Eclipse Trip -- Biltmore Gardens and Stable

As you could probably tell from my previous post, I really enjoyed the tour of Biltmore House.  That is especially noteworthy, since I had not had high expectations for our visit.  I thought it would be just another tour of an historical house.  It was so much more.

BTW...By chance, I ran across a review in the weekend section of the Wall Street Journal of a book by Denise Kiernan entitled The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home.  Since I had enjoyed a previous book by this author, I decided to take a chance and downloaded it.  That is my excuse for having not gotten the next installment of this blog finished sooner.  Once I started, I could not put the book down.  I probably would not have enjoyed it nearly as much if we had not just visited Biltmore, but now I realize we missed seeing so much in and around Asheville, especially lots of architecturally significant buildings.  But I digress.

 

One of the things special about the Biltmore estate is that it is not just the house but also the huge grounds that were designed by  Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture.  The current estate is "only" about 7000 acres or 11 square miles, a small fraction of its original size (195 sq miles or 125,000 acres).

Even at only 7000 acres it is still huge and we only saw a small portion of it.   

Map of Biltmore Estate.  Entrance is lower right.  Biltmore House and Gardens are in the center near the bottom.  Antler Hill is at the upper right.

Antler Hill Village and Winery

Other than driving through on the eight mile drive out of the estate, we did not visit Antler Hill Village.  It did not open to the public until 2010.  It is the site of two hotels, the Winery and a working farm with up close and personal experiences with the animals.

Of particular note is the Biltmore Winery which is on the site of what used to be the successful Biltmore Dairy.  It, at least according to their brochures, is the most visited winery in the U.S.  It was started in the 1970s and 80s, so it is not part of what was on the estate when George and Edith Vanderbilt lived there.  However, it is now part of what makes Biltmore a self-sustaining working estate, which was very much George Vanderbilt's goal for the place.  In any case, it is definitely on my must see list if we ever return.

Biltmore Gardens

Most of our time outside the house was spent in what is collectively called Biltmore Gardens.  These are a collection of different types of gardens within walking distance of the house.  These were originally intended as recreation and diversion for the Vanderbilts and their guests.  Although spread over two days, we explored nearly all of these gardens.

Italian Garden

Immediately after taking the house tour on Wednesday afternoon, we wandered outside and explored the Italian Garden.  The major feature of this sunken area paralleling the main esplanade in front of the house is a set of three formal water gardens.

There were interesting and (at least to us) unusual plants.

There were numerous flowers, fish and even dragonflies.

But it was hot in the sun and we were already tired from a long day, so we decided to come back in the morning for the remainder of the gardens.

Library and South Terrace

The following morning was a much more pleasant time to be outside.  The starting point for exploring the gardens is logically the Library Terrace and the South Terrace.  However, the South Terrace was filled with a stage and chairs for the REO Speedwagon concert later that evening.

However, from the Library Terrace we could still see the beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It is easy to see how the mountains got their name!

Shrub Garden, Spring Garden, and Azalea Garden

Descending down the hill into the gardens we quickly became engulfed in another world.  Close to the house it was still relatively formal.

Walkway below the South Terrace near the beginning of the Shrub Garden

Fountain in the wall below the South Terrace

However, the gardens become increasingly more natural further from the house.

We only saw part of the very large Shrub Garden, which was designed with more than 500 varieties of ornamental shrubs and trees.  This included both native plants and plants from around the world.  The area was laid out to create a quiet retreat through which to walk on the wandering paths.

Red Cutleaf Japanese Maple

We did not know what this tree was with the strange "fruit", but a search online suggests it might be a Himalayan flowering dogwood.  If so, each red fruit started out as the center of a blossom.  It must be spectacular in spring!

