On New Year's Day, I was fortunate enough to visit The Biltmore.  It

was fantastic and a great way to spend the beginning of 2011.  I enjoyed touring

the house, and some limited garden areas.  The weather was rainy, and overcast,

so we toured the house first  hoping to avoid some of the rain.  I have seen pictures

of the house, but it is definately bigger than you think as you walk up.

Frony Entry

After the tour of the house which was so unique in its preservation, we walked around some of the grounds.  Walking the

garden in the winter gives an entirely different aspect to the greatness, and forward reaching vision of Landscape Architects,

and F. Law Olmstead, the father of Landscape Architecture.

Oak behind house Emphasizes the need to use heritage trees with long lives, in design, and not settling for

immediate solutions with just to meet landscape requirements cheaply.

This view was fascinating and probably my favorite of the areas that we did see.  It really shows the far reaching vision

that Landscape Architects have, and how Olmstead put this into practice.  This view is across the Italian garden to

the left of the house.   Coming off the house is an arbor, and has been designed at the same angle as the mountain

ridge off in the distance.  (It is hard to tell in this picture, but you can see it beyond the terrace.)  Olmstead could see

the need to frame this view, and placed a large heritage tree on the far end which frames the view, and also terminates

the eye to the larger landscape.  This tree was probably planted here below the wall at somewhere between 15-20' in

height, or less.  If this was a small, or mid-size tree, this amazing view would have never happened.

The entire grounds were so beautiul, and Olmsted's vision is not measured at the grounds adjacent to the house.  Driving

through the estate, there were several other beautiful areas.

Bass Pond Partially Frozen

Stream and Snow

This estate is a testament to F. Law Olmstead, and his sons and will definately

be visited again to see the grounds and gardens in full bloom.