Easter fun at Blenheim Palace - Bubbablue and me
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Children’s Easter event at Blenheim Palace

I love our Blenheim Palace annual pass, and we certainly make the most of it.  I noticed that over Easter (yes, I’ve only just got round to writing up my Easter goings on) Peter Rabbit was going to be appearing, and as N loves the tv show and his soft toy and figurine, we had to go to meet him.

Easter fun at Blenheim Palace - Bubbablue and me

We’ve been to a few of the events there, mostly jousting, craft fairs, the car show, but I’ve never seen it so busy as it was on Easter Monday.  Admittedly, the weather was beautiful, but still.  It was like every family with an annual pass had turned up, plus all the tourists as well. With the jousting it seems less busy because it’s in a big field and more spread out, rather than around the pleasure gardens.

We usually park in the pleasure gardens car park, but it was closed for the fairground, so we were on a field.  I really should remember to take note of where our car is parked, but there were no markers apart from a few trees that all looked the same so it was a bit of guesswork on our return.  The walk was ok, but with a pushchair it would have been harder, and with younger walkers, it’s some distance.  But then that’s the same if you’re heading to the palace itself as well.

fairground ride and sun

We aimed to arrive not long after opening, so queued straight away to get tokens for the rides.  I wasn’t too keen on the token idea – it means you needed to know exactly how many rides N wanted to and would actually go on, and whether N would want me to go on them too.  I paid a fiver, and that covered us for 2 rides each, and one on the swing boats for N.  Much cheaper than the normal fairground.

riding on the carousel

I’m not really a fan of the carousel, but N didn’t want to sit on the horses, so we had the boring seats with the backside view!

carousel horses

N loves the old fashion swing boats so he had a go on those, before heading for the teacups.

swingboat ride

The last time he went on teacups a couple of years ago, he was the only one on the ride, and the silly woman running it kept it going for way too long, and kept spinning him.  At 2 ½ it was way too much for him, he wanted to get off early.  But this time he enjoyed it.

Of course he dragged me on with him.  The tea cups were tiny – definitely not made for adult length legs and a big camera bag!

chilling out on the teacups

Afterwards we headed straight in to find out where the story telling was going to be.  We bumped into Mary who was there meeting friends that day, had a quick chat, then headed to the walled garden to get a good place at the edge of the tent.

Peter rabbit storytelling set up

They’d decorated it with wheelbarrow and gardening equipment which was a nice touch, and then when the time came out came Peter Rabbit.

peter rabbit

N was really pleased to see him, and had brought along his Peter Rabbit figurine.  Poor Peter Rabbit had to act out the story being told, which was the modern Peter Rabbit version book of the football match.  N has that book, so it was nice that he would know the story.  You wouldn’t have known from the giant Peter Rabbit’s ‘acting’.  Bit of a nightmare in a huge furry costume in warm weather.  The story teller wasn’t the best.  I reckon I do the story better, and sound just like the characters on tv, but maybe that’s just me thinking that!

After the story, Peter Rabbit did a circuit of the tent so children could have their photos taken with him and say hi.  We were on the last side, so it was going to be a long wait, but N then decided he didn’t want to speak to Peter Rabbit anyway.  Worked for me.  N did ask where the Easter Bunny was because online it had said Peter Rabbit would be joining the Easter Bunny.  No sign of him though.

They’d set out the Pleasure Gardens so there was something for everyone. I quite fancied an afternoon tea (although it was morning), but I’d have confused things with me not actually drinking tea, or coffee.

afternoon tea

We headed off to the adventure playground where he enjoyed clambering around and sliding down the equipment.

adventure playground slide
hanging around

The one thing that was missing was the Easter Egg hunt.  Well, it was there but it wasn’t advertised.  There was simply a tent with no signs outside.  If you found a gold egg, you took it back to the tent to get a chocolate easter bunny.  We only started looking late in the day so didn’t find anything, I found it odd because I’d checked online beforehand, and it said that only the Friday and Saturday had the hunt for eggs, the Sunday and Monday had said it would be find the egg to enter a competition.  So a tad confusing, and a bit hard to find the eggs.  I think a trail is better. Luckily N was none the wiser because I’d not built that up.

