Also enjoyed the winery! Great tasting Biltmore branded Christmas wines!
We didn't stay on the estate, but we visited two days in a row. The first night, we toured the house (during the candle light Christmas event). WOW! I've never seen such architecture and attention to detail when decorating... Mind blowing. The entire tour (when listening to the audio guide) took us two hours.
The highlight of the trip, for me, were the gardens and conservatory. I must've taken 300 pictures of interesting and unique plants housed in the conservatory. When I got home, I actually looked up the names of some of the plants I saw there, ordered them online, and am going to try my hand at raising them once they come in the mail.
We took a day trip to the Biltmore. We wore our coats inside. The tour was nice and informative. We walked the route ourselves with the rental audio machines. The place is very big! Lots of walking and stairs. There are some places you're not allowed to go. The restaurant that's in the old horse stable is good, ask for a stall table. The gift shops in the same area are also good. There is wine tasting nearby, on the property, that is good. The whole thing is a bit too big, and after the long drive to get there, we could have spent the night somewhere, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend two days there. When you ask someone for directions and they say "It's on the property.", they don't mean it's nearby. They mean you have to drive to get there. That involves taking a bus back to your car in a parking lot, and then finding your way to the other facility. "The property" extends to the farthest mountain top that you can see in the distance!
I loved all of the trees throughout the house.
The Biltmore was built by one of Cornelius Vanderbilt's children... After visiting the Biltmore my wife and I decided to listen to the audio book autobiography of Cornelius Vanderbilt... At the time one of the richest man on the planet if not the richest man on the planet... The Biltmore is a striking example of European Colonial architecture brought to America... I absolutely loved it a magical fabulous place that has a tiny downside or at least a tale of precaution... Imagine this home built for millions and millions of dollars in the twenties... Positioned on over a hundred thousand acres... With some 200 rooms and one of the most amazing buildings you will ever see this side of Europe... But they were only able to live there a very short time before the overhead and the taxes began to be unmanageable... Bear this in mind, one of the richest families in the world could not afford to keep up a building and pay the taxes on it... They had to start selling off portions of the land nearby to pay the taxes and it reminds me that building an empire is not that hard! Maintaining an Empire... Nearly impossible
As the leaves are changing and while the Christmas decorations are up are the 2 best times to visit Biltmore.
This is not an experience I'll forget soon. I enjoyed every moment I spent at the Biltmore.
The second day we returned to view the gardens, village, and winery. We left the winery after trying several types of wine and buying three bottles (The sparkling wine is AMAZING). A bike rental followed the winery, and seeing the grounds from something other than a car is spectacular. We rested by the French Broad River, fed ducks and geese at the lagoon, and enjoyed the scenery of the blue ridge mountains around us.
We were at the 10:15 am time slot and the traffic and lines were moving right along. A great experience on one of the busiest days of the year. So happy we chose that time of the day. The shuttle/new trolley buses were very welcoming and drove us from the parking lot right to the front entrance. The Christmas decorations were fabulous. The house and grounds are wonderfully maintained. Highly recommend. We even bought a yearly pass to return throughout the year so we can see the gardens and possibly stay at the inn.
I love the architecture and "grand" feeling of the Biltmore Estate. This was my first tour in 10 years and the first time seeing the Estate decorated for Christmas.
Biltmore is a US Museum based in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore is located at 1 Lodge St, Asheville, NC 28803, USA.
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