Called "the finest view in all of England", the first sight of Blenheim Palace and its grounds on entering the Woodstock Gate. The grounds were landscaped by Capability Brown. Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, was the gift of a grateful nation to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for his victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. It was designed by the architect Sir John Vanbrugh, but not completed until 1722, the year the duke died..