Photo tour while house sitting near Asheville, NC.

Our week long house sitting job in North Carolina was located only four hours away from where we live. We arrived right on time and introduced ourselves to the home owner and his cat. Lets call the home owner Keith for privacy sake. We received a tour of the house and put away the few things we brought while house sitting in NC.

We were very fortunate to receive this house sitting job of a beautiful 4 story home set in the side of the mountains surrounding Asheville, NC. This is a very pleasant area to visit, especially during the Fall season.

Our bedroom was located on the lower floor and had a small sauna in the adjacent bathroom. Keith told us to feel free to use the infrared home sauna. Yay! We never lived in a house with an actual, working sauna. What a treat!

Booking.com

The house was being remodeled at the time so a painter and contractor were also present when we arrived. An upper floor apartment was getting finishing touches and we were expecting the first renter to arrive the day before Thanksgiving.

We gave Keith a ride to the airport the day we arrived and on the way he was nice enough to point out places to visit and a few of his favorite restaurants in the area. After a relaxing night in our ‘temporary home’, a good nights sleep and breakfast taken care of, we were ready to start exploring the neighborhood.

Our first day trip while house sitting in NC took us

to the nearby town of Black Mountain.

Black Mountain is also called The Front Porch of Western North Carolina. It’s an easy drive from Asheville and offers a selection of tourist shops in the small downtown area.

We enjoyed walking through the historic downtown area, there are many quaint little shops and antique stores, several tea rooms and a German restaurant. We stopped to have coffee at the Dripolator Coffeehouse were Nick couldn’t walk away without buying one of their t-shirts.

The older guy at the town’s visitor information building was very friendly and told us about the nearby hiking trails.

Our next stop was the Montreat Christian Liberal-Arts College.

The college offers beautiful hiking trails which we took advantage of for several hours.

Nick posing in Montreat NC during while house sitting in NC

We couldn’t leave without checking out the camping sites first. Montreat offers 26 camp sites that were all built by volunteer campers from different churches over the years. We could easily see ourselves coming back in the warmer months to camp in one of these secluded camp spots.

As you can see below Montreat campground is a very relaxing and beautiful mountain retreat.

We walked the Prayer Path and Serenity Trail in the

Walk Jones Wildlife Sanctuary at Montreat Conference Center.

Nick discovered a pamphlet to go along with the path. There were seven stations where one should stop and reflect on life and God. We felt very blessed to have found this serene place and walked the labyrinth and included the other stops to reflect at as well. Learn more about the Montreat Center on their website.

November is a great time to visit North Carolina.

We only encountered one other couple on the trails, and even though we worked up a lather, we didn’t get too overheated and there were no mosquitoes or other bugs to contend with. We did work up a thirst during our hike, so on our way back into the town of Black Mountain we made one more stop.

On the drive back to where we were house sitting

we noticed The Lookout Brewery in Black Mountain, NC.

This was one of two breweries in the town of Black Mountain. Time constraints limited us to the nearest one. When we arrived a small group had already gathered and were sampling the many different kinds of brews that were available. Find out what beers they have currently on tap. You must be 21 years of age to enter.

Lookout Brewing was a cozy little spot that offered outdoor seating.

The brewery was easily accessible through a side garage style door. Leaning toward the darker beers we had a pint of the BBQ Amber and the local favorite. It wasn’t until after we had received our pints that we realized that we could have ordered a sampler set. Oh well, so much beer, so little time.

The Lookout was a relaxing place to hang, but the beer ignited our appetites.

Finding a decent meal was next on the agenda. On the way back ‘home’, we happened upon a nice family style restaurant. Both of our meals were excellent and left us full, satisfied and ready to settle in for the night.

It was getting dark by now and time to head back so we could tend to the cat and try out the sauna. Our first day house sitting in the North Carolina mountains concluded with a nice outing all the way around.

More house sitting in NC articles:

House Sitting Job in North Carolina – Part 2 – Exploring downtown Asheville and a few local breweries
House Sitting Job in North Carolina – Part 3 – A vineyard in SC and the many NC hiking trails to explore

Did you enjoy our photo tour while house sitting? Leave us a comment below.