Wonderful Weekend : Asheville, NC - Biltmore Part Four

I know you are probably tired of hearing about the Biltmore Estate so I swear this is the last post dedicated to it. Scouts honor.

In addition to the mansion, the gardens, the "pondlake", and the extensive trails and forested land, there is also a section of the Biltmore Estate that contains things like a winery, stables, woodworking shop, blacksmith, and a museum. No seriously.

Our tickets to tour the estate included lunch vouchers at one of the restaurants on property, Deerpark Restaurant.

This place used to house the cows for the dairy farming, but they have since retrofitted the building to be a really cool dining facility. Check it.

And the food was absolutely incredible! It was a buffet style, which I'll admit, I was a little disappointed to see...until I took my first bite and then decided they could have my second born. {I'm a little attached to Canon and I probably won't have a second child so it seemed like an easy trade.}

I was really excited to tour the winery, which included a complimentary wine tasting. Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed with the tasting because it seemed so...clinical. There were a ton of people standing around tall bar areas with probably 20 bartenders and you had to strain to hear what your bartender was telling you. Not nearly as fancy or even cozy as I was hoping for, but at least I got some wine.

Oh look, more flower pictures. Sorry about that guys, I just can't help myself.

We hit up the stables next and found this guy staring at us. Just a little disturbing, really.

We found the blacksmith in his work station doing what he does best - putting on a show. Don't let that fool you, though. He is an honest-to-goodness blacksmith who does all of the metal work for the estate. Very entertaining, though. He even made a leaf out of the metal rod while we stood watching. Really talented guy, this one.

Before leaving, we had to take one last look at the house. We actually went back to view a statue that we had failed to see on the first go-round, but found that a wedding was being held at that location so we roamed around until we found the perfect viewing area of the mansion without crashing the marital party.

We really had a lovely time touring this magnificent work of art. The entire estate almost literally took our breath away at every turn, and I would return again just to find details that I missed during our first run. Plus, apparently they host a race every year that Craig is really itching to run. If he twists my arm, I may even run/walk with him.

Hahahahahahahaha!

I crack myself up.