Adventure Snapshot:
Where we stayed: Millersburg, Ohio
When we went: August 13-19, 2022
What we discovered: It doesn’t take long to embrace the slower pace of life in Amish country. What we enjoyed: Local farms, charming small towns, and shopping for handmade goods in quaint general stores were highlights.
We’re glad to leave behind: The flies. Yick.
Where is Amish Country in Ohio?
Amish country is in Northern Ohio, between I-71 and I-77. Some of the towns in Amish Country include Millersburg, Sugar Creek, Kidron, and Fredricksburg, Ohio.
Our First Adventure
Our first trip in our camper has been a success! It was not necessarily the expedition to the great North (Michigan was our original plan), but sometimes unplanned exploring is pleasantly surprising.
Honestly, this would not have been a trip I would have planned. We live about two hours from Amish country and all of us but Josh had been here multiple times. It’s a cute place, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it excitable from a kid’s point of view. We also would not have chosen a commercialized campground. Not that there is anything wrong with them, simply personal choice. We like our space and trees.
Booking it was an error- we had meant to camp at Berlin Lake, but we accidentally chose Berlin, Ohio which is about an hour and a half away. We rolled with the punches and had a 6-night trip that exceeded our expectations.
Camping lesson:
Campgrounds may share their name with a town that it is nowhere nearby. Sounds obvious to write it, but mistakes happen. Now we know to double-check!
Berlin RV Park & Campground Review
Let’s start with the campground- we stayed at Berlin RV Park & Campground. This campground was SUPER clean and well taken care of. The kids and I are magnets to mosquitos and we did not get bit once. We didn’t even need bug spray. The grass and landscaping was manicured.
The flies, however, were on another level.
We had to use fly traps and deterrents to try to make the flies tolerable. They were getting trapped within our exterior tent and inside our camper. We did all we could to keep our area clean, put away trash and get rid of other things they might be attracted to, but there was no hope. It was their time of year and their place to be. We had to endure for the trip, but we’ll take flies over mosquitoes any day.
The trash was taken care of regularly and not piled up. The wifi was decent for being in a rural environment- Josh was able to work well. The campground also had laundry on site and it was in a very clean shed (2.50 per wash, 2.25 per dry). The site was a full hook up- especially for our first time out it was probably for the best that we accidentally did not choose the electric only site.
The bath houses were also clean- so much so that I would often opt to walk down to use the restroom rather than use the one in the camper. It also was a good excuse to have a short quiet solo walk a couple times per day. As was expected, the sites were close together. However, all the other aspects of the site compensated for this that I wouldn’t write off staying at a commercialized site. Especially for the cost of $45 per night.
Berlin RV Park & Campground Booking Tips: If we were to stay here again, I would request sites 7-13 (we would be right next to the playground) or 13/14/30/31/52 because it would be an unobstructed view for a beautiful sunset.
Roadschooling Adventures in Amish Country
I asked my Pioneering Princess what she enjoyed most about the trip and she enjoyed having a playground within walking distance that she could go to every day. Where we live, we have to drive to the nearest playground so it is not always the most convenient excursion- but here? We were able to go multiple times per day and she got to play with the same kids each day.
As for Amish country, we all enjoyed our time. One of the benefits of camping here for nearly a week was that we didn’t need to rush to see everything. We did slow exploring. We gave the kids time to play and relax before going out and about.
Here are the highlights:
Hershberger’s Farm and Bakery
Hands down, this was our high point.
We loved this place so much that we went twice. To say it is a petting zoo is a bit of an understatement because we spent hours here both times. The cost of admission is inexpensive ($5 per person); what got us were the carrots that you can buy to feed the animals. They were whole carrots with the greens (2 for $1) and it was so much fun to feed them to the animals.
They also have horse rides and pony rides. When you enter the barn, you are greeted with baby goats that want to eat your carrots.
THERE ARE SO MANY GOATS!
And so many baby goats!
There is such a variety of animals, and it is quite a large barn and outdoor area. The larger animals such as the adult goats, the horses, cows, pigs, donkeys and alpacas were behind cages/fences. But so many of the babies were free to wander.
Josh and I both felt like kids getting to pet and feed baby alpacas, calves, goats, lambs. The kids loved getting to hold bunnies and chicks.
They don’t have a website, so here is their Facebook page and details:
https://www.facebook.com/Hershbergers/
Phone: (330) 674-6096
Address: 5452 State Route 557, Millersburg, OH, United States, Ohio
Guggisberg Cheese
An ad noted that this cheese store has factory tours from 9am-12pm Mondays through Fridays. So off we went!
When we got there, we saw 2 large windows showing the factory, but did not see anything about tours. After speaking with the worker, she said that it is a bit misleading because it is not a tour, there are the 2 windows that you can look and stickers on the windows explaining some of the process.
So the tour was a let down.
Honestly, you cannot really see anything from the windows except the side of the large vats- you can’t see into them. So that was a bit of a disappointment, but I am a big believer in making the most of situations rather than having an Eeyore complex about it. We looked at the different cheese that they had available and learned that they had won several national and international awards for their cheeses. So we bought 3 types of award winning cheeses to have a taste test later and to be able to share with Josh who has to stay behind and work to support our lifestyle. They also provide samples and stepped back to watch Anderson practice his manners asking for a couple of samples for him and his sister. The shop had other miscellaneous items as well and I found a chicken soup powder mix and spaetzel- sounded delicious to put in the cast iron with some chicken and veggies for dinner.
To note- the cheeses that we bought were definitely some of the best Swiss cheeses that I have ever had.
Tis the Season Christmas store
If you’re the type of person who will wander into a Christmas store in August, this store will not disappointment. It is 3 stories of wall-to-wall Christmas spectacular.
There are different themed rooms upstairs (Who-ville, beach, country, etc). There’s a room of snow globes. There’s a whole floor of just Christmas trees. It’s beautiful. And not loud! Odd thing to note, I’m sure. But there are not musical/noisy tchotchkes for my kids (and the dozens of other kids) to push and cause mayhem.
It’s just beautiful.
Sugar Creek
This was a part of Amish country that I had never visited before. But we saw that it had the world’s largest cuckoo clock and it was called Little Switzerland- so off we went!
The giant cuckoo clock was cute; we got there in time for it to come to life. And that was the highlight of Sugar Creek! We went to a bulk food store (I love getting popcorn and different types of flours from these these types of stores). But there wasn’t much else to see. I was a bit underwhelmed.
Driving Through Amish Country in Ohio
This was our first adventure in our camper, so we expected driving to be an event in and of itself.
And it was.
It is a bit stressful because so many people get around on bike or by horse and buggy and there are not sidewalks- only hilly windy roads. But the sights are enjoyable! There were several times when we would turn around to get a picture or show the kids. One house had enormous hogs just camped out in the front yard on a volleyball court. There was one field with at least 20 sheep walking in a straight line.
Amish country has a way of helping you slow down.
Pulling a camper for the first time also has a way of helping you slow down.
What we will we do in Amish Country, Ohio next time?
When you’re in Amish country, you’ll probably find that you just don’t want to try to cram it all in. It’s a quintessential slow-travel destination. Leaving with a few things you didn’t get to do should be part of the plan.
Here’s where we’ll go next time.
Yoders Amish Home
We probably would have gone this time around, but the kids wanted to go back to Hershbergers.
Boyd and Wurthmann Restaurant
Every time we drove past this restaurant there was a line out the door
Follow the Adventure
See more pictures and footage of our roadschooling trip to Ohio’s Amish country and follow the adventure on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Life’s an adventure- follow ours as you create yours!
