I’m home, safe and sound after visiting many “villes” and putting 1200 miles on the rental car! It was a very interesting trip and I enjoyed everything, but it is so good to be home. I woke up this morning and was so happy to be in my own bed with Gizmo and Jasmine trying to get me up to feed them. Peter is away, but I pick him up at the airport tomorrow and we’ll have a dinner reunion.
Asheville is one of those places that was built at the right time. The turn of the (last) century was a marvelous era for architecture and Asheville is full of beautiful homes and spectacular mansions. Craftsman bungalows and what I would call “fairy tale” houses, for lack of a better term, are everywhere. I was mostly in the car, driving down windy lanes and could not photograph many places…. I went out for a run one day and ended up walking – there were so many houses I wanted to look at and the sidewalk was uneven and it’s hard to run and gawk at the same time. This place was near the pretty green house from the last post. It was a wreck but I thought Peter and I should re-do it! Talk about good bones.
It makes such a difference when someone takes the time to choose paint colors to highlight their house trim. Isn’t this a wonderful place???
Molly and Joe took me to the Grove Park Inn and on the way out, mentioned that their crafts store was great. The next day, I found my way back there and they weren’t kidding!!!!! If you are at all interested in crafts, and I mean crafts not “crafting”, done by serious and devoted people, then you must stop here.
Photographs are not allowed inside, so I can’t share all the amazing work that I saw. As you can see from the sign, the Furniture Society has work here and I cannot remember when I have seen such an array of stunning work- I wanted to completely re-furnish our house. A show of sculpture for the outdoors had just opened and this was the piece that I wanted…..It would make quite the statement in our front garden.
Before I drove on to Knoxville, I stopped in Biltmore Village. It was built by the Vanderbilts for the people working at the mansion and is full of well-preserved arts and crafts style homes, which are now stores and restaurants. At the center of the village is this church, which was built by the Vanderbilts and then donated to the Episcopalians. It is a beauty.
I had a wonderful lady luncheon at a tea house and enjoyed all the stores there. I will leave you with a view. It was cloudy and rainy the whole time I was in Asheville, but it’s a beautiful spot and would be a great place to live.
