A NEW lease of life was to be injected into the park at Blenheim Palace in November 1984 to attract more visitors.

The improvements would follow a closure at the end of that year of the palace garden centre, which had been run for 20 years by a private London firm.

The land occupied by the centre - which had always been free for visitors - would provide the site for a new butterfly house, children's playground and plant centre.

Once the changes were made free entry would no longer be permitted.

Estates manager Paul Hutton said it was hoped the plans would make the park more attractive to visitors to the palace, ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough.

Broken sheds were to be pulled down and replaced with a children's play area near the walled garden next to the garden centre.