bluffscape amish tours

LOVE Bluffscape Amish Tours! Bluffscape Tours is a short drive from Rochester and an easy way to show guests a unique part of southest Minnesota. I have used other companys but really like Bluffcape best. The guides have researched the Amish and share the information in a way that is educational and fun. Both kids and adults enjoy the tour. Love it for the value, the guides, the beautiful area and naturally, the Amish.

I've been on this tour several times..it's on my list of favorite things to do when I have visitors from out of state. The tour leader Joan is extremely knowledgeable of the Amish culture & customs, and it's obvious that she has developed good relationships with the Amish in the area. They are very accomodating to her visitors and it makes for a very positive experience as you visit each farm. I learn something new each visit.On one of my visits, President Obama was visiting the area and so there were many roads that were closed as part of the security needed in such a situation. Joan went above and beyond to work out contingency plans for each stop so that we got our full days worth of stops. I highly recommend this tour!

The tour guide was a very nice man, but I paid $30 to learn about the Amish not him selling feed. Every stop we had people would ask can we take pictures and everything he said I will find out and tell you, He never told us if we could, there was a few time we had to ask him more then once. He was very good at getting off the bus and going to the owner of the farm/store and just talking to them the whole time, not very good at the tour guide part.This is something he does all the time and he never had a answer. All the stops we went to were very clean and VERY NICE, but the last one was a mess, I have been to land fills that was cleaner then her place. When I pay for a tour I want to LEARN something, If I wanted to go shopping for 3 hours I would of went to the Mall of America. When I go again it will NOT be with the older gentleman. It was a very nice time and will go again.

The tour guide was pleasant, but...I wanted to LEARN about the Amish, not his feed selling days. There was not a lot of explaining things and a few times we had people who had taken the tour before explain things to us that the guide knew nothing about. The house that we were allowed to see what not explained and I found the woman rude, and very dirty outside...none of the people on our tour bought anything from that place...it seemed like it was more of a "shopping adventure" that this guide was promoting instead of telling us about the Amish ways. It would of been nice to have the woman that so many people bragged about be our guide today...maybe we could of learned more. When I pay for a tour...I want to LEARN about something...not being dropped off to shop...even though that was fun...it was not my primary purpose to go on the tour. Most of the places were VERY clean and the people very kind. I would LOVED to know more of their way of life. This tour was Saturday morning the 11th of October.

My partner and I joined the tour at the Stone Mill Hotel in Lanesboro. Our tour guide for the day was Joan, and I must say that we've never had a more pleasant or informative tour guide!The tour was 3 hours long, including several stops at Amish farms and their stores. It was great to talk and interact with the Amish folk and see all their beautiful handmade furniture and goods. Note that there was no pressure to buy anything. Another stop we experienced was the bakery, which was out of this world! The ginger cookies were amaazzzing!!!We thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

