Archive for February, 2010
Once you enter the gates of the estate, driving down the winding road takes you back in time to the late 1800′s . It was built by 1895 and it’s hard to believe that it only took 6 years to complete considering the expertise, tools and transportation they had back then. Quite a remarkable feat. But the Vanderbilts were American royalty. They were like a King and Queen right here in our country. They had so much money they could spend it without thought at absolutely anything they desired. They had no limits as to what they could do and what their lives could be.
So, as you are driving down this road thinking about these things, you are directed to your parking spot and you take a shuttle from that point to the house itself. As you approach the house your breath is taken away. It is a castle. There is no doubt about it. American royalty built their very own castle right here in our mountains. On 16,000 acres.
When we started our Asheville pet friendly vacation rental business a little over 10 years ago, we tried to partner with Biltmore Estate so that we could get tickets cheaper than at the gate for our guests. Finally, in the last year or two, Biltmore has loosened up and is selling tickets to us for our guests and fortunately they are two days tickets, not just discounted! I am thrilled! It takes two days to see it all.
The first thing I would suggest is to go to the house before you do anything else. Rent the head set to walk you through the history of the house. It’s the best $10 you will have spent. You will learn about the people who lived there. You will hear little antidotes that give you insight into who they were. You will walk around imagining them right there with you. You will learn what was used for what and how it was brought there to the middle of nowhere.
You will drive through the gates at the Estate and you will stop at the Welcome Center to purchase your tickets, unless you were smart enough to stay at Cabin Cove Farm for your Asheville Vacation and purchased them through us. If you had purchased them through us, you would drive right up to the gatekeeper after the welcome center and show him your drivers license and your ticket. Or you may have to go to the welcome center to pick up your tickets from Willcall. No long lines for you!
Once you get your tickets, get through the gate, you will drive aprox 3 miles down a lovely winding road lined with local mountain bushes, trees, and flowers. This is the road for guests. All the service people have a completely separate road system because George did not want his guests to see any of the servants or trucks or wagons as they drove to the house. You are treated as one of George’s guests.
When I first went to Biltmore Estate, it was many years ago and I was star struck then. There was only the house and the dairy. Since I live in Asheville North Carolina, where the Estate is located, I am now a passholder and go frequently throughout the year. Today there is so much to do that one cannot possibly see it all in only one day.
I was most happy to learn that Biltmore Estate would sell small proprietors discounted tickets to re-sell to their guests. We like to make it special by selling the tickets at that discounted price to our guests. And guess what!! They are two day tickets! That makes me so happy because like I said, two days is the best to see all you can see and get the Biltmore experience.
For Christmas this year my wife and I bought our children a new terrier puppy. While the first few months have been a joy, we were left with somewhat of a dilemma as to how to deal with the dog when we went on our annual vacation during the kids’ mid-winter break. Usually we head out to a hotel, but they obviously don’t allow pets, and boarding the dog was out of the question.
Luckily I was able to find a breathtaking cabin that offered all-inclusive Asheville pet friendly vacations. When we arrived at the cabin, there were dog treats and a toy waiting there for Lancelot. It was great to find a vacation destination that not only allowed pets but welcomed them.
An added item that the llamas and goats will need during winter at the asheville farm vacation location besides hot water, shelter, high protein hay, is a good quality grain. You don’t want to give them too much grain in the dead of winter because it doesn’t heat them up like hay does. You want to give them both. In summer the hay supplements the grain, in winter, the grain supplements the hay. It all has to do with warming them up. Grain supposedly doesn’t heat them up.
Feeding at night becomes the most important time to feed them because it will prepare them for the worse part of the day in terms of temperature. In summer, you would want to feed them at night because you don’t want them to heat up in the highest temperature part of the day. In winter you would also want to feed them at night because it will warm them up for the night, the lowest temperature of the day.
One of the cabin rentals in North Carolina is home to farm animals llamas and goats. Some of them have been born on the farm, some have been bought and brought in from other farms. Now, this is a herd of mixed animals and this is their home. They know of no other. This is the way they believe life should be. So we humans who live on the farm with them, we just make sure they are well cared for and stay healthy.
With such a rough winter as we are having currently, we have to be sure they stay as warm as they can and survive this severe weather. One of the things they need is shelter, another, warm water. Another is a high protein hay. Alfalfa is a good hay for this. It’s very high in protein and it helps warm them up. We’ve purchased hay flakes this last time instead of cubes and they go absolutely nuts when we bring it out to them. They can’t have too much of the stuff or it will throw off the balance of their diet and too much protein is not good for them.
One of the ways to help the farm animals keep warm is to be sure they have plenty of warm water to drink. On really cold days you will want to bring a 5 gallon bucket of hot water out to them at the barn at least two times a day. It’s challenging at best to manipulate those buckets down a steep hill covered in snow or even worse, ice.
If their water is not checked at least twice a day, it will freeze and they will have no water to drink. Farm animals will drink more water the colder it gets. It helps warm them up. So its very important at Asheville NC Cabins that that water be refreshed continuously.
Do you wonder how the farm animals survive during these cold snowy winter nights we’ve had? I often am amazed at how they can bundle in and snuggle up with each other to keep warm. The pygmy goats get close to the angora goats, they all get close to the llamas. I’ve even seen Frida, the Pygmy goat, get on top of Lazardo’s back to stay warm. He just sits there, letting the goat do what it needs to. Love that Llama. What a sweetie!
Even Bandit, she who likes to never be touched, will let one of them snuggle up to her. It’s as if they know they are there to take care of the little ones. Very endearing to watch at Asheville cabin rentals.
Being on a farm in the winter is so much fun. Especially when it’s on a hill and you get to snowboard down the hill. There’s so much wide open space and room to see all the pretty white snow. Its seems in the city the snow turns from white to gray very quickly. On a farm, it stays white until it melts.
At this North Carolina Pet Friendly Cabins, it doesn’t matter if you are young or if you are “old”. When you go down that snowboard, you feel ageless. The wind whips through your hood, whistling in your ear, but who notices as the adrenaline whips up and it feels as if you have lifted off the ground.