It’s the first weekend of August, which can really only mean one thing: it’s time, once again, for The Gentleman’s Journal Long Summer Lunch at Blenheim Palace — surely rapidly becoming one of the bastions of the social season. (We may be a little biased. We may also have had a little wine.)
And talking of bastions — has anyone wandered into the Palace’s Italian Gardens lately? Their golden stone towers glow and shimmer; their coves and porticos seem airlifted from some distant daydream. All in all, the perfect backdrop, perhaps, for this highly cheerful event — held in collaboration with Bicester Village, Land Rover, Nyetimber and Mirabeau.
More than 150 friends of the magazine gathered for the first day of the Wilderness Weekend in the glorious sunshine of the ancient Palace, cheered by a morning’s style hunting at nearby Bicester Village.
They’d been met on the platform of Marylebone Station in London by trainspotter extraordinaire Francis Bourgeois, who checked tickets and took to the tannoy to hurry guests along on their way to the rolling hills of Oxfordshire.
At Blenheim itself, singular grand table ran down the length of the private gardens, flanked on one side by tinkling fountains and manicured topiary and on the other by the cool majesty of the famous orangery. Around it, guests — such as Laura Whitmore, Jack Guinness, Francis Bourgeois, Amy Jackson, Ed Westwick, Eric Underwood, Cyrill Ibrahim, Che Lingo, Lily Travers and many more — enjoyed a quintessentially British feast of Blenheim Lamb, marinated chicken with chorizo, and skewers of salmon, all washed down by Nyetimber’s glorious sparkling wines and Mirabeau by the magnum.
Then it was a simple(ish) case of ferrying the merry bunch over to Wilderness Festival in a motorcade of all new Range Rovers, where they danced the night away at the Nyetimber Party and beyond. What fun!
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The long table in the Italian Garden at Blenheim Palace
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The Flag Twins
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![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/ca44eb1e9a26b48a7d60e6d2adeb1408512ead4d-1366x2048.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
James Rae, The Marquess of Blandford, Dave Tollemache, Max Chilton
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Ciinderella Balthazar
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Ed Westwick and Amy Jackson
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Francis Bourgeois
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Jack Brett Anderson, Max Hurd, Hugh Lawson-Scott
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Tatiana Mountbatten
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Cyrill Ibrahim
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Andrew Georgiades
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Jack Guinness
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Richard Biedul and Mathias LeFevre
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Max Hurd, Hugh Lawson-Scott, Toby Watkins, Jack Brett Anderson
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Alexander Spencer-Churchill, The Marquess of Blandford, and David Tollemache
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Jemima Cadbury and the Duke of Marlborough
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Luca Faloni
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The Marquess of Blandford and Chloe Chilton
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Joe Kennedy and Matt Rendell
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Guests were kept refreshed thanks to plenty of Mirabeau Pure rosé
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The all-new Range Rover in the Great Courtyard at Blenheim Palace
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Lily Travers, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Wij Travers, Francis Bourgeois, Max Dodd-Noble
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The Italian Gardens at Blenheim Palace
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Freddie Pearson steps out of the all new Range Rover
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Mirabeau Pure rosé
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/vxy259ii/production/1a8d4122f10bc1e2c029f7440c55da8ac8654247-1366x2048.jpg?auto=format&crop=entropy&fit=crop&h=900&q=75&w=648)
Mathias LeFevre, Cyrill Ibrahim, Scott Staniland
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Tamara Hales and Henry Hales
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The Marquess of Blandford
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The Nyetimber Bar overlooking the Italian Garden at Blenheim Palace
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Chloe Chilton and Max Chilton
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Nyetimber
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Henry Lloyd-Hughes
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The all new Range Rovers line up in the Great Courtyard at Blenheim Palace
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Mathias LeFevre, Ciinderella Balthazar, Sam Way, Lisa Way
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Jim Chapman
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Naa-Okailey Adamafio and Che Lingo
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Pouring out Mirabeau Pure rosé in the Italian Garden
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Eric Underwood
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Lily Travers
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Francis Bourgeois
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The all new Range Rover arrives at Blenheim Palace to drop off guests
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Toby Watkins
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Oliver Proudlock and Laura Whitmore
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Erik Underwood, Richard Biedul, Oliver Proudlock, The Flag Twins, Francis Bourgeois, Jim Chapman
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Henry Lloyd Hughes and Lily Travers
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Che Lingo
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The all new Range Rovers line up in the Great Courtyard at Blenheim Palace
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