<p>We are planning a trip to NC in end of March beginning of April. We will stay in the Brookstown Hotel in Winston Salem for a couple of nights, and then want to head to Asheville. We are looking for B and B suggestions for Asheville. I think we would like to be able to,walk into the town, not need to drive.</p>
<p>I figured the CC folks were my first place to check!</p>
<p>thumper1, I don’t mean to hijack your thread, but D and I are headed to Asheville in a few weeks for the weekend. We’ll arrive early to mid-afternoon on Friday and are doing the Biltmore on Saturday. While the CC experts are dispensing advice, are there any suggestions on what to see in Asheville in a few hours Friday afternoon? Hopefully, your suggestions will benefit thumper1 as well:)</p>
<p>We were just there this past week. No suggestion on a B&B as we stayed in a hotel. We did however spend a great afternoon just wandering around Asheville. The Basillica was beautiful and worth going into. There are many shops if you like to browse. Lots of craft brew pubs. Our favorites were Lexington Ave Brewery and Wicked Weed. Biltmore was fantastic. Do spend the extra $10 and get the audio tour. The mums in the garden were just beginning to bloom. Loved the vineyard too. We spent a day exploring Dupont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest and the beautiful waterfalls. Dupont is where some of the Hunger Games was filmed.</p>
<p>Where did or are you staying? DH suggested a B and B but I’m open to suggestions.</p>
<p>We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance. Right on the edge of town but walking distance to everything. Older property and a bit tired but clean and convenient. The stars of The Hunger Games stayed at The Indigo Hotel.</p>
<p>I have 2 free promotional nights from Marriott, so we are staying in the Fairfield Inn (unfortunately, that is the best I could do on the promotion). Would love to stay at a nicer place, but you can’t beat free!</p>
<p>We have free Comfort Inn…but DH said to find something nicer! He suggested finding a B and B.</p>
<p>DuPont Forest is a must if you like to hike and have the time…I have a tent and sleeping bag I’d be willing to let you borrow if you want to make a night of it Thumper… 
Last time I was there I saw 5 waterfalls, a lake and I even think I spotted the meadow where the hunger game contestants came up the tubes at the start of the game. </p>
<p>Did you know that The Last of the Mohican’s was also filmed there? I had to watch it after our visit…recognized 3 of the waterfalls.</p>
<p>Couldn’t tell you about B&B there…up in Black Mountain there is the Red Rocker Inn…but that wouldn’t exactly be walking distance.</p>
<p>I can say with good certainty…we will not be hiking! Just want to check out the sites…and the area for possible retirement home.</p>
<p>Well definitely report back!</p>
<p>We were there in June, also checking it out for possible retirement. We stayed at a hotel altho I would’ve preferred staying at a B&B (with a 91 yo mother, I needed to stay someplace with a forgiving cancellation policy).</p>
<p>There are several B & B’s in Montford or other areas just north of downtown that would be within walking distance of downtown, but I can’t tell you anything about them since we didn’t stay there. We stayed at the Hampton Inn on Tunnel Rd, which has a free shuttle service within 5 miles of the hotel. We never drove into downtown Asheville.</p>
<p>Downtown Asheville is fun to walk around. Lots of good restaurants, shops, galleries. The people are friendly, with lots of people who’ve moved there from elsewhere. Biltmore was incredible; definitely get the audio tour.</p>
<p>A good way to check out the area is with the Grey LIne tour. You can get on and off as often as you like and see various parts of Asheville. Then you can go back on your own if you’d like to further explore.</p>
<p>I went to Asheville in August. We spent most of our time visiting Biltmore, but did go into town. We stayed at the Inn on Biltmore, which is on the estate although you have to take the shuttle bus to get to the estate from there. The bus is free. I thought the hotel was very nice. We ate dinner there one night, and it was quite good. We also sat at the pool after walking around all day and that was really relaxing–great views of the mountains.</p>
<p>We did a tour called The Vanderbilts at Home and Abroad. Its a docent-led tour that gives you an overview of what it was like to live at Biltmore. We also did a quick audio tour on the first day (we arrived in the afternoon). If you’re short on time and can’t do a docent tour, I’d recommend the audio. The second day we did a Legacy of the Land Tour–which was my favorite. Lots of information about building the estate, the landscaping and gardens and the role of Frederick Law Olmsted in creating the landscape. You’re on a bus and get to go all around the estate. I’m a big fan of gardens so we spent an entire morning looking at the Conservatory and gardens on the estate and walked all over. We stopped at Antler Hill and visited the kitchen garden. One day we ate at the Stable Restaurant on the Estate–basic food and it’s easy because it’s on the grounds. There’s a shuttle bus that takes you to various spots on the Estate. That was really convenient.</p>
<p>We just walked around in downtown Asheville, which seems is a fun place. Lots of cute shops. We ate at a tapas restaurant called Zambra. Good food.</p>
<p>H and I stayed at a B and B in Asheville several years ago. I will see if I can recall the name. We walked to downtown but some might consider it just a bit to far.
