Living my best life includes traveling. I traveled out of the country for the first time when I was just a toddler. Since then I have traveled to almost every state in the US, have been on over 10 cruises from the Caribbean to Alaska, and have traveled to well over a dozen different countries, mostly in Europe, in my lifetime. I even have dual citizenship in the US and UK! Traveling is in my life blood and it’s a language I love to speak. I want to share my passion for traveling with my children with every opportunity that comes my way and now I am so excited also have a platform to also share our family travels with all of you!
I love to travel to beautiful places that have a rich history where you can not only enjoy yourself but also learn! And when you are in Asheville, North Carolina a must visit is George Vanderbilt’s 250-room French Renaissance chateau The Biltmore Estate where you can travel to a whole new state of mind! This 8,000 acre estate is breaktaking and so rich in culture it is something every family should experience in their lifetime! From the moment you drive onto the grounds you are blown away by all the beautiful landscape, architecture, and history! We were so thrilled to be hosted for a stay!
The first thing we did was take a self-guided tour of the Biltmore House. I loved that they even have a child friendly audio tour voiced by Cedric, the Vanderbilts’ Saint Bernard! My daughter was having so much fun pressing her numbers to listen to the information at every room we went into on the tour.
The Estate was completed in 1895, and believe me, every room is so impressive! We were able to walk around 3 different floors and the basement to see vintage art, clothing, furniture and more like 16th century tapestries, a library with 10,000 volumes, a banquet hall with a 70-foot ceiling, 65 fireplaces, an indoor pool, and a bowling alley. And I love that almost all of the objects that you see throughout the house are from George and Edith Vanderbilt’s original collection.
When we were done with our tour, we went outside behind the house and had some lunch and did some shopping!
My favorite parts were the ice cream shoppe and the toy store!!! But they also had an amazing Christmas store, too!
Next we explored the surrounding Gardens and Grounds, designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, where the rose garden on the property houses more than 250 different varieties of roses! Did you also know it has 6 acres of solar panels for forest conservation and environmental protection?
And when we were there they had Chihuly at Biltmore the estate’s first art exhibition, which opened on May 17th. The bold and beautiful glass sculptures were created by multimedia artist Dale Chihuly and you can see his masterpieces all over the grounds including The Biltmore House, the historic gardens, and grounds. See it during the daytime, or illuminated at night! These installations will be viewable until Oct. 7, 2018.
There are even special tickets you can get on select evenings to see the artwork at night, which is a spectacular sight! Even if you don’t get the tickets you can still see some of the installations in Antler Hill Village!
After a fun filled day, we arrived at The Inn on Biltmore Estate and let me tell you this Inn takes luxury travel to a whole new level. The Inn was built in 2001 and has such a graceful, classic, elegant feel at every corner and detail.
Our room was beautiful with such an amazing view of the property! Everything was so elegant and we loved how much space we had! We had all the amenities we could wish for and even had a newspaper delivered each morning!
Are adventures at the Biltmore continue as we head into Antler Hill Village for dinner at The Village Social after witnessing the kids’ first ever thunderstorm from our room!
You can certainly drive anywhere you want on the property but there is also a complementary shuttle service to take you to each of the hotels, winery, restaurants, shopping, and more!
And Antler Hill Village had it all! Each hotel on the property is very different. The newest one, The Village Hotel, was built in 2015 and is in Antler Hill Village so everything is very connected and close by. In the village, there are so many various restaurants to choose from from an Irish Pub to family friendly cuisine, farm to table, comfort food, and refined elegant dining! There is something for everyone! And in true Southern tradition and hospitality, there are plenty of rocking chairs to rest and relax in along the way! Did I mention how beautiful the village is at night?
On one of the evenings, my husband took the kids back to the room to get them to bed and gave me some much needed ME time to explore the grounds on my own. As I ventured my way throughout the property, I learned that The Winery offers complimentary wine tasting and tours throughout the day. And if for any reason you miss this part of your Biltmore experience, adjacent to the winery is an indoor/outdoor wine bar that offers wine flights paired with chocolate truffles.
After my evening walkabout I ventured my way back to the lobby of the Inn to listen to some live piano music before heading to bed. The next day we went back down to the village to explore the playground, farm, and train museum. You know I always find experiential learning and play wherever I go!!
The kids had so much fun seeing the baby animals and watching the trains go by in addition to having a little playtime!
The weather was absolutely beautiful up in the mountains and our stay was nothing less of spectacular. I would highly recommend families with children of all ages to go to the Biltmore anytime of year. And if you go around Christmas time they have a special Christmas decorations and lights throughout the property from November 3-January 5! You can tour the property during the day or the evening by candlelight and will see dozens of exquisitely decorated Christmas trees, miles of garland, hundreds of poinsettias, and more lights than you can count.
This post is sponsored but all photos, opinions and experiences are my own.
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