Biltmore Estate, North Carolina

Biltmore estate has been described as a veritable American Versailles.  It is the country’s largest private home and a huge tourist attraction, rivaling Hearst Castle in California.  Biltmore is in much better taste than Hearst Castle which in comparison is gaudy.  This house was built in 1895 for shipping and railroad heir George Washington Vanderbilt II who modeled it after the grand chateaux he had seen on his various European jaunts.  It took six years to build and he brought his bride here to live.  Viewing the house and the estate with its 250 acres of gorgeously manicured grounds and gardens takes several hours. 

And the view from further up the marvelous grounds. 

It was built as a home in which the Vanderbilts – a family of three – lived and entertained lavishly.  But as well as very, very rich, George Vanderbilt was an enlightened master too.  All servants had their own bedrooms (hence the 233 rooms), ate the same quality food as the people upstairs and were paid New York wages in North Carolina which was a very significant plus for the employees.  It is an opulent but comfortable house where no expense was spared to make things comfortable and welcoming for the many guests who enjoyed the Vanderbilt hospitality.  Priceless tapestries adorn the walls and pieces of art were collected and displayed with care.  It was a wonderful experience to visit.  Unfortunately no photographs are allowed inside but I captured just a few. 

This grand space - the indoor winter garden welcomed guests to the house.  Below is the loggia.

  

The Halloween room where in 1925 family and friends spent several weeks painting these unusual wall scenes for a New Year's Eve party.

The 70,000 gallon indoor heated pool was only filled when required.  The house heating system provided the heating.

The estate is as famous for its landscaped gardens as for the house itself.  Unfortunately, April is too early in these elevated parts for the spring flowers to come out so we could not do justice to the hundreds of acres of beautifully laid out gardens.  Here are three glimpses. The first is the gardens generally as you stroll through acres of this sort of beauty.

The walled garden featuring thousands of tulips in the spring.  We were just in time for these.  Reminded us of The Netherlands.

The Italian garden.