The largest of the gardens is the 15 acre Azalea Garden.  According to their literature, there are more than 1000 azaleas growing among magnolias, dogwoods, and numerous conifers. This must be spectacular in the spring when they are in bloom.  Even in late summer it was still a wonderful wandering walk through an area planted to feel like a native mountain woodland.   We saw some folks taking their morning jog and thought it would definitely be worth the price of an annual pass just to walk the gardens in the various seasons if you lived nearby.

Bass Pond and Boat House

Even further down the trails we finally came to the Bass Pond. 

Bridge near the Boat House on the Bass Pond

Boat House on the Bass Pond

Looking across the Bass Pond to the bridge at the far end

I don't know whether there were bass in the pond, but there were lots of butterflies and dragonflies flying everywhere.

A dragonfly photo bombs this picture of a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeding on a flowering plant at the edge of the pond

Although the entire area leading down to the pond was made to feel natural, we did not see any larger animals.  In fact, I did not think to look for any since even the nature areas were well maintained, trimmed and mulched.  It seemed more like a maintained park.  However, a Google search of "bears at Biltmore" produces multiple hits.  Biltmore Forest, the upscale residential neighborhood just over the hill from the Biltmore Gardens, had a significant black bear problem in 2016.  The bears apparently live on the Biltmore Estate, but are attracted to residential yards by bird feeders.  And we think we have problems with our bird feeders attracting squirrels!!?

Walled Garden and Rose Garden

Closer to the house is a large formal area known as the Walled Garden.  This was a huge area of plantings laid out in geometrical design.  The plantings change with the seasons, but the many bees and butterflies were certainly enjoying what was there now.

Looking down on the Walled Garden from the Spring Garden.  This is only half of the garden, with a mirror image on the other side of the 236 foot long arbor in the center of the pic.  Note also the stone wall in the foreground, hence the name "Walled Garden".

Bee on flowers in the Walled Garden

Butterfly in the Walled Garden

 

Flowers in the Walled Garden

On the lower level of the Walled Garden was the Rose Garden.  As with everything else at Biltmore, it was huge.  It contains approximately 2300 roses of 250 varieties. 

Part of the Rose Garden.  Note Biltmore House in the background on the right.

Conservatory


At the extreme lower end of the Walled Garden was one of our favorite sites at Biltmore, the glass-roofed Conservatory.

Part of the Walled Garden with the Conservatory in the background

The central room of the Conservatory is the "Palm House", with palms, ferns, and other foliage plants.

Big ferns in the Conservatory.  Note Turkey to the left for scale

None of the plants were labelled, but these certainly looked like bananas to us

Additional rooms include a cool house and a hot house.
 

But our fave was, the orchid house.

Yes, that tall plant really is an orchid!!

Close-up of the orchids on the previous plant in the previous pic

 

   

We spent a short time talking to one of the gardeners who was watering the plants.  She said they had about 40 full time gardening staff on site.  Many were like her that had a degree and extensive experience.

We were having fun, but we had miles to go and many more things to see.  However, there was one more location at Biltmore we were going to check out...the stables.

Stables

On the north end of the house is a separate building that from the outside looks the same as the house.  This is what once was the stables.  When the Vanderbilts were living at Biltmore, there were as many as 25 riding and driving horses and 20 carriages sheltered here.

It looked to us that these horses probably lived better than many of the people in the surrounding area.  The stable had electricity, plumbing, glazed-brick walls, and brass fixtures and hardware.  Of course there needed to be lots of storage areas, plus living quarters for single male servants, including grooms, harness men, exercisers, coachmen, etc.

Today the stables have been converted into a series of specialty shops.  For example, the largest shop is the former carriage house.  Most of the items were pretty pricey (I know, what a shock!), but we did get a Christmas tree ornament to commemorate out visit.

The courtyard between the house and stables is now outdoor seating with some small food concessions around the outside.

The old horse stable is now the Stable Cafe, with the original box stalls converted into booths.  This sounded quite interesting and fun when reading about this, so we planned our morning walk in the gardens to be back at the cafe by lunch time.

With great food and friendly service, this was a pleasant way to end our visit at Biltmore.