The Biltmore

I have wanted to go to the Biltmore for years, and when my friend mentioned she was going to Asheville for spring break I invited myself to go along.  Then my mom wanted to come with us too since she had never been to Asheville or the Biltmore.  When  I saw the price of the tickets to get in to the Biltmore I made the decision not to take the older children with me.  Roman stayed back with Nana at the hotel along with my friend Lucy's older children.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of Addy and Roman with the tulips when we dropped Nana  off for her turn.  The estate is gorgeous.  What a beautiful family too.  I was surprised that the only three people lived in the Biltmore along with a couple dozen staff.  Very Downton Abbey.  Later the owners moved out when George Vanderbilt died and they opened the house to the public to offset the cost of operating the estate.  The estate is over 8,000 acres.  I would love to go back just for a weekend and stay in the hotel with my husband.  You can go horseback riding there and rent bikes.  The sheep in the meadows are so quaint, the gardens are beautiful, and the stray wild turkey running across the road is a wonderful surprise. 

Some things you should know if you would like to visit the Biltmore.  There are different prices to see the estate that will give you different access to the property.  It is worth it to pay the fee for the headset because you will not know anything about what you are looking at without the headset.  The house is lit very dimly in keeping with the time period and I was even told that it would have been even darker inside because they only had 17 watt light bulbs; however, I found it was almost too dark inside.  It was hard to see what you were looking at.  I would not go at a Christmas even though I am sure the Christmas decorations are beautiful.  Too much to look at and you will not notice the original decor.  The house is not really made for small children.  You cannot take a stroller to two levels of the house and bring an umbrella in case it rains because you will get soaked, and without an umbrella you can't see the gardens.  I still thought it was worth seeing even with the $50 price tag.