The bed was nice and comfy but I kept waking up due to the heat and lack of air in the room. The breakfast menu was comprehensive and had some unusual options to choose from. I selected coconut French toast with pineapple, honey and yoghurt which made for an interesting change.

After breakfast we collected our bags from our room and walked the short distance to Blenheim Palace. We walked round the grounds in the morning sunshine before it got hot later in the day. There is currently a dinosaur exhibition taking place in the formal gardens but when we found them, we thought that they were a bit something and nothing.

We arrived back at the café area just in time for lunch. After lunch we visited the Palace, chapel and exhibitions. We didn’t remember much of it from our previous visit which was several years ago. The are a few rooms on display in the Palace that are family rooms where photography is not allowed. After leaving this part of the tour there is a big notice to inform the visitor that photography is allowed from this point onwards.

I was taking a photo of an element of the gilded ceiling when a voice piped up in my ear; ‘photography is not allowed in here’. I initially thought it was a room guide but as I turned towards the voice, I realised it came from a visitor. I replied ‘Oh! I thought it was’ and pointed to the sign. After a bit of mumbling and ‘knowledgably’ informing her companions that photography was allowed, she promptly got her camera out without so much as an apology.

By the time we had finished our sightseeing, the cafés had closed so we made our way to the nearest watering hole, The Star, where I had a J20 rather than a cup of tea. As we walked there it was becoming increasingly more overcast. Just as we were about to sit outside the heavens opened causing us to retreat inside where Mr C made a new doggy friend. The dog tried its best to climb on to Mr C’s lap but its legs were just a little to short to manage it.

Back at the hotel, we freshened up before having a pre-dinner drink in the hotel bar area. We dined in the Punch Bowl where I chose a truffle crispy chicken burger. Strangely for a pub with rooms, it closed at 9.30pm so we returned to The King’s Head for a nightcap.