The Biltmore Estate

Hello all,

We had a very nice day exploring the Biltmore House and Estate followed by a short drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Biltmore was built in the late 1800's by George Vanderbilt.  It was then (and still is) the largest home in the country and its pretty damn spectacular.  Although for me the 8,000 acres its sits on is even more beautiful.

There was no photography allowed in the house but suffice to say its all big, stuffed with antiques and also a good snapshot on how both the super rich and their small army of servants lived around the turn of the century.  We saw a lot (but not all) of the house. Its in pristine condition and the staff could not have been more helpful and friendly.

The highlight of the house was in a Stable Cafe.  Yes, they converted the large stable (20+ horses and several carriages) into a cafe.  Like everything else its very well done and (almost all of) the food comes from the estate farms and gardens.  Everything was really delicious and fresh.  We completely overindulged and were all stuffed except my darling little girl...  For desert we had the sampler platter (they all sounded so good we could not decide).  When we were done with that (and I was about ready to explode) Hannah asked "OK, so which one will we have?".  When we all looked at her aghast at the thought of even more food she looked confused, "well, we had the sampler, now which ones will we have for desert?".

After lunch we drove over to one of the farms on the estate and saw a blacksmith and carpenter working in the old facilities.  Saw various old farm stuff and then went to the petting zoo area (goats, sheep, chickens, horses, etc.).

We were all pretty done after and went for a drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Smoky Mountains are really quite breath taking and we were both amazed at the quality of the road.  The surface was pristine but more impressive was the manicured lawns along the road side and the sometimes huge beds of Lilly's at fairly regular intervals.  Remember this is in the middle of the mountains.

Tomorrow its on to APEX!!  I'll keep the blog going for a while and chronicle the move in to the new area, I'm sure that there will be plenty of entertaining and interesting moments to come.  Some pic's:

Even the McDonalds is cute. (Note: this is NOT on the estate, rather opposite the front gate).

As far a front gates go, this one's not half bad.

WOW!

Again, no photography allowed in the house but this was the view from the back porch (not sure the word porch does it justice...)

The stable cafe. Note the individual stalls along the right.

Hannah, upset after learning that the sampler was not just a preview to help you make up your mind as to what desert you actually wanted to have.

Ethan generally doesn't stand still long enough to get his picture taken so heres one taken without his knowledge (or consent).

The stables from the outside.

Stanley & Bertie, forgive me.. we realy didnt spend long at the gardens. It was hot, we were tired...

Shots from around the estate

Ethan enjoying the demo at the blacksmiths shop

We finished off in the tavern named after the Vanderbilts favorite dog "Cecil". This was his collar. (He was a St Bernard)

And finally a couple of shots taken from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The trusty Odyssey (well named)