations were nowhere near met and we felt misled. Very poor!

Read other reviews.

We had lunch at the Orangery. It was perfect in every way. The food, the service, the setting were excellent. A lovely singer too.

A short walk around the lovely grounds afterwards rounded off a wonderful visit.

I really loved everything here except for the awful customer service when entering. I have worked at customer service for a long time, therefore I am very compassionate towards customer service. Very very rude guy who was working the tickets at the entrance. You are better off buying tickets at the gate. 10/10 do not recommend annual passes! I have never given a one star review before in my life until today…

As local residents, we purchased an annual ticket primarily to access the children’s playground, which is well designed and enjoyable, when the weather is good and the water features are working. Unfortunately, over many visits throughout the year, the water features operated only once, repeatedly disappointing my children. Despite raising the issue multiple times, staff responses felt dismissive and suspect. I suspect the cost of running and repairs is something they are reluctant to cover, despite the high ticket and other prices. We also visited the house, other attractions and the Christmas Neverland exhibition; none met our expectations given the price paid. The exhibition was frankly embarrassing considering the ticket cost. Overall, every visit left us disappointed. It seems the focus is on maximising short-term revenue rather than fostering long-term visitor satisfaction. Friends who joined us and others we met at Blenheim have had similar feelings. We will not be repurchasing membership.

If you're just going for kids Adventure Play - DON'T bother it's a rip off!!!

Better off going Adventure Play in Windsor; 10 times better, half the price!!!

Visited Blenheim Palace specifically for the roof tour. It is incredible, if you can drag yourself away from the incredible views to see the roof and sculptures so close is incredible. There are stairs or a lift, the stairs allow you to explore more aspects of the work that is being undertaken. The tour of the roof was fantastic and that was before I visited the house which is not impacted by all the roof work. A visit is most definitely recommended.

Lovely grounds and very helpful staff. My daughter has a young baby and they advised her of where to go to feed her and where to store the pushcair. Paid for the Annual Pass, which means we hope to go back at Xmas.
Lovely grounds that includes a Butterfly Farm and a beautiful orchard. There is also a Pizzeria in that part of the grounds which we will try next time as they are cooked in a wood fired oven.

Do not visit until 2028 unless you don't mind being completely ripped off. Myself and my husband visited on the 19th June and were were charged £82 to visit a deafeningly loud construction site. At the time of visiting there was NO prior warning of the works being done on the website or at the gates when purchasing tickers. There was also no information regarding the sound checks that was taking place that were so ridiculously loud we couldn't actually believe this was even allowed to take place during the day with paying visitors everywhere.

Our experience was extremely disappointing and not at all in line with what was advertised or expected. There is significant scaffolding covering entire facades and the vast majority of the inside and outside is closed or obscured. Chairs and a stage covered the entire terrace, and an extremely loud, continuous sound check took place throughout the entire duration of our visit. This excessive noise rendered the visit extremely unpleasant — it was impossible to have a conversation at close proximity to my husband. I would also like to mention that we bought a small pot of ice cream from a stand near the main dining area - the contents was open, leaking and half eaten! This was quickly rectified by staff, but this is very poor in terms of health and hygiene.

Whilst I completely understand that works are essential for maintenance, the lack of any advance warning or discounted ticket price felt deceptive and fraudulent. I checked the website a week prior for opening hours, and again on the day of our visit, and at no point was there any mention of ongoing works or disruptions - only that areas would be closing slightly earlier than usual due to the concert. I showed the website to a member of staff who agreed that scaffolding information was not visible. I noticed they changed the website a couple of daylater to show the works and scaffolding - this should have been added weeks earlier for guests planning future visits. If you look back at reviews from mid June you can see others were in a similar situation and angry for being so blatantly conned.

I spoke with a member of staff about our issues during our visit and she agreed with us wholehartedly - she advised us to email for compensation which of course we did immediately. We received a watery response with no refund or compensation offered nd we are furious at Blenheim Palace management for this shameless money-grab and underhandedness.

It is clear from recent online reviews that we are not alone in our disappointment, so I strongly suggest you do not visit until 2028 when the works are complete.

Visited on our way home from weekend away. Didn't realise until we paid on the gate it was £41 per ticket. We were expecting 20% discount for English Heritage membership but didn't get it. Maybe because there was going to be an event on that night? But this wasn't explained to us at the ticket kiosk. House covered in scaffolding, limited rooms available to see due to internal renovations-again, not told this before paying. Supposedly you can now go up to the roof and also see 'below stairs' but neither available on the day. Parkland was lovely. Café seemed understaffed-not everything available, cutlery not replenished, sugar had run out. Tables not cleared. Event on in the evening meant courtyard in front of house was full of seating. So disappointing.

