Aaron and Jessica’s Buggy Rides — Attraction in Leacock Township

This tour was just ok to us. We wanted to have the experience of riding in an Amish buggy and took the farm tour because the person at the booth told us that we'd get much more knowledge than at Old Windmill Farm. However, I think we learned more at Old Windmill Farm than here.

We enjoyed our guide, John, showing us the horses and relating a story of one that nearly died, but was nursed back to health by his son and is now doing exceptionally well. Our son also enjoyed riding in the front of the buggy, and seeing the cats and dogs at the farm. Some of the other reviews say that the horses seem overworked, but I thought ours seemed fine (I'm not an expert though).

Although John was kind, he was not generally as informative as we expected, or in the way we expected. For example, he showed us a barn that was circa 1860s and as we stood in the doorway, he stated that the President at the time was Abraham Lincoln, and he discussed how there were four assassins who tried to kill Lincoln as well as the Vice President and other top officials, and related rather graphic information about the trajectory of the bullet that killed Lincoln. We waited for John to tie the story of the assassination to the barn or local culture, like perhaps President Lincoln had visited here? Nope, there was no connection made, just a random story. And then he wondered aloud if Nancy Pelosi was still Speaker of the House. I was worried he was going to start getting into politics, but thankfully he didn't. There were several instances of him telling stories to us that did not seem to relate to Amish culture--such as an elderly woman who had Covid and was near death, but returned home and recovered, and John thought that her recovery was due to her being home and surrounded by loved ones, rather than in the hospital. It wasn't that it was a bad story, but it just didn't seem relevant to what we were there for.

We didn't see "farm equipment" on the tour per se, although it is advertised that the driver will "explain farm equipment." John pointed out some carpentry equipment that I guess could be loosely categorized as "farm equipment" since it was equipment on a farm. I was thinking more that we would see equipment used with regard to crops. John pointed to the fields and said "there are soybeans" but it would have been interesting to learn how the soybeans are harvested. Instead, he did tell us that solar panel technology and lithium batter technology had advanced significantly in recent years, much like iPhones have, although he stated that he doesn't use an iPhone and instead uses a different cell phone. I understand that there are different groups of Amish people who follow different practices; I just wasn't expecting a discussion about technology and iPhones, etc.

John pointed out a schoolhouse in the distance 2-3 times. It would have been interesting to see the school house up close or even go into it, if possible. It didn't add a lot to see it from the distance. He also told us about bad reviews from people who thought the dogs on the farm were being starved (they looked fine to us). I just generally wouldn't mention bad reviews to people on a tour. It kind of left us scratching our heads.

There weren't Amish people who came to the buggy to sell cookies to us (which is mentioned on the website as a possibility, but we knew it wasn't guaranteed. I did not see a place where they would approach the buggy. John did offer cookies and lemonade to us for sale. He also pointed in the distance to the "baker"--the oven they use to bake the cookies.

Overall, not a bad experience, and our son enjoyed it, but it seemed like it could have...

I left feeling really sad for the horses, especially Charlie, who clearly does not have the will to be pulling a large buggy and 12 humans down the road in the mid day late summer heat!

I went on the last ride of the day on a Sunday. While everyone was packed into the buggy I chose to sit up front for the comfortable seating and to be close to the driver / tour guide. I'm giving the tour two stars because I had a wonderful conversation with my guide (I'm sorry I either never got his name or forgot it). He was very engaging and openly talked about his family, the Amish lifestyle and his choice to leave the community yet still remain close by on his own farm. He was full of great details about Amish life, and funny stories about being brought up in a community so foreign to me, as I live outside of New York City.

What I absolutely HATED was the obvious forced labor that at least one of the horses was suffering under. I'm pretty sure his name is Charlie, he's a 5 year old brown horse that the company bought a month ago. Our driver told me that Charlie doesn't like to do his share of the work and is consistently sluggish. Sounds like animal cruelty to me...

Throughout the ride our driver held the crop up within Charlie's eyesight to get him to trot. In essence threatening him repeatedly that he'd be hit if he didn't go faster. It was hot. 4pm. Late summer. The horse has a packed buggy to pull down the street. You'd be sluggish too!

