For those of you who have been to Blenheim Palace will know that it's a beautiful Palace and gardens set deep in 2000 acres of the Oxford countryside. The Palace is most notorious as being the birthplace of Winston Churchill and now has additional attractions such as a minutes village, a large maze, secret gardens and a giant tropical butterfly greenhouse. It honestly is beautiful even of the rainiest of days!
So we took my dad along and surprised him with a pre-made picnic (made by yours truly) of salami and rocket sandwiches, ham and cheese, a selection of nuts, fruit and little tasty extras like Parma ham, olives, crisps and coca cola. After the picnic we put on our big coats (as it was a ridiculously windy day) and headed off around the gardens! The maze took far too long to complete and I was utterly convinced I was going to die in there; I had fully accepted death. After the trauma, we headed down to the tropical butterfly greenhouse which was the best... Swarms of butterflies fluttered around and landed on your coats, arms and fingers.
To be honest, I way preferred doing this as opposed to getting him yet anther badly wrapped, predictable present, my dad was so grateful (as we used to visit this place as a child so it served some significance in a nostalgic sense) and couldn't stop thanking us for the day out - parents are so humble on their birthdays! On my birthday week (yes, birthday week) I am queen and everyone else shall be treated like peasants. Hopefully I'll be more like my dad in a few years, hey!
