Blenheim Palace has unveiled ‘Life Below Stairs’, a new visitor experience that brings the hidden world of Victorian service to life. The experience is set within some of the original working kitchens and is open to visitors for the first time.
This experience offers visitors a glimpse into the day-to-day workings of a grand country house. ‘Life Below Stairs’ is a recreation of a Victorian kitchen and its adjacent quarters. Visitors can enter the delivery room, with views into the courtyard, before being guided through the ale & wine cellar, the scullery, the kitchen, the butler’s pantry, and the servants’ hall with the housekeeper’s desk. The new route will be self-guided, with Palace Guides stationed at various sections.
Through immersive soundscapes, visitors will be encouraged to imagine a new staff member from a local village being inducted on their first day at Blenheim Palace. This experience shows the perspective of the entire staff preparing for a visit from the Prince and Princess of Wales at the end of November 1896. While the staff are busy preparing, they are not shy about talking to their newest recruit about what working at Blenheim Palace is like.
The experience is sensory, with each room incorporating items to see, touch, smell, and read to learn more about working there during this time. Visitors can smell the herbs drying in the butler’s pantry, play card games in the servants’ hall, and flick through wine lists in the ale and wine cellar.
‘Life Below Stairs’ will feature a host of background sounds and characters to bring the experience to life, including Clara Dolley, the cook, and John Farrence, the butler. Miss Dolley’s character is found in the kitchen, and she has to deal with the perfectionist French chef, with whom she has a feisty but still respectable relationship. In the ale and wine cellar, Mr Farrance can be found, where he’s speaking to the wine distributors about bottles he’s ordered. He can also be found in the kitchen checking lunch progress with the French chef.
The new visitor experience coincides with the launch of Blenheim Palace’s most ambitious restoration initiative to date: the historic roof project and an all-new ticketed rooftop view platform. The platform provides visitors with never-before-seen views over the estate, including the famous Column of Victory.
As well as these experiences, visitors to Blenheim Palace can now enjoy personally tailored tours, thanks to a new state-of-the-art app, ‘Archie – your interactive guide’, named in honour of the Palace’s former Administrator and first Chief Guide, Archie Illingworth, who worked there from 1950 to 1972, and retired after the death of the 10th Duke.
‘Archie – your interactive guide’ lets visitors choose precisely what they want to see and hear. It also allows them to delve into over 300 years’ worth of stories – many of which have never been told before – with several of the narratives shared directly by staff members, giving authenticity and depth to the cultural heritage experience.
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