Before you attack me with 'that's farm life. That's his job.' I understand that's the way of Amish life, they need animal labor to maintain their farms and tourism industry. I realize that's not going to change. I wasn't worried about the other horse. Some horses are stronger, more athletic, have a tougher constitution, whatever it is that makes them better able to handle these kinds of jobs. Charlie clearly is not one of those horses!

Aaron, Jessica (the owners), I worry about what will happen to Charlie next when you determine that he's not a good enough worker to keep around? Do you think it's fair to force an animal to do something that he constantly needs to be threatened to do or else he'll be whipped!!!

I beg of you, Aaron and Jessica, let's work together to gift Charlie to a horse sanctuary, relieve this 'lazy' animal of his burden of pulling around sightseeing a$$holes like me (I'll never do this again) for our entertainment of seeing a mile or two of farmland (My tour was the shortest one, the only one they offer on Sundays)...

I myself will HAPPILY set up a Go Fund Me to raise the money for you, Aaron and Jessica, to gift Charlie to a horse sanctuary (and I'll put you in touch with one who can take Charlie as well).

Talk about currying favor with your customers Aaron, Jessica... Knowing that you REALLY CARE about your horses would be great for publicity / your businesses reputation ... Letting the one who cannot handle the strain free to live out the rest of his life away from the misery of enforced labor would win you many fans!

Please reach out to me if you want to coordinate with a horse rescue to retire Charlie and get yourselves some fabulous business cred!

You have my permission to contact me by phone or email using my customer account information. My ride was on Sunday, 4pm, September 15th, 2024. And please do not hold my guide in any way responsible for my review or the conversation we had.

All the best to all of you...

I made the mistake of taking my 6 year old daughter for a buggy ride over Labor Day weekend at Aaron & Jessica's. NEVER AGAIN. When we arrived, I gave my name, # of people in my party (2 adults + 1 child) and requested the "Cookie Tour", as it's the shortest trip which I thought was best for my daughter. The rather rude man (supposedly Amish, yet sporting a cell phone) added my name a growing list, gave me three green stickers (never did figure out what the purpose of the stickers was) and nearly shoved me off the covered bridge as there was a buggy tour coming through. The "covered bridge" noted on their website is not the quaint and peaceful bridge out in the country that I was imagining. Instead, it was at the entrance where the mass of people tried to sign up for a buggy ride....and was also where the buggy rides originate. Not very safe to have mass numbers of people waiting in line in a covered bridge that is also routinely used by horses as they begin a ride. But the worst was yet to come. We waited and waited and waited. Granted - there were many people waiting even before we arrived. But nearly everyone was infuriated when TWO tour buses full of people showed up and were placed on buggies within 10 minutes. No explanation given to the rest of us. My husband finally had enough and went to question what was going on. He was told the 2nd bus was from the "Chinese Embassy" and they'd book reservations "months ago". Perhaps they did make reservations (which I didn't have the luxury of doing, as only groups may reserve), but the rudeness and lack of communication was ridiculous. Two women who were seemingly employed either by Aaron & Jessica or the attached hotel/resort could barely speak English. (They were not Amish.) We were repeatedly told either "a 15 to 20 minute wait" or "a 30 minute wait" depending on who you asked. Finally after nearly an hour of waiting, my name was miraculously called. We quickly worked out way through the crowd and onto the waiting buggy only to find that we were the only people on the buggy who wanted to "Cookie Tour". The others wanted the (longer and more expensive) "Amish Farm Tour". Our driver couldn't have been nicer - yes, he was the good part in all of this - and said that he'd take everyone on the Farm Tour but would charge the Cookie Tour price. But before I could even thank him, one of the women who was barely able to speak English was motioning for me to pass my seated 6 year old daughter to her so she could sit in the front of the buggy with the driver. I said "no, she needs to sit with me", as I was COMPLETELY not okay with that arrangement. We were told to "squeeze in" then since they were sticking 2 more people on our buggy. Thankfully, it was a family of 5 - not 2 - who was told to get on the buggy and they declined stating it was too full. The buggy ride was nice - had to pay for cookies and drinks instead of getting them for free as the website leads you to believe - but it is not worth the lack of organization and sheer rudeness of many of the people who worked there. Will not return and will not recommend this...