If you can’t vacation like the Vanderbilts, you can come near to it with a visit to The Cottage on Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, N.C. (left). A chef and butler will see to your every need, as well as arranging outings in Asheville or around the 6,000-acre, 1900 estate. For an even more secluded experience, consider the Laughing Frog Estate, a privately-owned home packed with hideaways like the library, reading nook, and gourmet kitchen pictured here. Or get out and walk the private trails on the property’s 215 wooded acres, enjoy a game of tennis with no waiting, or enjoy organic produce from the estate’s greenhouse and garden.
to the guests, something small just to cleanse the palate.” It’s all prepared by the chef and served at the cottage, and of course input from the guests is more than welcome. “We do have a menu, but most of our guests don’t choose from it. We tell them we can make anything their hearts desire,” Dalila says. The service often begins even before arrival, when the staff contacts future guests to quiz them on their likes, dislikes, wishes, wants, and desires. The 1,500 square foot, two-story home has two plush bedrooms, each with its own very modern, very pleasing bathroom, with polished granite sinks, garden tubs, and walk-in showers. The home’s furnishings are styled after those of the estate’s centerpiece mansion. If you take a liking to a piece
or two, you can order your own from the Biltmore’s line of home décor. THE LAUGHING FROG ESTATE Some consider home-like solitude itself a form of luxury. So the next stop down south should be a showpiece home nestled in the woods near Asheville, N.C. You’ll be surrounded by 215 forested acres, with miles of private hiking trails, your own tennis court (no waiting, no time-slot reservations, no critical kibbitzers), and an organic garden, greenhouse, and orchard from which you’re welcome to select produce for the estate’s well-appointed gourmet kitchen. The five-bedroom, five-and-a-halfbath home’s owner, Kelley Wilkinson, says travelers are turning to private rentals to avoid the crowds they find
in resort settings. “When you rent a hotel room, you get the room. You get the lobby that you’re sharing with everybody. You get the restaurant that you’re sharing with everybody,” she said. “For people who don’t want to be listening to the sound of cars and lots of people and everything going on, this is a great setting.” At Laughing Frog Estate, named by Kelley’s young daughter for a species of frogs that emerge in early, early spring for mating season, filling the air with a distinctive chuckling sound, visitors enjoy completely private access to creeks and a koi pond on the property, along with an outdoor Jacuzzi, five miles of private mountainside hiking trails, and even a waterfall outside the front door. Bikes are available on site. 09.4 SEPT.OCT / TRAVELWORLD MAGAZINE
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LAUGHING FROG ESTATE
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