One of our favorite getaways recently was an overnight stay at the Inn at Honey Run outside Millersburg, Ohio. It’s nestled into a hillside deep in the heart of Ohio Amish country, and offers a delightful mix of relaxing outdoor experiences, excellent dining, art, and bird-watching!
Despite its rustic setting, the Inn at Honey Run features all the amenities of a modern hotel. The main building features three levels of guest rooms, a small gift shop, and the on-site restaurant, Tarragon. There are lounge areas open to all guests, if you need a quiet place to relax and look out the windows.
The guest rooms are similarly modern, with updated bathrooms and seating areas. Each room has windows that look out into the woods.
And if you’ve reached that point in your life where you’ve welcomed bird-watching as a hobby: you are in luck. The Inn at Honey Run is surrounded by Amish-built bird feeders, so out every window you’ll see dozens and dozens of birds feeding. I gave my Merlin app quite the workout. (We also joked about the Inn’s bird seed budget!)
In addition to its guest rooms, the Inn features cottages, a modern home described as “AirBnb-style,” and the the Honeycombs – a series of rooms set into the hillside. And, yes, the apiary, where the Inn produces its own honey, is located close by.
The Inn at Honey Run joins the list of woodsy getaways in Ohio that have unreasonably good restaurants attached. Two of our favorite examples are the Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls or Glenlaurel Scottish Inn & Cottages down in the Hocking Hills.
Honey Run’s contribution to this is Tarragon, a dining outpost that’s open to the public and is headed up by chef Bret Andreasen.
Guests at the Inn are treated to a cocktail hour in the lounge, outside the main dining room of Tarragon. You’re offered complimentary snacks, wines, and beers, although a full cocktail menu and other small plates are available for purchase, too.
We relaxed in the lounge with a couple lovely cocktails, the Beekeeper’s Friend with vodka, Frangelico, and honey syrup (made with their own honey, of course) and the Scottish Sweetheart with Drambuie, Dewar’s Scotch, honey syrup, and bitters.
We also tasted the parmesan fried fontina (aka fancy cheese sticks) and this delightful smoked trout dip.
Earlier in the day we hiked a couple of their trails. They feature a half-dozen trails of varying lengths that circle throughout the property.
One of them passes the sheep paddock, where you can feed the sheep who come eagerly ambling up to the fence.
Some trails take you up hills and around ponds.
Some follow the creeks.
The full dinner experience at Tarragon is lovely. Chef Andreasen explores an Alpine theme throughout, touching on hearty German, Austrian, French, and Italian fare. We started dinner with a rich parmesan and potato gnocchi with roasted apples and the little neck clams (above) with pork belly, garlic, and shallots.
For our second courses we tasted the grilled romaine with bacon lardons and soft-poached eggs.
And a rich tomato fennel soup with crisp gruyere.
For our mains we tried the pan-seared salmon with a balsamic mustard glaze served over asparagus with taleggio potato croquettes.
And a fall-off-the-bone braised pork shank served over sauerkraut with these unexpected bacon and brioche dumplings, all covered in a caraway pork au jus.
Even though we were stuffed, our server convinced us to split a slice of their signature lemon ricotta cake with homemade strawberry ice cream, spiced almonds, and honey from their hives. Very straightforward but very delightful. A perfect cap to the meal.
Back outside on a hike, we explored the Inn’s Open Air Art Museum, a trail that takes you by murals, sculptures, paintings, and other landscape installations.
Part of the walk incorporates a series of haikus to inspire you on your journeys.
An offshoot of the trails includes a wall commemorating the Inn’s two founders and all they worked to create over the decades.
After a relaxing night’s sleep, we finished our stay at the Inn with breakfast at Tarragon, which was equally remarkable as dinner. We tasted a mushroom and gruyere frittata, a lovely golden Belgian waffle topped with fresh fruit.
And I went old school with The Usual: two eggs cooked to order, home fries, toast, and sausage. Seemed like a fitting end to a lovely stay.
You could visit the Inn at Honey Run and have a full experience without ever leaving the property, but it’s also a helpful home base if you want to explore more of Amish country, including quaint small towns, markets, farms, shops, and more. (And if you pass through Berlin, be sure to grab breakfast or lunch at Boyd & Wurthmann Restaurant!)
The Inn at Honey Run
6920 County Road 203
Millersburg, Ohio 44654
(330) 674-0011
Web: innathoneyrun.com
FB: The Inn at Honey Run and Tarragon
IG: @innathoneyrun and @tarragondining
