Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, is now home to a British-built Husqvarna Automower®

Arguably one of Britain’s finest stately homes, a master piece of English Baroque architecture and residence to the 12th Duke of Marlborough. Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, is now home to a British-built Husqvarna Automower®. The robot lawn mower was installed recently in its very grand location to tackle a newly reclaimed area of grass that was previously very challenging to maintain using conventional means.

Blenheim Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. It is also the only non-royal residence to carry Palace status in the UK.  The 2,000 acres of gardens dating back to the 18th Century were designed by renowned landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown – a small section of which Husqvarna Automower® will now maintain.

An innovative solution to maintain high-profile lawns

Husqvarna Automower® was recommended to Blenheim Palace’s head gardener, through another high profile Stately Home. Hatfield House in Hertfordshire employs a fleet of Husqvarna Automower® to maintain the formal lawns around the house. The Blenheim Palace enquiry was handled via authorised Husqvarna Dealer, Toad Hall Garden Machinery, Oxfordshire and supported by Husqvarna UK.

Installed in early June, Husqvarna Automower® is now maintaining the sloping grass area leading down to the Palace’s 160 acre lake, dating back to 1768. The little and often cutting principle and random mowing pattern will quickly improve the lawn quality to match the very grand surroundings. The extremely low noise levels also ensures that the machine can work away without disturbing paying customers visiting the Palace.

Commercial Automower® across the UK

Blenheim Palace joins a growing list of high profile UK commercial locations adopting Husqvarna Automower® to maintain areas of grass. Andrew Lees, UK Category Manager for Lawn products commented: “We are seeing a real appetite for Automower® from the commercial sector and Blenheim Palace is another high profile example which has adopted robotic mowing for green space management.”

Lees added: “We have a strong belief in our robotic range and high profile commercial installations like Blenheim Palace and others only help reinforce this with end customers. This can only have a positive impact on the development of both the commercial and domestic markets for Husqvarna Automower® and for our Authorised Dealer network. What is really pleasing is the diversity in the type of commercial customers that are now using Husqvarna Automower® to maintain green spaces. The product itself and the results it produces have a very positive impact in marketing the concept, a lot of the interest has been driven by word of mouth and recommendation. The conversations between Hatfield House and Blenheim Palace are very good examples of this and we have more in the pipeline off the back of this.”

Husqvarna UK has an impressive list of commercial installations across the UK, ranging from municipalities (Edinburgh, London & Glasgow), botanic gardens, multi-national headquarters, stately homes, sports facilities, zoos and educational establishments.