Our tour guide was a very clear-spoken young woman who obviously knew her Amish neighbors and care about them deeply. She spoke on their religion, history, education, marriage and funeral customs, dress habits, daily life, and the differences between various groups of Amish with great knowledge. She was able to answer all questions put to her. We traveled up and down country roads and saw beautiful scenery as she would pull into various farms. She knew the history of each family and was able to relate them to other families we had seen. Each farmyard was typical of the farms of my youth; the smell of manure was present as well as various bits of machinery, flies, and farm detritus here and there. To city dwellers this often looks "messy", but it is how farm life is. I was struck by how carefully mown each (very large) yard was, and how they all had petunias and some flowers some where. The women are typically the ones to do the lawn mowing with rotary mowers, which is probably what impressed the most of all. The homes had large gardens, all carefully weeded and planted. There were usually one or two horses grazing in a field, and there were also hitching posts in the yards. We were usually led into an outbuilding or a room that contained goods to buy, although we were told we were under no obligation to purchase anything. The basketry was of very high quality and the variety was impressive. Since I myself sew, I wasn't interested in the sewn articles, which did seem well made. I found the shopping experience uncomfortable, since I rarely buy anything without planning far ahead ( I go for experiences, not possessions). We were later told that the Amish are no longer able to support themselves by farming, and must turn to carpentry, sawmills, or other types of work in addition to the labor intensive farming they already do. The sales of these articles helps to supplement their very meager incomes. They neither ask for nor receive any government assistance of any type. My favorite part of the tour was visiting a carpentry shop family that had young children. The children were all outside, playing with their only visible toy, a wagon. The oldest sister had fashioned a halter of sorts, and would pull her younger sister and brother up and down the driveway while they all laughed and laughed and were perfectly contented, while their mother washed the outside of the farmhouse windows. I thought of the elaborate swing sets and play equipment of children in my neighborhood and how I had never seen them in use for more than 5 minutes at a time, and never as perfectly happy as those three lovely children were for half an hour on a beautiful July afternoon. I think the difficult part of this tour for me was that it felt a little intrusive going into the homes and lives of a very private people. The most wonderful part was seeing how farming life must have been like for my father, early in the 20th century, when his family farmed with horses, heated the home and cooked with wood stoves, and had only simple toys with which to play.

This tour was perfect. The driver was knowledgeable about the Amish and knew them personally. Their history and traditions were explained to us. $30 a piece was a steal for this tour. It's worth every penny and more.

This has to be one of the fun and informative tours I have ever been to.My husband and I were planning to take the guided cd tour but then we were worried we could get lost in the Amish county as there was some road construction going on. The tour started right on time and the tour guide had a good knowledge about Amish culture,history and traditions. She was very cheerful and answered all our questions yet was watching the road and driving carefully. We went to a old church, few furniture stores, candle store, bakery,basket shop and a farm(I don't recall the name but it was all purple) where they sell wool and they allow you to see the tiny little goats there. I throughly enjoyed this tour and did buy some pot holders, candles, baked goods and a basket from the Amish stores.

The Bluffscape Amish Tour was one of our most informative and enjoyable tours ever….and we have toured the world during our 70+ years on earth. Rory Craeger was our guide and exhibited and very deep knowledge of the Amish, their history and traditions. He was also VERY networked with the many Amish families, farms and shops that we visited. Rory knew the Amish by their first names and knew much about the families and family histories. He described the traditions and ceremonies surrounding birth, schooling, work ethic, marriage, and death. We started the tour with a warm welcome by Fanny Miller, mother of 11 children. Husband Moses has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for many years. We visited the Herschberger Baskets and Small Furniture shop owned and operated by Tobie and Cevilla Hershberger. Their baskets are examples of perfection in basket weaving. Eli was our host at The Cabinet Shop which specialized in tables. I am a woodworker and couldn’t believe the quality of the tables and their ultra-beautiful finishes; and their prices were so, so reasonable for this quality. We then visited Countryside Furniture owned and operated by Dennis and Mary Hershberger. They had a very wide selection of furniture but seemed to focus on bedroom pieces. We visited a bakery and took home a tasty pecan pie. The tour lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes but Rory was so informative and always adding commentary that it didn’t seem that long. In fact, we would have opted for another hour or two. We highly recommend the Bluffscape Amish Tour.

My friend and I decided to try out the Amish tour to better educate ourselves and also just out of curiosity. Our tour guide was very personable, knowledgable and overall maintained a cheerful attitude with each of us tourists in his van. We were able to tour an amish furniture store, a basket shop owned by a very animated Amish man and his wife (who was not there on this day) and also visited a quilt store. I think being able to visit their farms was very eye opening and I was able to better understand their way of life....Very insightful trip!!!

We loved our guide(I am sorry I don't recall his name)he took us to the old church which is a must see!!!! LOVED IT nice stop which I never heard about with the other group. THANK YOU.He welcomed us to walk around the farms a bit and that was also very nice to have time to do!!!! EXCELLENT TRIP!!! THANK YOU SIR!!!!

