Our founder, Thomas Kinkade, was well known for his paintings of cottages, cabins, and lighthouses. He loved to extensively travel, and one of his family’s favorite destinations was the Cotswolds of England. Taking time to stroll through the quaint villages was ideal inspiration to Thom for creating some of his best-known paintings.

The olde weathered stone bridge offers just a bit of shade to the family of ducks lazily traversing the rippling brook that passes through the village. As a sweet fragrance from the summer flowers drifts on the soft breeze, the peacefulness beckons all to stroll through and enjoy Summer in Cobblestone Village.

For many, the Napa Valley has come to symbolize the incredible fruitfulness of the good earth that God created. With its radiant sunshine, cooling morning mists, fertile land, and abundant annual harvest of grapes, this cloistered valley truly is a piece of paradise. When Jesus performed his first miracle turning water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, he clearly was celebrating the overflowing of God’s blessings for those who commit their needs to Him. God is truly the giver of all good gifts, and the natural process of growth and harvest each year throughout the globe testifies to this.

In Abundant Harvest, I have portrayed a classic Napa Valley vineyard estate, complete with stately Victorian house, water tower, weathered windmill, and trailing grapevines. How pleasant to sit in the garden gazebo as the morning sun spills over the horizon and contemplate a slower pace of living. Even the ubiquitous hot air balloons that are now a daily feature in Napa Valley, testify to a pace of living as enchanting as a gentle breeze. Though nostalgic, this scene could actually exist today. My painting represents not a specific location in the valley, but an idealized vision of the timeless beauty and energy of this region.

There are places that touch you so profoundly, they become a part of your personal, imaginative geography. Some years ago in my travels through the English Cotswolds, I found a wonderful old stone gate – simple and evocative, mysterious and inviting – that inspired my celebrated painting The Autumn Gate. When I first came upon it, I knew that I must paint it.

While I painted The Autumn Gate from memory I’m my California studio, I became obsessed with knowing what lay beyond. Nanette and I had to return to England and make a pilgrimage to that ancient gate in order to discover what lay beyond the stately, ivy draped stone manor house I celebrate here in Beyond Autumn Gate. Here is the perfect companion painting to The Autumn Gate, and a splendid evocation of how gracious, courtly, and distinguished it must be to live as “Lord of the English Manor.” In my daydreams, I often return to this favorite spot of mine.

Spring, with its perfumed breezes and lavish bouquets of new flowers, is the season of romance. In spring, the song of new life fills the air and thrills our hearts. Every blooming gate promises to lead us into a paradise where love and peace prevail.

In Beyond Spring Gate, the second in my Spring Gate Collection, I tried to fulfill that promise by leading my collectors to a vernal paradise. Here is an opulent display of flowers and pristine stream that reminds me of Eden. An ancient Gothic stone bridge urges us on the regal, yet warm and welcoming manor house. In romantic Old England, when walking tours were all the vogue, the poet Wordsworth often stopped to accent the hospitality of country house. At such a retreat as this, refreshed and inspired, he may have penned the immortal lines of Tintern Abbey.

Certainly, the poet in all of us takes comfort in a delightful haven of rest like the cozy gazebo here. As I pause to let the spirit of the season wash over me, I’m seized by an impulse to explore the fabulous gardens that lie beyond the great house. That’s just what we’ll do in the third Spring Gate Collection image, which is coming to reward the romantic in all of us.

“The house was quiet and the world was calm.” ~ Wallace Stevens

This grand English country house resonates with the splendid solitude of its sylvan setting. It is just such as center of tranquility as the poet imagines: the quiet heart of a calm world. The harmony between man and nature, between the human and the devine, is mirrored in a scene such as the one I portray in Beyond Summer Gate. This house, with its lavish flower garden, is somehow beyond time. It whispers of eternal.

Summer is the season of color. The full range of nature’s rainbow hues are on display in this floral paradise. Indeed, I’ve taken some liberties in Beyond Summer Gate. I’ve compressed the season, allowing the early-flowering dogwood and the late blooming azalea to display their brilliant blossoms together. Here you’ll find climbing roses, bluebells, foxgloves, and fruit trees all in full flower as they never are in nature. The artist, after all, is entitled to a certain license – so long as it is in the service of beauty.

The Summer Gate of my first painting is just beyond our view down the winding path, but the manor house is made of the same weathered stone; it too, will endure. The tranquility of evening has settled on this country manor, inviting us to stroll the grounds before we settle in for some tea and talk. I hope you will join me.

Spring may bring a vibrancy of new colors after a long winter, but fall is where the majesty and bounty of nature exudes its most magnificent hues. Biltmore in the Fall, by Thomas Kinkade Studios, exemplifies this with a display of spectacular color surrounding the grandeur of the estate built by George W. Vanderbilt and completed in 1895. Originally encompassing 125,000 acres, the historic gardens and grounds envelop and enhance the golds, reds, oranges, purples, and browns that fall brings, and surrounds the magnificent home with a warm and inviting glow.

Biltmore is a family-owned, world-class travel destination, centered on home, welcoming the families and friends who visit each year. Maintaining the elegance, hospitality, and traditions of the Vanderbilt family and providing visitors with a stunning place to escape and enjoy time together is central to the Biltmore mission.

Thomas Kinkade Studios invites you to enjoy this art, which celebrates the magnificence of this historic estate – a beautiful getaway nestled in the mountains surrounding Asheville, North Carolina, with enchanting architecture, gardens, and landscapes meant to charm, inspire, and delight.

When I was a lad, we had our choice of Arcadian swimming holes, deep and safe, framed by old trees and big diving rocks – it was heavenly.

The Blessings of Summer, third in my Blessings of the Seasons Collection, is my tribute to those long-ago summer days. I’ve added the picturesque stone mill with its water wheel because it makes the memory perfect.

People have asked me about the boy who looks ready to cast aside his pole and plunge into the cool waters with his dog. Is he a portrait of the artist as a young man? I suppose I could answer – but I’d rather you decide.

I am truly blessed. As my marriage progresses, I find that I grow ever more romantic in my appreciation of the love of my life – Nanette. My Sweetheart Cottage Collection was a way to share this love. I’m very fond of them. But it lately occurred to me that if I pulled back my focus just a little, I could create perfect romantic hideaways – where lovers live in blissful ignorance of the world.

That’s just what I’ve done in Brookside Hideaway. A footbridge over untroubled waters provides the only entry to this haven for lovers. Just a wisp of smoke and a glimmer of light at the window hint at a human presence in an idyllic world. Graceful flowering dogwoods – the white of purity and the pink of passion – drop their petals on the charming cottage in benediction of love.

Brookside Hideaway is my Valentine’s Day gift to lovers everywhere. It’s lavish with flowers…and on close examination you’ll also find a few hearts hidden away in the distance and among the foliage. Ah, sweet love!

If this seems to be the kind of cottage that Hansel and Gretel might have visited, you might not be too far off. Apart from changing the national origin and a few architectural details, this may well pas as a “gingerbread cottage.” One of my greatest joys as an artist is recreating for others to enjoy the innocent daydreams we all seem to cherish.

One of the greatest compliments I can receive from a collector is “I wish I could live there.” If you ever daydreamed of living in a quaint cottage hidden within the fragrant cedar forest, Cedar Nook Cottage was created for you.

I’ve been on the lookout for cottages that would make perfect dream dollhouses for my girls. How Chandler would love to have a real miniature version of this delightful, flower-bedecked hutch complete with blooming garden, in her playroom. Like most little girls, she loves fancy, frilly things, and this hidden little house seems to be a confection of gingerbread and spun sugar.

Thomas Kinkade