I recently visited Oxford and Blenheim Palace for a day trip by coach and it was much easier than I initially thought! At first I was worried that I wouldn’t have time to do anything because it would take too long to get to Oxford but in the end everything worked out just fine!
I used to be able to drive everywhere as I own a small Nissan Micra, but unfortunately I have been diagnosed with a brain tumour which means I have had to give up driving! I am not going into all the details why, but if you are interested you can do a quick online search to find out why people with brain tumours cannot drive.
What you can’t get with a brain tumour is affordable travel insurance abroad! I checked with a few insurance companies and more than half turned me away with no quote while the other half wants to charge an extortionate amount! The hunt is still on for an affordable travel insurance policy for my trip to Japan in May!
So, if you can’t find affordable travel insurance either, then the best thing to do is travel within the UK! And for that there is National Express that goes to literally every corner of the country!
National Express Offer
Anyhow, around the same time of my brain tumour diagnosis I got an email from National Express asking me if I wanted to visit a place in the UK using their coaches and write a review about it?
I was a bit reluctant at first because I had many other things going on in my mind at the time but then I decided a trip to Oxford would be perfect to help me relax a bit. And the trip to Oxford was great!
Number one, I did not need to drive because I had a driver in the form of a coach driver! Two, I could just enjoy the view out of the coach window and do whatever I wanted! Three, it was free!
A few years ago I spent some time in Oxford walking around the city centre, the riverside and visiting some of the historic buildings but I wanted to visit again to discover new things.
I got a couple of codes from National Express in February then went ahead and booked my tickets to Oxford from London Victoria Coach station for Saturday, 13 April.
The 13 April arrived quickly but unfortunately Network Rail decided to close down the main line to Victoria so it took almost an hour to get to central London instead of the usual 32 minutes.
X90 Service to Oxford from London
The X90 service to Oxford from London is operated by the Oxford Bus Company. You can book tickets using their app or online or on the National Express platform. The coach was super clean with comfortable seats plus plenty of storage as well as a toilet on board.
It turns out they had free wifi on-board too, but I forgot to try as I was chatting to my friend. I also have unlimited data on my Three mobile SIM so there was no point logging onto the wifi.
If you do, I think you can watch movies and stuff on the National Express coaches just like on planes. Next time I am on a coach I will make sure to try it!
Departing from Victoria
The coach departed from outside Victoria Coach Station, from coach stop 7 at 0840 in the morning. The journey to Oxford took just under two hours on the motorway, along rolling pastures and some beautiful forests of the English countryside.
You definitely don’t get this on planes! You might get to see some nice countryside on trains but what you don’t get is a guaranteed seat plus lower prices.
This return trip to Oxford would have cost me £14 if I had to pay for it, compared with £54.60 from Marylebone Station to Oxford by train, departing at the same time.
The travel time difference is also minimal, taking 90-120 minutes by coach, depending on traffic or 90 minutes by train from Marylebone.
If you drive you need to pay for the fuel, parking, car insurance, upkeep of the car and so forth, coming in more expensive than the coach for sure. The running costs of my Micra came in at around £110 a month, and that is just to do everyday stuff, not including weekend trips.
The best is, Blenheim Palace offers 30% off the ticket price for people that travel there by coach!
The full ticket price to enter Blenheim is £27 but because I went there by coach I only paid £18.10. On top of this, they have a special offer, giving an annual pass if I choose to donate the ticket price. So now I have an annual pass to Blenheim Palace and the gardens.
Christchurch College in Oxford
Well, I guess I am jumping ahead a bit! I arrived in Oxford with my friend a little after 10AM. We got off on the High Street then visited Christchurch College where we walked around the gardens, snapping the building from a couple of different vantage points.
We did not go in because it would have cost £7.60 to enter – we did not want to spend too much on tickets and the queue was humongous!
The thing is, you don’t need to go inside every building, most of them are beautiful enough from the outside!
Breakfast at Cafe Loco (for my friend)
My friend was desperate for his caffeine fix so stopped at Cafe Loco where prices were real loco so I bought nothing. He had a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant for £5! This was just outside Christchurch College so clearly the cafe owner is aiming at the rich Asian tourists – a bagel was £8.95!
With my brain tumour I am trying to cut out sugary foods high in carbohydrates so simply there was nothing on the menu for me anyway!
Covered Market in Oxford
Our next stop was the Covered Market in Oxford where my friend started have regrets about his breakfast the moment we walked in!
The Covered Market in Oxford is (guess what?) a covered market with lots of cafes, restaurants, market stalls and everything else you can think of!
After about half an hour of walking around inside the Covered Market I finally made up my mind as to what to eat!
