Loan Ranger At Blenheim Palace
English Baroque architecture, over two thousand acres of parkland landscaped by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace evokes a unique experience for visitors. The ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough is host to a wide variety of activities in addition to the splendour of the Palace, from trout and coarse fishing, a conference venue, team building activities, weddings and other private events through to property and a bottling plant for Blenheim Palace Natural Mineral Water. Behind these scenes the major commercial decisions involved in running such a large and diverse estate have to be considered in detail. Not least then the vehicles used around the parkland, gardens and grounds for day-to-day tasks.
Having run a number of ATVs/quads for several years, the estate managers and their staff had to consider replacements in 2010 and had a number of demonstrations of different types of ATV and UTV. The difficulty in choosing was compounded by the variety of tasks to be performed daily, especially with the house and grounds open daily to the public. Local Polaris dealer Murray Boss suggested they trialled a Polaris Ranger 400 and one was left on loan for a week, with three operators taking it in turns to put it through its paces. No one was disappointed, in fact having the side x side for several days to compare with their quads pointed out just how versatile it was.
Daily work feeding game, managing deer, vermin control and the ability to generally get around the estate quietly, economically and with minimal disturbance soon became apparent. The decision was reached to have two Polaris Ranger 400’s and the option was taken to fit polycarbonate windscreens and canvas roof panel accessories. These coupled with the off-road ability were found to be invaluable in the extremely harsh winter conditions at the beginning of 2011, when the Rangers were the only vehicles moving around the estate.
As the year progressed other benefits became apparent. The estate managers have found the Rangers are more economical than previous ATVs, are totally reliable, have minimal service costs and offer real performance in everyday use. Operators can carry passengers, have the dogs in the back, tow trailers and operate in all weather conditions. They particularly like the on demand All Wheel Drive, finding that most of the time they were in 2WD with 4WD automatically engaging when needed. With such large areas of grass on the estate they fully appreciate as well the VersaTrac Turf Mode which unlocks the rear differential for tighter turns that won’t tear up the grass. The two Polaris Ranger 400’s at Blenheim Palace have 455cc/29hp engines, with a cargo capacity of 226.8kg (500lbs) and a towing capability of 567kg (1250lbs).