Last Sunday, we checked out of the Hilton and went to grab some lunch. We decided to try Copper Canyon Grill. The food was good, not spectacular, and HUGE portions! So filling! I had to take half my sandwich home and couldn’t eat all the house salad. And, then we were off……..to the Biltmore Estate! I’ve wanted to go see this place for years…not sure how many…so just years.

The estate is huge…quite a drive in and out! Well, we parked in Lot A, and caught the bus to the actual mansion (uh castle w/o fortification if you ask me). Upon approach…wow. Breathtaking…huge. The bus driver announced to us (not word for word), “..the Biltmore estate has 255 rooms and 43 bathrooms, none of which you can use, oh and you can’t take pictures inside. You are free to take all the pictures you like outside.” (Awe, geez, thanks).

I took some out front pics before we went inside the mansion. If you aren’t familiar, the Biltmore Estate was built by George W. Vanderbilt. It took 6 years to complete, being completed in 1895. Mr. Vanderbilt was 33 years old when he moved in…as a bachelor! He spent 9 years in the house, until he died of complications associated with his appendectomy. In total, they said the house was lived in 15 or 16 years…the rest of the time….it has been shown to the public, but still owned by the Vanderbilts (specifically by William A.V. Cecil, G.W. Vanderbilt’s grandson).

Once inside, we wound our way through the house, following the path they made for us. You could easily get lost in here…it is kept fairly cool with FANS! It was ridiculous inside. I mean ridiculous. The ceilings were so high! The decorations were delightfully elaborate. The rooms were outrageously huge! It really is ridiculously lovely. Highlights inside were his & her bedrooms connected by the largest breakfast room I’ve ever seen. And, the bedrooms made the beds look small or maybe they were small? Also, this house had a bowling alley, a swimming pool (and men’s and women’s changing rooms), servants quarters…oh my. It has the biggest built out basement you’ve ever seen…and so many many bedrooms.

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Since, I could not take pictures inside the estate, err mansion, err castle…I bought a book of postcards that had a lot of pictures in it (damn them). I also bought a shotglass (my main collection item when visiting places) and the picture they took of us inside the house.

Then we went on to tour the gardens. They are quite extensive and I only saw the rose garden and one other.

Then we drove over to Antler Village, so I could do the free wine tasting (included with the price of admission to the Biltmore Estate – which isn’t cheap). They had a lot of wines to taste, and some for cost. I tried about 8 or 9 free wine tastings, and then went over and tried 3 cost tastings (only $8 for the 3). After all was said and done, I bought a bottle of the Biltmore wine, and then we headed back home.

It’s a lovely place, but a bit pricey if you ask me. I was lucky to find a discount code for $17 off each ticket (they also had a deal if you bought 7 days in advance to save the same, but we were under 7 days when I was purchasing). If you can swing it and are in Asheville, I do recommend taking a day to tour it all. We only went a half day, and I would have liked to take a little more time. O’well!

All in all a very nice weekend in Asheville, NC!