the village shops at down a country road

We stopped by the Village Shops on Thursday, October 16th. When we arrived we went to the first building and a nice gentleman was behind the counter, we asked what it was all about. He proceeded to state that they had 5 buildings that you could go through and no one else is manning any of the other buildings so if you found something to bring it back to him to pay for it. We had done our homework before going and their website states "self-guided tours available Monday through Saturday's, May through October. For $25 it included a copy of Kathy's book "Down Country Road with the Amish and a map and guide as to where you may take your own tour of the Amish Community. No need to call ahead, simply pick up the book and tour at the gift shops and be on your way and since the gentleman never mentioned this to us we assumed there were no tours. The shops were just okay to us. We were looking for more "homemade" jelly, jams, pickles etc to bring home but didn't find anything we liked.

While this may be a lovely shop selling Amish goods, I spoke with one of the Amish men in his home furniture shop. He wanted to be certain that people visiting the Cashton area are aware that the Amish families welcome visitors to their homes during daylight hours--except on Sundays. Do not even attempt to visit on Sundays because they are closed to the public this one day.If you visit Pasture Pride Cheese on Hwy 27 just southwest of Cashton, they will provide you with a free map of 74 Amish families that welcome you into their shops. Or, simply travel south on "D" and watch for signs. (I was told by the same Amish man that if the business is on the map but there is not a sign, you are still welcome to visit.)You do NOT need a tour guide; individuals and families are welcome.You could spends days out in the Amish community shopping for items (not all 'country') such as furniture, baskets, wooden spoons, cutting blocks, birdhouses, trellises, quilts, aprons, rugs, plants, leather items and delicious cheese, candies, produce, fresh chickens, eggs, and bakery. Well-crafted items at extremely reasonable prices.Enjoy your trip to Cashton!

I give Down a Country Road a 10!!! My friend and I went last year and we enjoyed it so much we will go back for sure! It is such a cute place with all the little shops it is very charming and we had very good survice...please visit Down a Country Road...you will be happy you did! I can't tell you how cute this place is with a the differnt shops!!! Loved Loved Loved it!

I have been shopping Down A Country Road for 3 years now and each time we go it gets more beautiful than the last visit. Unable to make it there this summer I emailed Kathy to purchase my favorite soaps. We were both frantic because we could not reach the soap maker. KATHY DID NOT GIVE UP and yesterday contacted me to say she found her and my soap is on its way. I am so grateful. Have tried others and they never compaired to what Down A Country Road has from this Soap Maker.The Driftless area of Wisconsin is truly blessed with what Kathy and Chuck have done to allow their Amish neighbors and Artisans to make their homemade goods available to their guest that visit their home. And don't leave without trying the icecream, Delicious.Thank you Kathy for being so determined to make a difference. And to you also Chuck for being such a great carpenter.

They advertise for Amish made goods at these little shops however the merchandise in these store have very little Amish made goods. What they do offer is way over priced trinkets I will not be wasting my time to go back to this over priced waste of time.

Elizabeth, Thank you for taking the time to stop at Down A Country Road. I am sorry that you had an unhappy visit,or felt the self guided tour was a waste of money. We have been in business for 20 years and I have never had anyone express negative feedback as you have. Please let me address your concerns. Your first statement was that the shops contain little if any Amish goods. I am not sure how much time you spent here, but if you looked around at all you would have noted many, many items made by and owned by the Amish families that we work with. We have about 45 different Amish families that bring their products to us. Those products include furniture, ( table and chairs, bent hickory rocking chairs, coffee tables, end tables, chest of drawers, entertainment center, childrens furniture, etc) quilted goods including wall hangings, table runners, hot pads and much more. We also have a wide variety of baskets including wooden baskets, and several different varieties of woven baskets. There are many, many rugs in the shops, cookie cutters, home made soaps and lotions made by the Amish, as well as many other smaller crafts. In Emma's Kitchen there is a wide variety of food products made by the Amish including Jams and Jellies, honey, maple syrup, home made candies, noodles, bread mixes and much more. Our Kinner Korner Childrens shop has several peices of children's furniture made by the Amish. So to say that we have little if any products made by the Amish is an unfair statement. We do carry a wide a variety of general giftware as well, much of which is made by other local aritisans, but yes we do carry some general giftware. If you took the time to read the story that is in each of the gift shops "About Us" you would read that Chuck and I were both young kids whent he Amish moved into the area and that we became close friends with many Amish families who encouraged us in 1994 to start a business to sell their products, as many of the Amish do not care to have tourists coming directly to their farms, but still need to sell their products. Over the past 20 years most of our little buildings have been built by our Amish friends and we continue our relationship with them.1n 1994 I began doing individual guided tours of the Amish community. In those 20 years I have given well over 2500 tours. My tours are highly sought after and if I could physically do the tours that I have requests for, I would need to do them 24 hours a day. I am not able to do that , and as time has gone on and we have grown the business here, it is not feasible for me to be able to do those tours to that degree. I currently do still provide that service for $100.00 per car load. I am booked for most of the season as of today. In order to provide an alternative opportunity to tour and learn about the Amish community I have provided the self guided tour that you purchased for $25.00. It provides a general guideline of visiting the Amish community. It gives you a route to drive, some places to stop and a bit of information about each of the stops. A rough drawn map to follow, and most importantly the book that I wrote that is written in short easy read chapters outling all of the history, traditions and customs of the Amish community. If you just followed the map and stopped at the places suggested...then yes, I would agree with you that it was a waste of money. What I supply and hope that people use with the self guided tour is the information that is supplied. When I do a guided tour... if I just got in the car and said turn here, turn there, stop here, stop there....then that also would be a waste of money. With the guided tour I share all of the history, customs, traditions and answer every question that someone has about our Amish friends. The self guided tour is 1/4 the cost of the guided tour...and all of the information that I supply on the guided tour. It is mentioned in the literature that you can do this route in approximately an hour or so or you can make it take all day, depending on how many places you want to stop, in addition to the places that I have suggested. Again, I am sorry that you were disappointed and would love to talk to you directly about it. I did not have that opportunity, so I decided to respond on this review so that other potential customers have a fair look at what it is that we offer here at Down A Country Road. Thank You. Kathy Kuderer, owner of The Village Shops at Down A Country Road

The shops were nice and the lady there really knows her Amish neighbors, but the real interesting part is going through the Amish areas there in Cashton. The people are so wonderful to talk to but please be polite and respectful, these folks have their own way of life and deserve to be treated with dignity, DO NOT try to photograph them, and don't stare that's just rude! If you are polite, they are the nicest people ever, and they will talk to you and answer some questions even. DO NOT come by on Sunday because they go to church, and then rest on Sunday. The craftsmanship of these people is nothing short of amazing, if you buy anything from them, it will be well made that's for sure!