Day 4 - Farewell with panache: the Butler's goodbye

Biltmore Holiday Day 4:  Farewell with panache: the Butler’s goodbye

After another excellent night, (this one in Biltmore style:   king beds all turned down and equipped with  bedtime chocolates),

we started our final day with the elegant fireside breakfast buffet which included omelets to order,

cheese blintzes with apple compote, and an exceptionally flakey and flavorful raspberry croissant.  Having finished my packing, I left the checking out to the others, and trundled down the hill to wait for the others in the antler village.   I had just finished my fruitless chase of the baby goat, when they arrived to pick me up.  A quick sprint to the car (we count our supersonic hip implant blessings here), and we were off to the final tour of Biltmore Estate:  the Butler’s tour.

We were duly impressed and intrigued by the lower levels and passage ways of the home, and fascinated by an hour of stories of the head housekeeper, Mrs. Vanderbilt’s French handmaid, and the newest technologies of the turn of the century, available at the time only in the Biltmore (George, it seems, was friends with Thomas Edison). 

But the gardens called us back for one last promenade.  We gladly answered the call, walking hand in hand  through the ideas of the one who birthed landscape architecture here…everywhere the feeling of wilderness at peace with man in the midst.  How wonderful that George wanted to preserve it…that he was first drawn here by the natural landscape, and that he honored it enough to insure its preservation.  Nearly a quarter of a million acres passed through his wise hands, and into the experience of future generations.  The genius of Olmstead kept the spaces inviting enough for us to linger there in comfort, yet in the middle of a sort of stark natural beauty.  I sat for a bit on the little bridge made of branches,

while Dave took Ery and Brad around the lake to see the famous bridge from the movie Last of the Mohicans…a lovely way to say goodbye for now to one of our most treasured places.   Thank You, again.

With the excitement of Christmas yet ahead, Ery and I were content to climb back into our snug traveling  positions with our men in the Super Rogue, our  transport blessing that made it possible to travel in comfort with all our possessions intact.  After our brief stop at the Starbucks by the Biltmore entrance, we bade the grandeur farewell, and headed north to resume our celebration of the holiday on our own farm.  I love it all….and the celebration continues.  Biltmore…see you soon in your

 springtime florals.  Windy Hill by the River, let the festivities begin!