Blenheim Palace is located just outside Woodstock, Oxfordshire, on land granted to the First Duke of Marlborough following his 1704 victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim, during the Wars of the Spanish Succession. The grounds were extensively remodelled by Capability Brown in the mid-eighteenth century and Godwin would have seen the impressive lake Brown created by damming the river under Sir John Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge. The Pleasure Gardens are still open to visitors today.

See www.blenheimpalace.com.