At most 5% of the event was a Flower Show consisting of a very small Tent with about a dozen judged Rose displays which to be fair were quite good.
The rest of the event was Sales of Clothes, Paintings, Ornaments, Garden equipment, Plants, Food and drink etc.
So we drove a 160 miles round trip and paid £41 per head to be sold things!
Who in their right mind travels such a distance and pays that amount of money to go shopping in B&Q, Takeaways, Clothes shops and Garden Centres.
Hundreds of people clearly did on the day of our visit.
We visit lots of Flower Shows every Summer in all corners of the Country and thoroughly enjoy them.
This was our First and definitely our Last to this one!
Would certainly question what constitutes a Flower Show as far as Blenheim is concerned.

Disappointed to find main building covered in sheeting and scaffold. Major building works in progress.
There is a limited number of rooms to see.
The maze was shut.
The walled garden scruffy.
The house garden was off bounds.
It would be a better experience and value to spend your money on the National Trust (lots of places countrywide).
The highlights were the butterfly house and the view from the roof.
Poor value at around £40 each, PLUS charges for other things such as the children's playground; we've got you now to be fleesed. All part of the experience.

Accessibility Blenheim Palace Gary Barlow Nocturne Live
RANT 🤯🤯
Soo
Today I called Blenheim palace as I’m due to go to a concert this Friday
I was fully expecting that the shuttle from car park to palace entrance to be continuing throughout the night as it’s a accessibility issue for all of us that struggle .
They told me the shuttle was finishing at 4.30pm 🤔
So I was directed to nocturne itself who simply said access to the palace was not their problem 🤔🤔😨😨
So for all of us that may require help from the car park to the palace and then again later in the evening (despite I’m sure Blenheim palace making a killing)
Unless you have a way of getting back to car park later after the concert ….we are all going to struggle .
In short Blenheim Palace you are only accessible in office hours which is very short of being accessibility venue
I think if your offering concerts etc with accessibility then that should be throughout the event not just office hours
This is a incredibly long walk simply just from the car park let alone to our seated areas
#blenheimpalace #sort out your disability#im pain just thinking about it#no walkers will get to my seat #no mobility scooter to my seat#accessibility viewing area miles away from stage#blenheimpalace not good enough
I have been a few times this year my last visit was March for dinner when I had finished I was told sorry the shuttle had finished it was 5,30 for god sake absolute outrage

Be careful when buying tickets. I accidentally bought my tickets from TIGETS company-1st on website. We hen we got to Blenheim we were informed that the tickets did not qualify for Annual Passes as they had not been bought on Blenheim Palace website. We will have to pay again whe going to see the Christmas activities. MY FAULT but be careful where you buy your tickets. Visit was BRILLIANT

My partner and I were seasonal members and one day I wanted to call into the shop. I had my membership card but my partner didn’t as she wasn’t going in so didn’t bring it.
Upon entering the grounds we were met by security guards who didn’t know we were members and told us to get tickets at the ticket office.
Unfortunately my partner said she didn’t have her ticket with her - not that it mattered as I was going into the grounds, not her, and then they started to treat us like ticket dodgers.
Ticket checks are carried out at the admission barrier, not here, as many who pass this point don’t have any tickets and purchase tickets later, so the fact my partner didn’t have a ticket at this point shouldn’t have mattered.
We were treated abruptly. The security guards tried to be difficult and said it wasn’t allowed for her to wait in the car while I went inside the palace.
We have never been back since and consequently not renewed our memberships.

Blenheim have gone against the wishes of British Triathlon and are charging every adult spectator £31 to support competitors, even family members and those transporting competitors to the event. No other triathlon event charges spectators. Blenheim Palace Customer services tried to make out this was not their decision to charge £31 but they are the ones who made the decision.

Bought full price tickets (£41 each) but used £6 of Tesco vouchers. Many interesting parts of the palace were closed for refurbishment (no advance warning!) Roof terrace wasn’t open and alternative displays were very poor. Tickets only lasted a day but could upgrade to an annual pass on the day for another £10 each. Annual passes are free with £41 tickets unless you buy any part of your ticket through Tesco club card. Absolute rip off. Very very poor. I’ve complained but the palace staff couldn’t care less. If you do go (and there’s much better value for money places in my opinion in the beautiful Cotswolds) take a packed lunch as small sausage rolls are £8 each!!