We drove into Asheville and went to the visitor center. We bought our tour tickets for the Biltmore Mansion. We drove around Asheville and went to a toy store. I found some great wind-up toys for my collection. We were killing time because if we went into the Biltmore estate after 3:00 p.m. our ticket would be good for the next day.
Because we arrived at the estate after 3:00 p.m., we were limited as to what we could see and do. The Biltmore estate consists of 120,000 acres and was built as a working estate. Today there is the Biltmore House, winery, farm, Inn on Biltmore Estate, Deerpark (horses and carriage rides available) and the gardens. We decided to see the gardens and the winery since it was such a beautiful day. George Vanderbilt commissioned, Frederick Law Olmsted, whose designs included New York’s Central Park, to create the gardens and grounds for the estate.
The gardens consisted of the Italian, Shrub, Walled, Azalea, and Spring gardens. The walled garden is a four-acre formal garden. The flowerbeds are designed and planted in the “bedding out” 
style that was popular at the end of 
the 19th century. At the base of the Walled Garden is the Conservatory, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, this glass-roofed building houses exotic species and various 
other plants. The orchids in this building
were unbelievable. The one flower, beside the orchids, that was fascinating was the Chinese Lantern. It was all so beautiful and the bright sunshine and blue sky certainly helped to make it a wonderful experience for us.
We sampled some wines at the winery and purchased a couple of bottles. We left the estate and drove back to the RV park.
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