Blenheim Palace has earned a place among the UK’s most environmentally friendly visitor destinations.

The Oxfordshire site has maintained its Gold certification from Green Tourism for the eleventh consecutive year.

Green Tourism serves as an independent certification body that acknowledges sustainability initiatives and environmental responsibility within the travel and tourism sector.

Heather Carter, managing director at Blenheim Palace, stated: “We are delighted to have maintained the Gold Award from Green Tourism.

The honour acknowledges excellence across three categories: People, Place and Planet.

The palace received an enhanced score of 89 per cent in the most recent evaluation, compared to 83 per cent in 2023.

Top scores were achieved in the Health and Wellbeing and Community sections.

The property was commended for community-oriented initiatives including litter collection, allocating space for a community orchard, and providing employees with opportunities such as planting trees and practicing no-dig gardening techniques.

The estate has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality across all activities by 2027.

Environmental steps already implemented include a fully electric vehicle fleet, cutting transportation emissions by 20 per cent, and removing single-use cups from all cafés and functions, stopping over 100,000 cups from becoming waste.

Visitors are also prompted to use eco-friendly transport, with a 20 per cent reduction in admission prices for those traveling by bus, train, bicycle, or electric vehicle.

Patrons can further assist the estate’s environmental targets by buying a tree when reserving tickets – supporting the planting of approximately 5,000 trees during the previous year.