Has anyone been to The Shaker Village in Lexington, KY? We have a conference there and have never seen the place except from what is on their website. I understand there is dining on a riverboat? Are there nature trails or nearby adventures that we can take, or things we should see and do? Any horse farms that accept visitors?

I've been to Shaker Village several times, though it has been a few years since my last visit. They have a good restaurant in the village - good, hearty, basic family style fare. The Shakers and their village is really quite intersting (even when I was a child not particularly into history) so I think you'll enjoy it.

I toured Claiborne Farms which is one of the big time horse farms in Lexington. We really enjoyed it - very small personal tour. I know my father set it up ahead of time since it was during the fall, so you might want to be sure they are running regularly or do the same.

There is some great hiking in Kentucky - just check out the state park website.

We visited the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill near Lexington last year and really enjoyed our visit. We ate lunch in the dining room restaurant there and the food was great. We also really enjoyed the choir performance and seeing all of the crafts. From there we went to the Perryville Civil War battlefield, which was very interesting to use because we are from the West with no civil war sites to visit. There is a walking tour at the battlefield. We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast named Maple Hill Monor - we would stay there again in a heartbeat. We loved our visit to Kentucky.

Fort Harrod in Harrodsburg is quite close, as are the Lexington horse farms.

If you like lemon, DO NOT FAIL to have a piece of Shaker Lemon Pie in the dining room. They slice the whole lemon very thinly, mix it with sugar and eggs, and bake it in a double crust. I adore it.

We were there 25 or 30 years ago and found it to be delightful and interesting. As I recall, we had a "typical Shaker" lunch in the Village. It was a refined expirence that concluded with a slice of lemon pie, but not the usual kind of lemon pie.

Shakertown isn't really in Lexington. It's about 20-25 miles south on a very curvy road along the KY river. They do have a boat to cruise the palisades on the river but no dining onboard. My aunt wrote one of the village guidebooks that is on sale in the gift shop so check it out!

There are several places to stay on the property and some aren't within sight of the village or anything else.

Their website is www.shakervillageky.org

Nearby is Harrodsburg with Fort Harrod and Perryville battlefield which has re-enactments of the war. If you get hungry while in Harrodsburg check out Beaumont Inn. www.beaumontinn.com

Between Pleasant Hill and Lexington in Nonesuch, KY is an old country school turned into an antiques mall called Irish Acres. They have a fun restaurant in the basement called The Glitz. They are only open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday (reservations required) and the menu changes every 2 weeks. The price is $17.95. Take US 68 N towards Lexington and turn left on KY 33 and follow the Irish Acres signs. The directions on their website are from Harrodsburg Road Lexington,KY not from Harrodsburg, KY so you need to reverse them. www.irishacresgallery.com

The Lexington/bluegrass area horse farm/bourbon distillery tours are a bit further away. http://www.visitlex.com/

Thanks! Now I have to try this lemon pie. What's in it besides the lemon and suger?

The lemon pie is lemons sliced almost paper thin, eggs and sugar.