We travel to South Carolina a couple of times a year since we have family living there, and we have explored several of the beautiful cities and towns in the south.  Eventually, we’d like to retire there, at least part-time, because we love the climate and the ocean. This spring, we went for Easter weekend and while the weather was pretty awful (it was warmer and less rainy in Northen Indiana!). We squeezed in a day trip to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC while we were down there.

I’ve wanted to go to Biltmore for several years now. When my youngest son Cullen was, well- younger, he and I read together every night before bed.  One of the series that we read, Serafina, by Robert Beatty, was set in Biltmore at the turn of the century, right after it was built. The books had extensive descriptions of the French Chateau style castle, but in no way prepared me for the size and beauty of the estate. Tickets are pretty expensive, but they are good for two days, so you can see the house and gardens in one day and come back to do some hiking and see the extra exhibits they have on the grounds.

Biltmore Estate is still owned by the descendants of George Vanderbilt, who inherited his fortune from his father, William, and grandfather Cornelius, who was a shipping and railway tycoon. George visited Asheville in 1888 and fell in love with the mountains and decided to build his summer home there.  It took just about six years to complete the 250-room home, which just amazes me because of the technology of the times. When it was complete in 1894, it was “state of the art”, with running water, bathrooms, electricity, which was ran both in AC and DC, because they didn’t know which one would “catch on”, and it even had the very first Otis Elevators in North Carolina and it still runs today. It also has a swimming pool, home gym and Brunswick bowling alley which requires a staff member to set the pins and return the ball back to the bowler!

My favorite room was the Tyrolean Chimney Room. It’s called this because of the hand painted tile overmantle above the fireplace. I loved the botanical style flowers on each of the tiles. I also really LOVED the library- book nerd that I am. . . I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast in there. Mountains of books! And talk about fireplaces– Biltmore has 65 fireplaces! And they aren’t small, some of them could fit several people inside of them. Everything in the house is very elegant and large. They do a wonderful job maintaining this estate.

In addition to the house tour, which included about 35 rooms; you can also tour the 8,000 acres of gardens, hiking trails, and Antler Hill Village which has a few shops, restaurants the hotel and things for the kids to do.  We ate at Cedric’s Tavern, named after one of George Vanderbilt’s beloved St. Bernards. The food and drinks were great! We had the pretzels, pickles and beer cheese as starters and Shepherd’s Pies for our entrees. You can check out their menu here.

Curtis had zero desire to go to Biltmore with us, so we made it a ladies’ trip. And no ladies’ trip is complete without wine tasting. A scenic drive through the estate, and you end up at Antler Hill Village, which has some shops, restaurants, and the hotel and, of course, the Winery. With the ticket price (you can see ticket prices here), you get complementary parking, shuttle service, AND complementary wine tasting. Which is a brilliant way for the estate to sell the wine club to you! Especially after five samples of wine. I must admit, I am now a member of said wine club. I did the three bottles per season option. You can see the details of the Vanderbilt Wine Club here. They even have a wine library, which holds a bottle of every single wine they’ve made since 1972. My favorite bottle of wine is the Masterpiece Collection White Wine, which coincidentally features the tiles from that fireplace in my favorite room in the house. They even had a Dale Chihuly Glass Chandelier in the Winery. If you’ve never seen his work and you love blown glass like me- check it out!

I’m really glad that I finally made it to Biltmore, I wish that the weather was better because the gardens are some of the prettiest in the U.S. and I would have loved to spend some time in them. The view of the mountains is breathtaking, especially right now with trees and plants turning green. The ticket prices are a bit high, but I cannot even imagine the cost of running a place like that- the number of people it takes to keep it up, so I do understand why the prices are high. Christmas at the Biltmore Estate is supposed to be a magical place. They go all out on the decorations. I have attached a photo gallery of some of the pictures I took, but they don’t do it justice at all. If you ever get down to Asheville, you should try to see it for yourself. I hear downtown Asheville is a really fun place, so I’m definitely going to have to go back. For research and all, of course. Any maybe more wine.

If you enjoyed this week’s travels, please share and subscribe. Next week I will be taking you along on a trip where we may have encountered a ghost in Story, Indiana.