We'd been to Biltmore years ago - with the girls, so we really only wanted to visit the *grounds* and enjoy the rolling hills - but there isn't an admission price for that: you take it all or nothing, so we signed up, drove in, and parked. The driveway in - at a mile or so - really is pretty - and we ultimately heard that the construction of Biltmore - over a 5-year period (1889-1894) included almost 3 *million* plants being bred, developed, and placed - in addition to the house. That is a staggering number of plants - and it is a beautiful setting.
Even though it was a Wednesday in October - and was 53 degrees - and forecast to be drizzly all day - they were expecting 4000 people today. Do the math. At $50 apiece, that adds up to over $200,000 in ONE off-season day. Biltmore is very-much a *business*. Parking was full, but we found a spot in a satellite lot - and walked over. VERY nice - and we emerged right at "THE view" of the house (refer to photo). A really nice surprise to emerge from the woods and see the green lawn spread out before us with the granite mansion at the end. A nice couple there offered to take our picture and - voila:
Our reservation for the house tour was 11:30 - so we headed to the left of the house - down into the garden - to explore the Conservatory. Pretty - particularly for a gardener and her husband. The flower colors were stunning in the subdued light:
And there were some surprising finds in the Conservatory. This is a "Magic Lantern" flower - that we'd never seen before:
We found a path which was marked as a 1.2-mile hike - and it looked like it would be beautiful - if it wasn't 51 degrees and steadily raining, so we, instead, hiked back to the mansion and joined the long lines SLOWLY wending their way thru the mansion. Annnd. OK. It is beautiful. It was architected very thoughtfully and beautifully. And it is furnished very authentically. But. It's "a big house". No photography allowed - so that they can *sell* you the photos. It was dark and generally depressing. And the crowd moved VERY slowly so I got very tired of standing and walking and I was "done" long before we finally emerged to find it (of course) raining.
We wandered over to what used to be the stable and had lunch in the "Stable Cafe" - and they nearly saved the day. Yeah, I know, I'm way too excited about food, but they had a really-interesting sample platter with chicken, ribs, pulled pork, some interesting stuffing with cornmeal and jalapeno's, a really-tasty cole slaw, and even collard greens. And our server was just bubbling over sunshine-y with her smile and attitude. Actually, I have to admit that every single employee we encountered thru the day was just wonderful. The Cafe was also entertaining because each booth was made up to look like a horse stall:
We walked back to the car, sharing a small umbrella (which is actually a very-nice thing to do with someone who is cuddly...) and we drove thru the grounds - over to the Farm area. It was still cold and rainy, but we enjoyed the Blacksmith (who made an iron "leaf" out of a bar of iron) - and the Carpenter - then to the Winery. The lines for the tour were long, so we just wandered thru the gift shop - and discovered the entry to the wine *tasting* at the end of the tour - so we just got into *that* line and Kathy found 2 of their wines that she liked enough to acquire.
By now, it was 5PM and I am *stiff and sore* and tired from standing and walking. Yeah, I guess I'm getting old. So we loaded into "Monroe" (with lots of groaning on my part) and headed back to the hotel to just chill out - and tell you all about it.
A good day, but, again, my "bottom line" is that there are plenty of things to do - which don't cost anything at all - that are more beautiful and inspiring. We'll aim for public parks instead of Biltmore - in the future.
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