looking for easter eggs

We grabbed some lunch from the restaurant in the Pleasure Gardens.  I prefer not to have to carry round massive cool bags while we’re out and about, so it’s handy to have somewhere to eat.  We got in the queue early (the barbecue outside didn’t look like it was open, so the queue in the extremely slow moving restaurant was insane), and waited ages. N doesn’t like pizza otherwise I’d have gone one for us to share because the price would have been about half of what we ended up paying.

picnic lunch


I think something has gone seriously wrong with the pricing of the children’s lunchboxes at Blenheim Palace.  Every place we’ve ever visited that does a kids lunchbox has either a set price for a number of items, or is a set price with specific items and then a choice of sandwich filling.  Bizarrely, the children’s lunchbox here was all individually priced items…and disgustingly priced.  Unfortunately N had already spotted the lunchboxes and I’d said he could have one before I started totting up the price.  My adult sandwich was just over £3, so pricy, but for a tourist place not out of the ordinary.  For N’s lunchbox it cost me £7!  Yes, that’s right.  Drink at nearly £2, sandwich over £2, tub of fruit £2, crisps etc.  I think I got 2 items.  Insane price.

We had another wander round.  I never think of N being that interested in museums, but he really liked looking at the museum in the Pleasure Gardens.  It helped that it was outdoor, gardening and farming exhibits

lawn mower museums

N never wants to go in the maze, but he enjoyed trying to hide from me.  When I see the pictures I took, I always remember how small N was the first time we went to Blenheim Palace with him when he was walking round.

hiding in the maze at Blenheim

Of course before we left we had to do a return trip on the train.  Some Americans shared our carriage with us and we had a lovely chat with them before setting out on our trek back to the car.

walking in the tracks across a field

It was so nice to have such a lovely day on a bank holiday – it wasn’t a total wash out.

Why not take a look at these similar posts.

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12 Comments

  1. It’s so nice to have such a destination close at hand and a pass to make the most of it. There’s certainly plenty to keep the little ones entertained, even if sometimes these places do struggle a bit at busy times. I don’t think Blenheim is too far up the M40 for us, so hope to pay a visit in the not too distant future. Thanks for linking up on the #homecountiesdaysout linky! Dan

  2. Looks like a great day out (if not a little unclear for some things!) and that is an insane price for a lunchbox! #countrykids

    1. From what someone else mentioned, it appears I was diddled on the lunchbox – the signage was non-existent, so I’m wondering if the foods got mixed up. Still disgraceful that they didn’t pick up at the till that I didn’t have kids products if that was the case.

      Thanks for commenting Stacey.

    1. Hmm, they didn’t have an advertised lunchbox price by them, and we just took items that were on the stand by the few lunchboxes that were out. Maybe they were a different lunchbox and not the children’s one – they weren’t very kiddy. Should have questioned it I guess, but the queue was so insane I’m not sure I’d have wanted to go back to the beginning and then queue again.

  3. My son loves Peter Rabbit too! This looks like a fun day. The food though! Insane price. Same reason why a lot of times we really do bring our own food wherever we go. #countrykids

  4. Love that photo of N at the edge of the maze 🙂 It sounds like they had a lot going on, and you had a beautiful day for it. That kids lunch was insane! With three kids, that would have been ridiculous. Glad N got to see Peter Rabbit x #CountryKids

  5. It was a wonderful day all around the country, as you say a change on a British bank holiday! Looks like lots going on here, I love the old mowers and it sounds like you were wise not to make a bit thing of the Easter Egg hunt, looks like it didn’t really matter with so much else to do and the rides sounded really good value. thank you for sharing a lovely family day on Country Kids.

    1. I think they do events really well. There’s always lots to do, and we’ve not even explored the grounds. I’ve never seen it so busy before though!

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