While we’re not quite ready to break out our Christmas decorations and sing carols, we’re definitely looking forward to 2013 Christmas at Biltmore beginning November 2, because, well, they’ve known how to do a spectacular Christmas celebration ever since George Washington Vanderbilt opened his Asheville home to family and friends on Christmas Eve of 1895.
| The Folk Art Center off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville |
The Asheville, North Carolina, area was hit with some hard news earlier this month when the Folk Art Center and the Pisgah Inn and Restaurant both closed as a result of the federal government shutdown. Both are located along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and are popular places for our guests and other visitors to see, especially during the beautiful fall season. The Pisgah Inn’s restaurant serves a fantastic lunch and dinner and is the perfect stop when traveling south on the Parkway to see fall foliage and hike at Mt. Pisgah and Graveyard Fields, while the Folk Art Center is a great destination for viewing regional art and craftwork while traveling the Parkway north toward the fall colors and hiking trails around Craggy Gardens and Mt. Mitchell State Park.
| Locally-made flatbread crackers at the Black Mountain Tailgate Market |
From spring through fall (and even sometimes in the winter), a trip to the western North Carolina mountains is not complete without a stop at a local tailgate or farmers market, or a roadside produce stand. If you’ll be in our neck of the woods this fall season, here is a list of tailgate and farmers markets in western NC that are not far from the Inn on Mill Creek B&B:
| Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville |
One of the special features of Appalachian North Carolina is the
treasured tradition of handmade craftwork that carries on today through individual crafters as well as groups
such as the Southern Highland Craft Guild. The Craft Guild will be sponsoring the 33rd Annual Heritage Weekend, celebrating the traditional music, dance and crafts of the
area, on September 21-22, 2013.
This year at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, the tulips and azaleas are battling it out for everyone’s attention! We have never been to Biltmore — located 20 minutes from the Inn on Mill Creek — when the azaleas and tulips were in full bloom at the same time. Just, wow.
April is a great time to visit Biltmore Estate in Asheville if you love flowering trees and shrubs. As promised to our Facebook fans, here are some photos we took on April 12, just before the 80,000 tulips stole the show…enjoy!
This year, our area of Western North Carolina is the place to be in early May if you love food and local art!
| Azaleas at Biltmore bloom in late April / early May |
Azaleas. Do you like them? If so, then you should check out the thousands of amazing azaleas at Biltmore Estate in nearby Asheville, NC, during late April / early May. They have an entire garden — at 15 acres, it’s more like a park — dedicated to this lovely spring-blooming shrub.
| The (very green) Black Mountains of North Carolina in springtime |
We’ve updated our list of ten hikes around our neck of the woods that are great for enjoying springtime. Western North Carolina has elevations between 1,000 and 6,690 feet, so keep in mind that late March and early/mid-April may still be on the wintry side in the mountains at the higher elevations, while the flowers and flowering trees are blooming at middle elevations such as ours at 2,300 feet. By the end of April and first part of May, spring takes hold everywhere.
