The Biltmore Estate: The Mansion and Gardens

This is our second SKP ACRE Rally.  Last year, as we did this year, we purchased tickets at an additional fee to visit the Biltmore Estate.  These photos are from our 2012 visit.  Touring the mansion and the gardens takes up a large part of the day.  Get ready for opulent splendor in America's largest home...

George Washington Vanderbilt
commissioned Richard Morris Hunt
to design this Renaissance style mansion
in the 1890's.

It was fully plumbed & wired.

Guests were welcomed on
December 24, 1895.




Photography is not allowed inside the mansion.  I found an article in Southeastern Antiquing and Collecting Magazine on the the antiques in the rooms that are
on the tour.

I admired the ornamented

staircases.

Eric tamed this
lion.

Richard Morrow Hunt based the
design of the Biltmore Mansion
on three 16th century
 French chateaus.

Ahhh.... The gardens!  These gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.  His designs integrate the grandeur of the mansion with the natural beauty of the estate's mountain setting.  

The greenhouse presides over

a sea of colorful tulips.

Eric lets me get a 

snap of him next to

the azaleas.

The gardens are extensive.
We spent hours here.




We didn't have time to visit Antler Hill Village and Winery and the Farm.  We plan to visit these parts of the estate in 2013 and to ride bikes on the bike trails we had discovered during our first visit to the Biltmore Estate.