We toured the Biltmore. Loved the gardens. We also drove and picnicked the Blue Ridge Parkway. We also visited Warren Wilson College thinking our youngest might apply there.
Beaufort House Inn
They also had a great health food store that had great To go food.
We also ate at a local brewery that had great music</p>
<p>If you are seriously thinking about Asheville for retirement, I suggest that you attend the
OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE Creative Retirement Exploration Weekend. UNC-Asheville puts on this seminar every Memorial Day weekend. We attended a few years ago with another couple and found it invaluable. They had speakers who had approached retirement every different way - some successfully and others not so much. We rented a house on the side side of a mountain from VRBO - found out that we don’t want to live up in the mountains - it’s very pretty, but it takes too long to get up and down.</p>
<p>The Thirsty Monk and Jack of the Wood are both great places if you like good beer. Tupelo Honey is a really good place to eat. Outstanding breakfast.</p>
<p>Although I enjoyed the downtown area of Asheville, I was surprised by the number of homeless folks gathered in the public areas. The other thing we got a chuckle from was a handful of topless women. One tourist was posing with a rather well endowed gal for a photo op!</p>
<p>My son moved to Hickory in January 2012 and after a visit to Asheville this summer mentioned the homeless people to his buddies at work. They laughed and told him they were not homeless, just hippies!</p>
<p>We stayed at the Grove Park Inn which was just fabulous in itself. We had no problem finding downtown parking for our excursions but I believe there are busses from the Inn to town and to Biltmore.</p>
<p>I returned from our weekend in Asheville last night and here’s my report. Traffic was terrible both ways (wrecks & construction - ugh) and the drive to/from Nashville was much longer than we expected. We got into Asheville around 3:30 on Friday and wandered around downtown. We enjoyed the local art displayed at the Woolworth Walk and then we wandered over to the Grove Arcade. The Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar looked like a wonderful place to spend an hour or two, but we only had time to wander through and ooh and aah over the shelves of books, comfortable chairs, and the bar. A friend of D’s told her to eat at Tupelo Honey. As we made our way there, we saw one of the topless women that knitkneelionmom referred to and that was quite the site. As D says, I have so many questions. The food was good at Tupelo Honey and the biscuits they bring with your drinks were delicious. While we were in that area, we also saw the Friday drum circle that D had read about and that was a quirky site.</p>
<p>The Biltmore more than lived up to our expectations, but it was definitely a high volume day. The house was impressive, but the gardens and grounds were spectacular. I had read The Lady on the Hill prior to the trip which gave me a good background on how the family had managed to keep the house financially viable and privately owned. However, many of the essential details were included the audio tour and I concur with everyone who has recommended that for optimum enjoyment. Wear comfortable shoes that will allow you to scale back up the hill after touring the gardens. I walk daily, but that trip back up the hill was like being on an incline treadmill. The Antler Hill portion of the property was enjoyable, but much more commercial than the main part of the estate. I don’t know enough about wines to judge the quality of their offerings, but we were too tired to care much at that point in the day.</p>
<p>There is definitely enough to do to spend several days in the area and beer drinkers will likely love the brewery tours, but I don’t fit that bill and we didn’t have enough time. I would love to go back to see the gardens of the Biltmore in the spring some time.</p>
<p>The Chestnut St Inn is owned by a friend of my massage therapist, and speaks highly of it. Ironically a friend I recently saw for lunch happened to stay there recently and loved it. The owner’s name is LaDonna.</p>