I had breakfast at Alpha Bar, that sells vegetarian and meat dishes at affordable prices! I bought myself a relatively large box of chickpea, fish, barley plus a bit of olive tapenade, coming in at £5. It was so much that in the end we finished it together with my friend.
Heading out to Blenheim Palace
From the Covered Market we walked down toward University Church, after which we turned left onto Catte Street to check out some of the old university buildings.
Following this we headed out to Blenheim Palace near Woodstock.
There are several coaches serving this area, such as the S3, the 7 and the 500 Park and Ride coach. The ticket is £5 return but you are better off buying a single because the Park and Ride coach doesn’t accept tickets from the other operator.
The coach to Blenheim Palace departs from George Street in Oxford and takes about 40-45 minutes, depending on traffic. The coach will take you past some nice historic buildings, so it will be an enjoyable journey.
Meeting the Duke of Marlborough
As we drove past a roundabout I remembered a funny event from a few years ago. About three years ago I visited Blenheim Palace just before closing time because then the ticket is only £5 to visit the park grounds.
My friend and I arrived about an hour before closing, which was also the time when the Duke arrived home. We met at the same roundabout, which is just before the stop where you need to get off the coach.
So as I had right of way, I started turning left onto the road leading to the palace but then a pillock tried to cut in from the other direction. Clearly, I was not going to let this happen and drove on as usual.
The guy seemed very annoyed and was tailgating me all the way to the palace grounds where I turned left in through the gates.
So it was here when I could properly check him out! It turned out he was the 12 Duke of Marlborough, the owner of the palace! I saw a documentary about him and his drug habits on TV a few weeks prior so I recognised him but he did not want to stop to say hello, instead he sped right past me. He was clearly in a hurry!
Arriving at Blenheim Palace
The coach stop where we got off is right outside the palace gates at Blenheim. The walk to the ticket booth takes about five minutes, after which it is another ten minute walk to the main entrance of the actual building.
Like I mentioned, don’t forget to tell them you’ve arrived by coach because then you will get 30% off!
History of Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is more than 300 years old – the money to build it was donated by Queen Anne to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough.
The Duke was a military leader and apparently he managed to kick the ass of the French King, resulting in a massive victory in southern Germany in 1704.
It is a long convoluted story as to why the English were fighting a war against the French in Southern Germany, so come and visit to find out the small details!
Basically, the Queen was so impressed that she gave John £200,000 dosh to build the palace – but it wasn’t enough because John wanted to build something so opulent!
In the end the Duke and his wife had to spend an additional £60,000 to finish the project. At that time, £5000 was worth about £300,000 in today’s money, so get your calculator to find out how much they’d spent on the building and grounds!
Blenheim Palace Grounds
The gardens were designed by Capability Brown, a very famous gardener of the time built several gardens across the UK, including the one at Blenheim Palace. Titchmarsh actually created a documentary about him on Channel 4, which you might still be able to watch online.
In fact, there is three-part series about Blenheim Palace on Channel 4, probably still available online. It was quite fascinating to watch and that is what inspired me to visit the grounds.
The palace grounds are massive with a lake, a victory column as well as a huge bridge and a waterfall!
No Expense Spared
Clearly, they spared no expense when they built the place. Perhaps the most famous person that was born here is Winston Churchill, who grandfather was the owner of Blenheim at the time. Churchill’s father was the younger son, so he did not inherit the title but he still got the name and connections.
If you want to enter the grounds only, that will cost you £17 but with the coach discount it is well worth visiting the entire building.
Inside the palace it was simply breathtaking! The main hall was two floors high with a ceiling covered in a massive painting.
We got a free audio guide for the self-guided tour that took about an hour at a comfortable pace. The corridors in the building are lined with paintings and marble statues of the family, as well as various Roman Emperors (talk about egos).
Opening the Palace to the Public
Unfortunately, the owners of the palace ran out of money by the end of the Second World War at which point the 11 Duke decided to open the gates to the public.
It was a huge outrage at the time among the members of aristocracy – but since then many of them followed suit, making millions in the process.
Opening up to the public has turned out fine – testament to this is that the 12th Duke is now spending £40 million to upgrade the lake, the palace and everything else by 2027.
Returning to Oxford from Blenheim
We arrived at Blenheim Palace around 1pm and left just before 5pm, so I would say it was well worth the £18 – the best is we can come back any time for 12 months, paying nothing!
After the tour of the palace we caught a coach back to Oxford, had dinner at the Thai restaurant in the Covered Market then jumped on the X90 back to London.
Since our train home departed from Victoria train station it was super convenient for us as we just had to cross the street and get on the train home!
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