A Biltmore Getaway
Utterly spoiled in the lap of luxury this weekend, I stayed at The Inn on Biltmore Estate, which has been awarded Four Stars by Forbes Travel Guide, Four Diamonds by AAA and has been on Condé Nast Traveler‘s Gold List for seven years running.
From Valet and Concierge service …
to the Iron Chef’s breakfast overlooking The Blue Ridge Mountains, I had an absolute amazing experience.
No one officially lives inside currently but it is still registered as residential.
The Inn on Biltmore Estate is the only accommodations on the 8,000+ acre property. The distance from The Inn to “The House” is about 3 miles.
From the back patio of the Inn, you can see the rooftops of the Vanderbilt home. I cannot imagine calling a 175,000 square foot chateau with 600 rooms and 65 fireplaces home! This fireplace was in the lobby at The Inn and very similar to those at the house.
Upon checking in early at The Inn, we were greeted with nothing but absolute phenomenal service. We were informed that our bags will be in our room waiting for us once the room was ready and until then, the shuttle will take us wherever we want to go. Oh also… “We upgraded you at no additional cost to a King Jacuzzi Suite with a Mountain View…”. Since it was a truly gorgeous day we decided to start by walking down to Antler Hill Village,
and tour the outside buildings & winery.
Our first stop was Cedric’s Tavern, named after George Vanderbilt’s St. Bernard, “Cedric”.
The Biltmore Brewing Company is actually off the estate property in its’ early stages of development yet, offering two of its first brews at Cedrics’. I tried the Cedric Brown Ale, Boddington Pub Ale, and Highland Gaelic before officially choosing my lunch libation. I chose the Gaelic, but the Cedric Brown Ale grew on me after a few more sips of the free sample!
Homemade pickles appeased our appetite until my Crispy Salmon Filet was presented.
After lunch, we walked over to what used to be the old horse barn at the estate.
They had stalls for the horses and all sorts of old machinery that helped keeping up the farm, which was actually more profitable in the 1940′s than the estate. Because of this, Corneila Vanderbilt’s oldest son George Cecil took over the farm production, giving the estate to his younger brother William Cecil.
Inside the barn, there were several interactive areas. The current blacksmith at Biltmore is 1 of only 5 Anville Players left in the world. His show making a leaf/hook was one of our trip highlights both entertaining and educational!
Heating up to 4,000 *
Down below inside the cellars, there are tons of paintings and explanations of how the dairy farm was converted into the winery.
Does anyone really want me to keep going on and on about the tour of the winery and the amazing, delicious, wonderful, luxurious weekend getaway?
