Biltmore Estate

I'm back! Back to work, back to my daily responsibilities, back to my ultimate reality! Christmas was wonderful! It really was an exceptional trip, with quality time spent with dear friends and family, and the beginning of plans that promise a really lovely 2017. As many of you know, I spent Christmas in Florida this year, but on the way there, I stopped to spend some time at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

I have wanted to see the estate ever since I saw the movie "Richie Rich" in 1994. I was 12! So 22-years of build up, and I finally got to see this incredible estate nestled in the magical Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Now, when you see pictures of Biltmore Estate online, (or if you got to see the movie) you see these wonderful professional images of the full width of the house with no obstructions or distractions. Something like this: 

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Marvelous Right? But in reality, when you get there, it's impossible to view the house like this. There are ropes and tour vans, and people galore! So, fair warning, most of the photos that I captured were of anything I could grab above head height. I suppose it's silly to say that this was a disappointment, for how else do you control tours? But from the photography aspect, I was sad that I didn't get a chance to capture a photo like this for myself. 

This is what my view of Biltmore looked like. Beyond the bus to the left was a valet parking tent, and on the right, another set of tents, and tram buses. I got there relatively early too, 9:00am. So I can't imagine that it gets any easier to get a good photo of the house the longer you're there. But I could be wrong. 

Entering the mansion, you walk through a closed portico, and then into the grand foyer with the three story winding stone staircase on your left, and the atrium to your right. 

It's absolutely incredible. Decked out in red poinsettias for the holiday season, and garlands strung between the French lanterns. They were taking photos in the far hallway, a way to commemorate your experience I suppose, which you could then buy in the portico that led you out to the stables. 

Check out the ceiling! This extends around the entire perimeter of the atrium. And speaking of ceilings, the atrium ceiling is pretty spectacular, too! 

Once I realized that the line I was in was for photos, I quickly dashed back around to the long foyer hall, and into the tapestry room.

Four, stunning floor to ceiling tapestries hang between two fireplaces in a room decked out for the holidays with four Christmas trees. This long hall, made into a beautiful and comfortable entertaining space by the three separate seating arrangements leads you to the library. 

Another incredible room. There really aren't any rooms that are less than incredible. Stunning woodwork and a collection of more than a million books, this library had all of my favorite things! French fauteuils, blue and white porcelain, books, and brass! 

Back through the tapestry room, and into the dining room where the traffic jams began. At this point it became difficult to see and appreciate most of the rooms, as the open house style tour means few opportunities to really digest a room without being pushed, or squeezed into a corner.

Before you wrapped back around to the main dining room, you were greeted by another seating area, parlor in style, with more beautiful French furniture. 

There were a lot of really stunning ceiling treatments and architectural ceilings throughout the mansion, this tenting in tapestry being one of them. 

A small family dining room was the next stop, beautiful of course, but then you enter into the main dining hall and sort of forget all about this space! 

I really wish that I had been able to capture better pictures of this space. But unfortunately, one too many elbows to the stomach, and I was out of there! Here's one of the space without the traffic jam found online: 

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From here, I headed back into the stairwell to make my way up to the second floor. There are obviously several other rooms on the first floor available for touring if you buy special tour group tickets. I wish I had done that, but their website didn't have that as an option when I purchased my tickets. If you plan on going to Biltmore, I HIGHLY recommend that you spend the extra money for these more in depth tours. 

On the second floor are the master bedrooms, his and hers, separated by a drawing room. His bedroom has a lovely curtained canopy bed done in heavy red tapestry: 

I'm sorry that these photos aren't better. I believe that they keep the curtains and shades drawn in this room so that you can appreciate the Christmas trees better this time of year, but it doesn't make for the best pictures, that's for sure. Again, there were so many people that I couldn't grab pictures of the bedroom for the lady of the manse, but I did get a couple of the drawing room they share:

Leaving these two rooms, you head up to the third floor where you are greeted with guest suites and more living areas. There were so many people in the house by this time, that I put my phone away, and decided that my best course of action would be to record the things I really loved in my head. Once outside of the house though, I did get a chance to take some lovely photos of the side of the house from the statuary garden, along with the scenic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

It's really quite a stunning property, and I wish that I had more time there to explore all of the house and it's many design elements. Unfortunately, the open format tour I chose, along with my limited time in Asheville allowed for me to only skim the surface of this powerful and beautiful place. I just purchased this book:

Published in 1994 by Rizzoli, the book will allow me the chance to see the rooms I toured without all the elbows and heads pushing and shoving their way through them, along with other rooms of the 255-room estate that were not on the tour I took. The book is meticulously researched and chronicles the estate from inception to it's grand opening in 1895. I'm really looking forward to reading it! 

My tips on if you visit ... 

1. Schedule a Biltmore House Tour, like the premium one above, which seems to be the most in depth. Do not do the self-guided visit - unless you enjoy crowds, not being able to take good photos, and having no way to ask questions. (p.s., I'm not getting paid for this, I spent $75 on the self-guided visit, and would {and probably will} go back and spend the $150 to do this over another $75 tour any day.
2. Plan to spend the day. Going to Biltmore Estate is like going to Disney World, (sorta). It's really not possible to experience it quickly. 
3. Take a look at books, like the one above, prior to going to Biltmore to familiarize yourself with the family, the house, and the rooms you'd like to really spend the most time viewing and asking questions about! 

Of course, I'm very curious if any of you have been to Biltmore Estate, and what your tips are for my second visit. Just leave them in the comments below! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope you're all looking forward to a wonderful and Happy New Year.