By Shari Randall

I love it when I can scratch an item off my bucket list.

Last week we rendezvoused with Older Daughter in Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is a great town with lots to see and terrific restaurants plus Battery Park, a used bookstore that also has a champagne bar! I could have stayed there for days but Biltmore beckoned.

Biltmore House, built by the Vanderbilt family, is our own American castle. The building, which has over four acres of floor space, includes 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, and a few gargoyles. It is as magnificent as I imagined.

A sweeping drive led to the entry, guarded by two stone lions, decked out with wreaths and big red bows for the holidays. Yes, it’s before Thanksgiving, but Biltmore was resplendent with bows, greenery, and lights, which made it even more enchanting.

What I didn’t expect was to be so captured by the landscape. It was designed by Frederic Law Olmstead, who planned Central Park. Even though the leaves were fading, every path seemed to lead to a view that framed the distant mountains or valleys.

Plus, our tour included entry to the greenhouses, which burst with orchids, poinsettias, and other exotic plants.

Never been to Biltmore? You may have seen part of the estate in a film – some of the movies that have used the estate for background are The Last of the Mohegans, Forrest Gump, Patch Adams, and perhaps most appropriately, Richie Rich.

A one-day visit was not enough. I hope to go back to see this magnificent house – and its magnificent gardens – when the landscape is in bloom. New bucket list item: Biltmore in the spring.

Have you scratched an item from your bucket list lately?

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series from St. Martin’s Press. Book Three, Drawn and Buttered, is now available for preorder.