Amish Country

During our stay in Lancaster County, we stayed at a busy and quaint B&B in one of the villages. Our hosts had a map of some places off the beaten path for suggestions to see while we were there. We started off at a book shop which sold a mix of authentic Amish-German books, school supplies, cookbooks, and fiction. We found a couple of first grade level writing books for W.

From there we stopped at a variety of shops and farms, a wooden toy shop selling everything from play kitchens to marble and car runs, a wonderful dairy which had excellent iced cream and animals to visit, a farmer’s market, and of course, quilt shops. W & C picked out a Thomas-themed quillow and Cars pillow (they know their audience). They actually did wind up useful in the car ride as well. I bought some chow chow, a delicious mix of pickled veggies, at one of the shops. One of my favorite sights on this trip was a clothes line from an Amish house to a telephone pole, and that was the one line connected to the home. 

cornfields somewhere between Strasburg and Paradise

After visiting a locally renowned quilt shop, we wound up back where we went on our last trip. Lapp’s Quilts on N. Star Rd. in Ronks, PA is a quilt shop in the basement of an Amish home. They have a wonderful selection and a lot of creative patterns with a nice variety of colors. After drooling looking over the many quilts for quite a while, we agreed on a double wedding ring quilt which suits our cozy log cabin bedroom very nicely. Quilts are an expression of art and the craftsmanship of these quilts is superb. If you ever want to buy an Amish made quilt, please do go to the source. Their prices are lower than the shops in the towns and they are more than willing to answer any questions about the products and let you take your time. One tip with shopping this locally: bring cash or your checkbook, many places do not accept credit cards.

The other highlight of our day was the Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop, which offers a variety of baked goods and treats, and is part of a gift shop. Outside the bake shop has goats to feed, a playground to climb on, and gliders to enjoy. We ate local delicacies like shoo fly pie and oatmeal cream pies (way better than Little Debbie’s). This place is well known and during busy times there will be tour buses but we happened to go at a less hectic time and we really enjoyed it. This day was the perfect wrap up to our vacation. I love the rolling farmlands of Pennsylvania, it is very scenic and welcoming. Now we are back at our little house in the big woods of NH and gearing up for summertime and a garden of our own.