Rural Blandford-Blenheim

Rural Blandford-Blenheim covers almost all of the township: about 38,000 hectares of farmland between Woodstock and the Waterloo Region line, crossed by Highway 401 and the Highway 403. Washington, Wolverton, Canning, Gobles, Ratho, Richwood, Chesterfield and Blandford Station are hamlets among the farms. Richwood Hall, a former schoolhouse, is a community hall from spring to the end of the year, and the Chesney Wilderness, planted in 1944, was the first reforestation plot in the county.

Blandford and Blenheim were named in the 1790s by Governor Simcoe, after Blandford and Blenheim Palace in England, both linked to the Duke of Marlborough. Blenheim was opened to settlement in 1793. Wolverton Hall, a Regency brick house of about 1854 built by the village founder Enos Wolverton, still stands in Wolverton. The two townships joined in 1975. Blandford-Blenheim had 7,565 people in 2021.

The 2021 census counted 2,779 homes in Blandford-Blenheim. Leaving out the four villages, the countryside and its hamlets had about 1,550 homes, more than nine in ten of them single detached houses. Nearly half were built in 1960 or earlier and about a quarter between 1961 and 1980. About one in six were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in eight in 2001 or later.

Highway 401 crosses the township between Woodstock and Cambridge, with an exit near Drumbo, and the Highway 403 runs east from Woodstock past Princeton toward Brantford. Oxford Roads 8, 22 and 29 link the farms with the villages and with Woodstock.

Richwood Hall at 767415 Township Road 5, the former S.S. No. 14 schoolhouse, is a community hall open from mid-May to December. The Chesney Wilderness, 40 hectares planted in 1944, was the county's first reforestation plot. The arena in Plattsville and the parks and splash pads in Plattsville and Drumbo are a short drive from most of the township.

• Blenheim and District Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the south and east, including Township Road 2 and Gobles Road, in Drumbo.
• Hickson Central Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the west, including Blandford Road, in Hickson.
• Plattsville and District Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the north, including Township Road 14, in Plattsville.
• Innerkip Central Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the farms near Innerkip, including Township Road 4, in Innerkip.
• Huron Park Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for Rural Blandford-Blenheim, on Cromwell Street in Woodstock.
• Roch Carrier French Immersion Public School — Grades 1 to 8 in French immersion. The public French immersion school for the township, on Sloane Street in Woodstock.
• St. Michael's Catholic School and St. Patrick's Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary schools for the township, on Devonshire Avenue and Parkinson Road in Woodstock.
• Holy Family French Immersion Catholic School — SK to Grade 8 in French immersion. The Catholic French immersion school for all of Oxford, on Oxford Street in Woodstock.
• St. Mary's Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for the township, on Juliana Drive in Woodstock.
• Woodstock Collegiate Institute — Grades 9 to 12. Thames Valley's public French immersion secondary school, on Riddell Street in Woodstock.