As head instructor for the Land Rover Experience Driving School at Biltmore, Greg Nikolas has what many people consider an ideal job. Greg drives luxurious and highly capable Land Rovers to rarely seen places on the estate while instructing guests on how to improve their off-road driving skills. The experiences range from 1 or 2-hour lessons on obstacle courses with steep descents, side-tilts, and rock crawls to full-day training in off-road techniques and recovery.

He doesn’t deny that it’s fun—he’s worked for Land Rover for 15 years, including the past 9 years at Biltmore’s program. And while he enjoys the time he spends navigating and instructing guests as they pilot Land Rovers through woods and fields, there are two locations on the estate he considers his favorites.

The first spot is the statue of Diana, located at the top of the Vista that faces Biltmore House.

“The view of Biltmore House from Diana is spectacular. Every time I’m there I think about how George Vanderbilt must have felt seeing his home from this vantage point. This particular view really puts the house’s size and splendor into perspective,” Greg says.

His other favorite is less well-known but just as scenic. Picnic Hill is located on the estate’s west side, across the French Broad River from Biltmore House and Antler Hill Village. There is limited access to this spot; it’s primarily visited by guests participating in a Land Rover activity. Picnic Hill overlooks Long Valley Lake, the vineyards, and provides a unique glimpse of the Inn on Biltmore Estate.

“It is so peaceful and serene there that you could be miles from anywhere. In reality, you’re only minutes from Asheville and the rest of the estate,” Greg says.

“As its name suggests, we use it for picnics on our full-day adventures. And it’s been the scene for more than one marriage proposal!”

Elaine Breault’s daily responsibilities often take her all around Biltmore. As operations manager for Lioncrest, Deerpark Restaurant, and Biltmore Catering, she manages the private events, weddings, and conferences hosted at these venues in addition to managing functions off the estate that use Biltmore Catering.

Four years of handling these duties has resulted in Elaine being pretty familiar with locations around the estate. And she has a couple of favorite places–that you may not be aware of–that keep drawing her back time after time.
One area is located behind the Inn on Biltmore Estate; there are hiking trails that Elaine uses for running when she feels like a challenge.

“The trail behind the inn is marked with good signage, and I usually turn right and run by the Brooder House, which used to be a chicken coop,” she says. “This particular trail also offers great long-range mountain views.”
There’s another location she likes for a completely different reason. The paved path that connects Antler Hill Village and the Lagoon is a favorite for both Elaine and her pit bull/lab mix named Lola. This is a popular trail for dogs and people alike as it passes through fields with the French Broad River nearby.

“Lola loves to walk here because she meets so many other dogs,” Elaine says.

If you attended a seminar hosted by A Gardener’s Place, you may have met Hope Wright. In addition to her responsibilities as a sales associate in our garden shop, she conducts the free daily seminars on gardening and flower arranging offered throughout the year. Which means Hope is one of the lucky few who can gather materials from Biltmore’s gardens to create beautiful arrangements seen in displays.

Since she’s spent 14 years at A Gardener’s Place, it’s only natural that several of our gardens hold her most preferred locations on the estate.

One of her favorite walks begins at Biltmore House and continues down into the Shrub Garden, bypassing the steps that lead to the Walled Garden. She recommends stopping there to admire the glory of a Weeping Blue Atlas cedar.

As you continue toward the Shrub Garden, take a trail that cuts up to the right. Then turn around to view the many dogwood varieties that thrive here.

“This area is unofficially known as the ‘dogetum’, a take on the word arboretum,” Hope says. “I continue to be amazed at the variety of interesting dogwoods—my favorite is the variegated Weeping Kousa Dogwood.”

The view from this location on the trail is amazing. “You can see a tiny section of the Conservatory through the evergreens, and a fabulous view of the entire Walled Garden,” she says. “I like to sit on the cast iron Victorian bench and take a few moments just to appreciate the scenery.”

In springtime, you can see the tulips in full bloom, but summer also serves up beauty with the Walled Garden bursting with bright annuals. “Take a few minutes to go off the beaten path—there’s always a new sight to behold in every season,” Hope says.

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For Bryan McIntosh, the Spring Garden will always hold a special place in his heart. Since beginning his Biltmore career in Food & Beverage operations 12 years ago, he’s spent a great deal of his working life indoors, from managing the Stable Café to his current responsibilities overseeing all food & beverage services in Antler Hill Village as well as operations for The Biltmore Coffee Co. in downtown Asheville.

But the Spring Garden—a secluded space just beyond the Shrub Garden and shaded with towering pines and hemlocks— stands out to him for two reasons.

“It reminds me of a golf fairway, and it’s also the place where my wife and I were married,” he says.

“We met at Biltmore, so it was fitting that we got married here,” Bryan says. “The Spring Garden is an unusual place for a wedding so that made it different and special for us.”

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted may have named it the Spring Garden for two small springs found here. As befits its name, this garden is glorious in spring with vivid blooms of forsythia, spirea, and redbuds contrasting with majestic evergreens. But summer brings its own beauty to this location, with leafy shrubs and trees creating a calm retreat.

For Bryan, the Spring Garden also had another plus going for it—it was one of the few places where he had not managed an event on the estate so it didn’t have “work” connections for him.

“My wife and I looked all over the Asheville area trying to find an outdoor location for our wedding. We just kept coming back to Biltmore; you can’t beat it,” he says.

Learn more about our gardens and grounds.