Apart from seeing old friends, Ellie voted the visit to Amish country (Armish as they pronounce it) as the best of the trip. We travelled an hour east from Cleveland and arrived in Millersburg, Ohio, and logged in to our pre-booked hotel, and were soon travelling across to neighbouring Berlin. We knew we were heading in the right direction because we overtook so many horse-drawn carriages containing men with long beards or females with linen hats tied in a bow beneath their chins.

There is a problem in that there are not hard and fast rules encompassing the Amish and their practices. There are ten different sects and the Amish themselves are in turn a breakaway group from the Mennonites, most of whom originated in Germany, Switzerland and the Ukraine from the general umbrella of Anabaptists.

Our guide, during a tour of an Amish house, stressed that originally they embraced the German or Deutch approach, which was somewhat misunderstood by the fellow settlers who subsequently talked in terms of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

“Whatever I tell you about the Amish, someone, somewhere, will tell you that is wrong,” she explained, as some Amish believe electricity is Ok, whereas most are rigidly against it. The local bishops hold annual council meetings to determine what is acceptable and within the Amish compass, and indeed there is a sect that embraces cell phones and another that allows their children to transport their fellow Amish by car as a way of making a living. We had bumped into a native of Pennsylvania who lived among one of the Amish communities in that state and found them pleasant, honest and sincere. “They also pay you well to transport them by car,” he said.

Certainly as we walked through a Spartan house, devoid of electricity, television, computers, record players etc, we gained the impression that whatever concession to 21st Century living their local bishop allowed; it is an extremely simple life.

Traditionally men are the main breadwinners but such is the cost of farmland, they have had to adopt other ways of making money. Given that the parents are keen to work from home so as to be able to supervise and train their children, they have branched into cabinet and furniture-making, engine repair, harness and leather goods shops, clock and watch repair, sawmills, bookstores and dry goods stores. The men have also branched out into plumbing, roofing and allied trades. When asked, they said the Amish “don’t do” becoming doctors.

The family makes jams, pickles, pastries, bread etc for local sale and consummation, plus needlework, cloth-making, with the mother in charge of the household.

Horses play a big part in their lives, as the wife will trot into town to collect provisions in her buggy – a reminder of our young days and the need to shop almost daily, before fridges became a regular feature in most kitchens.

Guided through the barns, we were shown a variety of impressive-looking horses and a donkey I have not come across before: the Jerusalem donkey with markings that include the cross on its back. Pretty to look at and the markings were very unusual.

We took a ride in a buggy, but it was hard to come to terms with this as we spotted a bearded Amish man driving a tractor across the adjacent field.

Throughout our 25-day trip, we used cash. We had a Travelex card which we used at an ATM purely to withdraw cash from the pre-loaded account, but our experience after being over-charged by a Santa Fe hotel by 600 dollars and Travelex taking five months to give us the rebate, made us more determined not to use the card to pay bills, this time round. While we had our Visa and Mastercards with us, again we did not want to rack up the punitive charges and minimal exchange rates English and French banks charge along with the exorbitant handling fees they dock you for taking money out of your account.

It worked out perfectly but filling up with petrol (gasoline) can be a bind as you have to go in and pay 20 or 30 dollars as a guestimate as to how much petrol you will need to top up. Then you return and obtain your rebate if you have overpaid. They will not allow you to use the petrol pump without pre-paying.

In Amish country amongst the rolling hills, reminiscent of Bucks or Gloucestershire, you fill up and then go in and pay cash. Everyone is honest unless proven otherwise in their book. It was just another pleasant observation in what were extremely ambient surroundings.

We also visited the heritage centre, which included a 10ft x 265ft painting (Behalt), tracing the progress and setbacks of the Amish from their origins. It included the depiction of the famous 17th century engraving of Durk Wilems, who escaped from prison, where he was placed for his beliefs. Pursued by his jailer, Durk turned to rescue him after his pursuer slipped and fell through the ice and looked certain to die. After completing the rescue, Durk was returned to the prison, tortured and then killed for his beliefs.

That is one of the many events depicted in this oil-on-canvas Behalt, which included the trials of the Menonnite and the Anabaptists, who upset the Catholics and Protestants of Europe by coming up with the eminently sensible concept that it would be better to be baptised as an adult when you know and appreciated what you are committing to.

Persecuted for this, some found an escape to the colonies of America the best choice, aided by the generosity of our former local resident William Penn, who made land available for them.

Contrary to the general rumour, Amish children are not told to go out to the wide world at a certain age but they can if they so wish. The clear majority return to the Amish embrace after experiencing the liberal pursuits enjoyed by most teenagers.

We did meet up with Amish youth at shops and supermarkets and found most of them less worldly: a little flustered and lacking in social skills if you spoke to them on subjects over and above the settling of the bill.

Even in the style of dress, there are variances and we came across washing lines containing long purple and green dresses, not just the usual black or blue and white aprons.

There is also quite a Swiss influence within the locality, notably in regard to the making of award-winning cheese, but this too had Amish connections.

We spent two days among “the quiet people” or the “plain or gentle people on quiet land” and left Amish country with some reluctance because life seemed very pleasant and relaxing. Then again, we were touring in a car; having beer with our meals, and catching up with the world via television and my laptop and cellphone. Amish country - “the quiet in the land” as it is called – also contains many Americans leading normal, everyday lives with all the modern conveniences. They seem to rub along pleasantly together but somewhat sadly, economics dictate a gradual erosion of some of the original Amish principles.

I would not swap my life for theirs, but even on a non-religious basis, one has to concede there is something appealing.