My best friend and I took this tour while in Lanesboro. We considered purchasing a self guided CD tour for $28 to save money but were pleased with the Bluffscape tour and didn't regret the $30 per person cost. We chose the "live" tour in part because there are numerous road closures in the area due to construction and we thought the CD tour might guide us toward closed roads.I think the nicest thing about this tour was our guide, Joan's, knowledge about each person on the farms we visited. She knows the proprietors and everyone in their families by name. It was clear that she has taken the time to get to know the families personally. It would be easy to lead the tour in a manner that made it feel like visiting a zoo where you are educated about the "creatures" you are there to observe. Joan taught us about their culture and way of life but included information about each family we visited that reminded us that we were visiting real people, not exhibits. I learned a lot and developed an appreciation for the Amish on this tour. Remember to bring cash. Credit cards are not accepted at the shops.

I really learned a lot. My knowledge of the Amish was misguided at best; for 3 hours we were constantly educated by our guide and I have a much better appreciation of the lives and culture of this group. I can't say I would want to live in that manner, but it's really interesting to learn about and to see 'up close and personal'. And of course, Verne added a whole lot to the experience.

We really learned a lot about Amish culture as we traveled from shop to shop. The group had fun getting to know each other. And our guide/driver was very accommodating. Well worth it!

While staying in Lanesboro for a week I took this three hour tour one afternoon and was very glad I did. The tour cost $30.00. The tour is such a fascinating look into the lives of the old order Amish who live in the environs of the town of Harmony, perhaps a 20 minute drive or so from Lanesboro. The drive itself is nice, passing through pretty scenery of farmlands. The van was comfortable and our tour guide, Joan did an excellent job of describing the life of the Amish and answering any questions we had. When someone requested that we stop at a farm that had animals we could see, Joan made the change to the itinerary and drove to the farm. We visited five different Amish farms and one non-Amish farm which featured Angora goats and mohair products. (I loved seeing the little, friendly goats and the items in the shop made from the mohair). All of the stops were very interesting and allowed us to walk around briefly in the yards and shop for products made by the families. The shops where the products are sold are quite small and very simple and typically included the same kinds of items; canned goods such as jellies, jams, relishes, pickles, vegetables, honey, candy, basketry, candles, soaps, etc. Our first stop also featured a furniture maker and he had some beautiful items in his shop for sale. Our last stop featured quilts and quilted items such as placemats, pot holders, etc. At this stop we were able to look inside the living room/sitting area of one of the homes, the only brick home on the tour. Our tour guide noted that usually they take groups inside the room, but the owner has serious health problems and therefore is often not well enough for visitors. A simple bakery with homemade items such as cookies, bread, bar cookies, rolls, fruit turnovers was also a featured stop. It should be noted that there was a sign at the shops that the food is not federally inspected since these are home enterprises. Although this tour centers on shopping for Amish products, we were not pressured by anyone to buy any items. Our tour guide did note as we drove that the Amish have difficulty supporting themselves with just income from their crops and farms, so they are involved in home industries or hire themselves out to work crews such as the building trades. This explains then why the Amish welcome "Englishers" to come to their homes so they can sell their products. We were allowed to take pictures at all but one of the farms as long as there were no people in any of the pictures. The Amish do not accept photographs of themselves because the bible prohibits graven images. At each of the farms we were able to see the families including some children. At one stop, we were met with a picture perfect moment as we drove down the driveway. Three little Amish boys (all the same size) with their straw hats were sitting together on a porch swing holding some toys. Would love to have had a picture but of course I respect their beliefs. It was really a precious moment. At this stop, we also got to meet the lady of the house who was busy washing sweet potatoes. She was very friendly and full of much laughter. Enjoyed asking her questions about her garden and work. As we drove along the roads we were able to see two Amish one room schools but did not stop as school was in session. We also saw a number of Amish buggies being driven along the roads. All in all, a fascinating look into the lives of the Amish in southeastern Minnesota. I was captivated and would definitely recommend.