And a third weekend in a row was spent with Mark & Sarah's family! They spent part of their spring break in Asheville, NC, and we met them at Biltmore for one of the days. Biltmore was built/owned by one of the Vanderbilts and is the largest privately owned house in the US. The one big downside to the trip was that it was an extremely windy, cold day. When we arrived, the wind chill was below freezing--not what you'd expect when you go to NC in April on your spring break! We took turns going in so we could tour the house without the littlest kids, so poor Christine and Jacob were stuck out in the freezing wind all day. The house was amazing! Seriously. My favorite room was the library, but the basement was also extremely interesting, with all the food preparation areas, an indoor pool, a bowling alley, and an odd "Halloween room." When we had all finished at the house, we went to the farm in the nearby Antler Hill Village, where we got to see animals, climb on tractors and wagons, play old-timey games, and watch a blacksmith and woodworker at work. The blacksmith was one of the highlights of the day. It was a very fun day and we all had a great time!! If only it had been a little warmer...
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| Poor Jacob and Christine! So, so cold. |
A tiny, tiny portion of the grounds...
Our visit happened to coincide with a "Fashionable Romance" exhibit. Throughout the house were displayed costumes from wedding scenes in movies, including some of my favorites!
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| Elinor & Edward's wedding clothes from Sense and Sensibility |
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| Marianne & Colonel Brandon's costumes in Sense and Sensibility |
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| Darcy and Elizabeth's outfits from Pride and Prejudice!! |
A few rooms inside...
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| indoor pool |
At the farm...
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| Seriously, he was the best!! |
Peter really REALLY wants to go to Biltmore, but I'm like, "That would be sooooo boring for kids!" Was it?
ReplyDeleteI'd pretty much given up on the idea, then I saw the costumes. What are they doing there?! I might just have to go now...or are they not permanent?
I think it was just a temporary exhibit. I don't know if the costumes are still there or not!
DeleteJamie (who was almost 6 at the time) mostly enjoyed the tour, though it was a little long for him and by the end he was more than ready to be done. I imagine it would be pretty tough with smaller kids. Fortunately since we were there with my brother we didn't have to take Jacob in. Maybe you could find people to go with and switch off like we did? The grounds are large and beautiful and would have been fun for the kids to explore if it hadn't been so dang cold when we were there. And the kids all LOVED the farm at the Antler Hill Village, which is included in your ticket. There were a lot more kid-friendly activities over there. Oh, and kids are all free, so that was nice, especially because between our family and my brother's family we had 7 kids with us!